The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (Finnish : Helsingin kaupunginorkesteri; Swedish : Helsingfors stadsorkester; literal English translation: Helsinki City Orchestra; commonly abbreviated as HPO) is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, the Philharmonic Orchestra was the first permanent orchestra in the Nordic countries. Today, its primary concert venue is the Helsinki Music Centre; the current chief conductor is Jukka-Pekka Saraste, who has held his post since the start of the 2023–24 season..
In 1882, with the backing of two wealthy businessmen (Waldemar Klärich and Nikolai Sinebrychoff), the Finnish composer and conductor Robert Kajanus founded the Helsinki Orchestral Association (in Finnish: Helsingin Orkesteriyhdistys; in Swedish: Helsingfors Orkesterförening), [a] the first permanent orchestra in the Nordic countries. [1] Kajanus, who took no salary in the first year, conducted the Orchestral Association in its inaugural concert, on 3 October 1882; [2] the program included, among other pieces, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Mendelssohn's concert overture The Hebrides , and Weber's overture Jubel in E major. [3] The orchestra comprised musicians from Imperial Germany and Imperial Russia, and sensing a need to guarantee the Orchestral Association a supply of domestically-trained musicians, Kajanus on 1 October 1885 founded an attendant music school; initially, the music school employed as its instructors the very foreign musicians it sought, in time, to replace with Finns. [b] [4] In the summer of 1894, the Orchestral Association—worried that its name implied amateurism—renamed itself the Helsinki Philharmonic Society (in Finnish: Helsingin Filharmoninen Seura; in Swedish: Helsingfors Filharmoniska Sällskap); at the same meeting, it changed its rules to allow female students to enroll in the orchestra's music school, although de facto discrimination continued. [5]
In 1912, the Finnish conductor Georg Schnéevoigt—who had served as the principal cellist of the Philharmonic Society from 1895 to 1912 and taught cello at the orchestra school from 1896 to 1902 [6] —founded the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra (in Finnish: Helsingin sinfoniaorkesteri; in Swedish: Helsingfors symfoniorkester). A bitter "feud" between the two competing organizations ensued: with 150,000 residents, Helsinki could not sustain rival orchestras, especially with the Swedish-speaking patrons supporting Schnéevoigt and the Finnish-speakers backing Kajanus. [7] The city recognized the situation was unsustainable, and although each group proposed initially that the other should disband, the two merged and municipalized in 1914 under a new name, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (literally, the Helsinki City Orchestra). [8] In part, the resolution was due to the dawn of the First World War in July 1914: the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra collapsed after the German musicians who formed its backbone were expelled from the country; Kajanus and Schnéevoigt initially co-served as chief conductors of the Philharmonic Orchestra, which then consisted of forty players surviving on starvation wages. [9] [c] During this time, the Philharmonic Orchestra struggled to survive: not only did Kajanus and Schnéevoigt quarrel with each other through the press, but also there were not—despite the orchestral school having been open for decades—enough Finnish musicians to supply the orchestra; in response, Kajanus sought to recruit musicians from neutral countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands. [d] In 1916, Schnéevoigt left the Philharmonic Orchestra to assume the chief conductorship of the Stockholm Concert Society Orchestra (in Swedish: Stockholms Konsertförenings Orkester). [10]
Until 1962, it also served as the orchestra for the Finnish National Opera.
Leif Segerstam was chief conductor of the orchestra from 1995 to 2007, and is now its chief conductor emeritus. John Storgårds became principal guest conductor of the orchestra in 2003, and took up the chief conductorship of the orchestra in the autumn of 2008, with an initial contract of 4 years. Following an initial renewal of his contract through 2014., [11] in October 2013, the orchestra announced a further extension of Storgårds' contract through December 2015, at which time he stood down as chief conductor. [12] [13] In September 2014, the orchestra announced the appointment of Susanna Mälkki as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2016–2017 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. [14] [15] She is the first female conductor to be named to the post in the orchestra's history. [16] In October 2017, the orchestra announced the extension of Mälkki's contract as chief conductor through 2021. [17] In June 2019, the orchestra announced a further extension of her contract as chief conductor through 2023, with an option for a further 2-year extension past 2023. [18] In December 2021, the orchestra announced that Mälkki is to stand down as its chief conductor at the end of the 2022–2023 season, and subsequently to take the title of chief conductor emeritus with the orchestra. [19] In April 2022, the orchestra announced the appointments of Jukka-Pekka Saraste as its next chief conductor, Pekka Kuusisto as its next principal guest conductor, and Anna Clyne as its composer-in-residence, all effective with the 2023–2024 season. [20]
The orchestra has recorded commercially for such labels as Ondine [21] [22] and Finlandia, as well as a smaller number for the EMI, Warner and Deutsche Grammophon labels. In November 2011, the orchestra was the first ensemble to perform reported sketches for the Symphony No. 8 of Jean Sibelius. [23] [24]
Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finnish conductor and violinist.
