CANCELLED: hr-Sinfonieorchester / Wei / Apkalna / Slobodeniouk

The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki is a famous breeding ground for young talent – not just for conductors, but for composers as well. The concert with the hr Symphony Orchestra at the new festival »Elbphilharmonie Visions« presents not one but four prominent graduates from the Academy: on the rostrum, the Russian-Finnish conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, while the programme features works by three Finnish composers – Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka Tiensuu and Kaija Saariaho.

The evening opens with a piece by Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is internationally sought-after as both a composer and a conductor. »Nyx« is a Greek goddess whose enigmatic character inspired the capricious musical events in this piece dating from 2011. Like Salonen, his countryman Jukka Tiensuu is a true all-rounder, jumping to and fro between his activities as Baroque interpreter, avant-garde specialist, improviser and composer. His Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra was first performed in Seoul in 2015, with Wu Wei, the international expert on the Chinese mouth organ, the soloist on that occasion as he is tonight.

The concert is rounded off by Kaija Saariaho, the grande dame of Finnish composers. Her 2014 work »Maan varjot« presents the organ as the queen of instruments – played here by Elbphilharmonie titular organist Iveta Apkalna – and the equal of the »huge instrument« that the orchestra is.