The programme for the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra's autumn season has been announced. The autumn 2024 season will begin John Storgårds' tenure as Chief Conductor and a series focusing on the music of composer Antonín Dvořák.
Ohjelmassa on suosikkisäveliä muun muassa Ludwig van Beethovenilta ja Jean Sibeliukselta, ranskalaisten säveltäjien teoksia, elokuvamusiikkia, Bruckneria sekä kahden pianosolistin ilta. Kauden taiteilijavieraisiin lukeutuvat ilmiömäinen virtuoositrumpetisti Håkan Hardenberger, vuoden 2022 Jean Sibelius -viulukilpailun voittaja Inmo Yang, klassisen harmonikan suurlähettiläs Ksenija Sidorova, monipuolinen musiikkitaituri ja viulisti Malin Broman sekä TFO:n päävierailija, kapellimestari Christian Kluxen.
The programme further includes favourites by Ludwig van Beethoven and Jean Sibelius, works by French composers, film music, Bruckner and an evening with two piano soloists. The season's guest artists include the phenomenal virtuoso trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger, the winner of the 2022 Jean Sibelius Violin Competition Inmo Yang, classical harmonica ambassador Ksenija Sidorova, versatile music talent and violinist Malin Broman and TPO's Principal Guest Conductor Christian Kluxen.
Storgårds begins in Turku with Bruckner
John Storgårds opens his tenure as Chief Conductor and the TPO's autumn season with Anton Bruckner concerts on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 September. The evening progresses from charming orchestral pieces with soloists and the Key Ensemble choir through Missa solemnis and to the Ninth Symphony, which will convince listeners of the skills of the composer known as a great symphonist. On the evening of Bruckner´s 200th birthday, Professor of Cultural History Hannu Salmi will talk about the composer's fascinating life and his most important works in the Studio of the Main Library in Turku.
On Thursday 26 September, Storgårds and trumpet legend Håkan Hardenberger are ready to dazzle! Hardenberger will perform Joseph Haydn's Trumpet Concerto and Betsy Jolas' Onze Lieder. The concert opens the TPO's Antonín Dvořák cycle with the composer's third symphony. The Turku Philharmonic will perform the composers all nine symphonies and the piano, violin and cello concertos during the 2024-2026 season at the Concert Hall.
The third of Storgårds' concerts will take place at the end of October. Cello soloist Jonathan Roozeman will interpret TFO's resident composer Sebastian Fagerlund's concerto Nomade, whose title refers to the journey of a cellist-wanderer through different landscapes and atmospheres, on 24-25 October. Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and Frederick Delius' The Walk to the Paradise Garden from the opera A Village Romeo and Juliet build a powerful romantic emotional avalanche around the Cello Concerto.
Autumn concerts include favourite pieces of music and top soloists
On Thursday 12 September, TPO´s concertmaster Philip Zuckerman will perform Max Bruch's emotional and romantic Violin Concerto. Under the baton of Joseph Swensen, Beethoven's Symphony No 5 will be performed in the second half of the concert. Conductor Kensho Watanabe brings music by Richard Strauss, Arnold Schönberg and Johannes Brahms to Turku on Friday 20 September. The works are based on texts about love and raging emotions.
In October, Principal Guest Conductor Christian Kluxen and violinist Inmo Yang will take the audience to Jean Sibelius' most popular works: Yang will interpret the beloved Violin Concerto and Kluxen will conduct the Fifth Symphony in two concerts on 10 and 11 October. The Sibelius theme continues on Saturday 12 October, when the Sibelius Museum will present the composer's Piano Quintet in the new critical edition of the Jean Sibelius Works series. On Thursday 31 October, Juilliard educated conductor Ruth Reinhardt and pianist Alessio Bax will take the audience into the world of Bohemian music.
Malin Broman takes on the French repertoire with skill and style on Thursday 7 November and Friday 8 November, with music by Louise Farrenc, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel and Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony 31 "The Parisian". The good guys and bad guys of film music will go head-to-head on Thursday 14 November and Friday 15 November in concerts conducted by Gudrun Dahlkvist. On Friday 22.11., accordion star Ksenija Sidorova will be the soloist, and George Gershwin and Astor Piazzolla's accordion works will be sprinkled with a dose of spirited jazz and tango influences. On Thursday 28 and Friday 29 November, TFO will join forces with conductor Ville Vannemaa, the Turku Jazz Orchestra and pianists Seppo Kantonen and Aki Rissanen. Finnish piano classics for two pianos and large orchestra will be performed in impressive arrangements by Vannemaa.
In addition to symphony concerts, the season includes popular chamber music concerts in atmospheric Turku settings, a family musical fairy tale Pekka ja susi, and a Christmas evening at the Konserttitalo at the end of the season.