Music for everyone
Three orchestras together again
Pärt–Torke–Purcell–Reicher–Winkelman–Kasurinen
Avanti!
UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra
Finnish Baroque Orchestra
Taavi Oramo, conductor
Helsinki's independent orchestras Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) will once again join their forces in the spirit of AUF cooperation. In September, the concert “Music for everyone" breaks boundaries but combines different eras and styles at Musiikkitalo. The orchestras play together and separately works that combine old and new, light and serious.
Fratres (1977) by Arvo Pärt is the timeless grounding pillar of his production. Now we hear a version for strings and percussion. Adjustable Wrench (1987) by the American Michael Torke is a minimalistic tool for different instrument combinations and for twisting out energy.
Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen is bursting with striking baroque dances, jigs and hornpipes like those heard in Lord of the Rings’s Shire and Game of Thrones’ Westeros. They smoothly turn into jazz in arrangements by Austrian composer Ursula Reicher, performed by UMO Helsinki. The original versions of Purcell are, of course, performed by the Finnish Baroque Orchestra.
Haydn actually had a parrot who learned to call his master by name and sing his themes. In the Swiss composer Helena Winkelman's string quartet Papa Haydn's Parrot (2016), the pet deals with the same topics as Haydn's “Bird” Quartet Op. 33 but from its own and contemporary perspective. The work is interpreted by the string quartet Avanti!.
The premiere of the concert is a new work by Sampo Kasurinen, who has made a name for himself as a jazz saxophonist, and is tailored to the unique composition of the AUF orchestras: “My goal is to find a compositional whole that would merge orchestras together rather than construct stylistic confrontations. It is quite certain that the work will include influences from jazz music, baroque tradition and contemporary music.”
Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO), or AUF Orchestras, have been collaborating since 2017.
The concert will be streamed live and is available until Tuesday, October 12 at the address helsinkikanava.fi/en/. Yle Radio 1 will record the concert and it will be broadcast on Yle Radio 1 on Thursday, September 16 at 7:02 pm. The concert will be available for 30 days on Yle Areena.
The programme is available here.
Duration: 2 h (inc. intermission)