This internationally acclaimed festival will bring together friends of Sibelius’ music from across the globe September 2.9.-5.9.2021, as the Lahti Symphony Orchestra once again invites followers of Finland’s national composer to a wonderful celebration in the acoustically splendid setting of Sibelius Hall. The Artistic Director of the festival is the distinguished Chief Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska.

With Pohjola’s Daughter we find ourselves amid a colourful and dramatic orchestral fantasy, the Kalevala story of Väinämöinen and Pohjola’s Daughter weaving gold threads.
The Bard, on the other hand, tells in Sibelius’s own words ‘an ancient Scandinavian ballad from the Viking era’. It opens evocatively and with subtle melancholy, like the arousal of a distant memory.

Sibelius began composing En saga soon after Kullervo and his wedding. ‘The whole of my youth is contained within it’, he said. ‘It is an expression of a state of mind’. Sibelius’s songs, orchestrated by Einojuhani Rautavaara, form a ‘stream of life’ interpreted by British bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams.

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra reserves the right to make changes to the programmes and timing of concerts if the restrictions are required by the coronavirus infection situation.