New artistic planner elected
Release 25.10.2022
The Finnish Baroque Orchestra in the vanguard of the cultural field – The new member of the artistic board has been elected
Background
Founded in 1989, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra has consolidated its position within the Finnish orchestral scene. Since its inception, FiBO has collaborated with some of the foremost soloists and concertmasters of the genre and performed a wide-ranging repertoire. The focus is generally on Baroque music, but the orchestra often explores works from other periods too, from early Baroque to early Romanticism and contemporary music.
Throughout its history, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra has been a forerunner in the Finnish music scene in many ways. Beginning its journey as the Sixth Floor Orchestra, it has played an important role in bringing the early-music movement to Finland. The orchestra’s exciting performances, creative programming, innovative projects as well as the domestic and international networking projects have caught the attention of concert organisers and partners both in Finland and abroad. The Finnish Baroque Orchestra performs in Helsinki at the House of Nobility, in the Music Centre and numerous other places, and it tours both in Finland and abroad. In the development of its managerial structures, the orchestra has taken bold steps in line with its broad-minded identity.
The artistic board, ie. the trio, in charge of the artistic planning
The constant development of the orchestra’s operations rests on democratic values as the power as well as the responsibility is shared among many. The pluralism that is part of the identity of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra is at its best a unique resource and a good platform for making creative solutions. There are many different roles available for the members of the orchestra, artistic as well as managerial.
The model with a trio in charge of the artistic planning simmered for a while among the orchestra members before it was launched in 2018. This year, the name of the trio was changed to the artistic board. The artistic leadership is from now on shared between the Executive Manager, who is the chair of the group, and two musician members, artistic planners, who are elected with appropriate intervals.
The two current members of the board are the violinist Anthony Marini, who started his period as artistic planner on 1st January 2022, has been concertmaster of the orchestra and has had different artistic, production and managerial roles in the orchestra as well as the standing member, the Executive Manager and violist Laura Kajander, with a role that is more focused on finances, networking, partnerships and structures.
The third member of the new artistic board has been elected
Marianna Henriksson, who is known as a harpsichordist, a continuo organist and for her interdisciplinary art projects, has been elected as the orchestra’s second artistic planner. Marianna will begin her work on a small scale during the end of the year 2022 and her term starts officially on the 1st January 2023. “It’s a joy and an honour to take part in the development of a pluralistic FiBO, the orchestra’s repertoire and it’s ways of operating. I take an especially keen interest in the music of the 17th century and in multidisciplinarity. It’s important for me that FiBO remains wide and versatile in its range, and I want to make sure that the orchestra member’s ideas for repertoire can be heard in our concert programmes. During the coming years, we will also invite inspiring international guest artists to work with us.”
Presenting Marianna Henriksson
The harpsichordist Marianna Henriksson studied at the Sibelius Academy (Master of Music 2010) and at the Universität der Künste in Berlin (Konzertexamen 2012). She performs as a member of several ensembles as well as a soloist in Finland and abroad. Henriksson likes to work within different music genres as well as with interdisciplinary projects. Together with the choreographer Anna Mustonen, she has created performances that bring together early Baroque music and new dance, like the Maria Vesper (2018) by Monteverdi and Eros (2022), a stage work created around the music of Barbara Strozzi. For their collaboration, Henriksson and Mustonen were awarded the State Prize for the Performing Arts in 2018. To date, Henriksson’s multifaceted work as a musician has also included for instance premieres and premiere recordings of new works for harpsichord, arrangements of folk music, a world tour of a breakdance show and several opera productions, ranging from Monteverdi through Stravinsky to Saariaho. Henriksson’s debut solo album Frammenti del discorso amoroso was released in 2018 and was one of the candidates for the Yle Album of the Year Award in 2018. Her doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy Doctoral School Docmus are at the final stage.
Marianna Henriksson can be contacted at:
+358 50 552 2793
marianna.henriksson(at)fibo.fi