Brahms – Kortekangas – Schumann

Olli Kortekangas’s Migrations for mezzo-soprano, male voice choir and orchestra, here receiving its first Finnish performance, was commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra and celebrates the 150th anniversary of Finnish emigration to North America. The texts are written by Sheila Packa, a Minnesota-based poet with Finnish roots, and depict the experiences of emigrants against the background of her own family and especially its womenfolk. In this performance the Lahti Symphony Orchestra is joined by artists who performed at the work’s première: mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi and the YL Male Voice Choir. Schumann’s Third Symphony, the ‘Rhenish’, concludes this concert conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk.

During the 2017–18 concert season, small ensembles from the Lahti Conservatory will perform in the Forest Hall before the evening concerts. These ‘Preludes in the Forest Hall’ performances start half an hour before the main concerts begin. The instrumental combinations and programmes will vary from one performance to the next. Free admission.