The Sibelius Academy is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki. The Academy is the only music university in Finland. It is among the biggest European music universities with roughly 1,400 enrolled students.
Leevi Antti Madetoja was a Finnish composer, music critic, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely recognized as one of the most significant Finnish contemporaries of Jean Sibelius, under whom he studied privately from 1908 to 1910.
Leif Selim Segerstam was a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist, and pianist, especially known for writing over 300 symphonies, along with other works.
Jorma Juhani Panula is a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher of conducting. He has mentored many Finnish conductors, such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Klaus Mäkelä and Tarmo Peltokoski.
Kullervo, Op. 7, is a five-movement symphonic work for soprano, baritone, male choir, and orchestra written from 1891–1892 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Movements I, II, and IV are instrumental, whereas III and V feature sung text from Runos XXXV–VI of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic. The piece tells the story of the tragic hero Kullervo, with each movement depicting an episode from his ill-fated life: first, an introduction that establishes the psychology of the titular character; second, a haunting "lullaby with variations" that portrays his unhappy childhood; third, a dramatic dialogue between soloists and chorus in which the hero unknowingly seduces his long-lost sister; fourth, a lively scherzo in which Kullervo seeks redemption on the battlefield; and fifth, a funereal choral finale in which he returns to the spot of his incestuous crime and, guilt-ridden, takes his life by falling on his sword.
En saga, Op. 9, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written from 1891 to 1892 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which likely began as a septet or octet for flute, clarinet, and string ensemble before evolving into an orchestral tone poem, premiered on 16 February 1893 in Helsinki with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Orchestral Association. A decade later in 1902, Sibelius substantially revised En saga in response to an invitation from Ferruccio Busoni to conduct the piece in Berlin. It thus stands alongside The Lemminkäinen Suite (Op. 22), the Violin Concerto (Op. 47), The Oceanides (Op. 73), and the Fifth Symphony (Op. 82) as one of the most overhauled works in his œuvre. The Berlin concert, which occurred a fortnight after Robert Kajanus had premiered the revised version in Helsinki on 2 November, finally brought Sibelius the German breakthrough he had long desired.
Georg Lennart Schnéevoigt was a Finnish conductor and cellist, born in Vyborg, Grand Duchy of Finland, which is now in Russia, to Ernst Schnéevoigt and Rosa Willandt.
Robert Kajanus was a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher. In 1882, he founded the Helsinki Orchestral Society, Finland's first professional orchestra. As a conductor, he was also a notable champion and interpreter of the music of Jean Sibelius.
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a Finnish broadcast orchestra based in Helsinki, and the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The orchestra primarily gives concerts at the Helsinki Music Centre. Primary funding comes from television licence fees from the Finnish population.
Susanna Ulla Marjukka Mälkki is a Finnish conductor and cellist.
Ondine is a Finnish classical record label founded in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland. Its catalogue with several award-winning releases includes over 600 titles with major Finnish and international artists.
John Gunnar Rafael Storgårds is a Finnish conductor and violinist.
The Helsinki Music Centre is a concert hall and a music center in Töölönlahti, Helsinki. The building is home to Sibelius Academy and two symphony orchestras, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra is a Finnish orchestra based in Turku, Finland. The oldest orchestra in Finland, the Turku Philharmonic is resident at the Turku Concert Hall, the first purpose-built concert hall in Finland, completed in 1952.
Elegia, Op. 4/1, is a composition for string orchestra by the Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja, who wrote the piece in 1909 during his student years. On 10 January 1910, Robert Kajanus, chief conductor of the Helsinki Orchestral Society, premiered the Elegia to great acclaim, with the piece described as the "first master work" of a budding "natural orchestral composer". Madetoja subsequently designated the Elegia as the first number in his four-movement Sinfoninen sarja, Op. 4, which the Helsinki Orchestral Society performed in its entirety under the composer's baton on 26 September 1910. The suite's three other numbers are virtually unknown, and the Elegia typically is performed as a stand-alone concert piece. Stylistically reminiscent of Tchaikovsky, it is, to date, Madetoja's most recorded and well-known orchestral composition, as well as the most enduringly popular of his many miniatures.
Sebastian Hilli is a Finnish composer. Hilli studied composition at the Sibelius Academy and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Lauri Kilpiö, Michael Jarrell and Veli-Matti Puumala. Hilli's works are published exclusively by Schott Music.
The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) was one of the most important symphonists of the early twentieth century: his seven symphonies, written between 1899 and 1924, are the core of his oeuvre and stalwarts of the standard concert repertoire. Many of classical music's conductor–orchestra partnerships have recorded the complete set, colloquially known as the "Sibelius cycle". Specifically, the standard cycle includes:
Kullervo, Op. 15, is a symphonic poem for orchestra written in 1913 by Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja. The piece premiered on 14 October 1913 with Madetoja conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Society.
James Salomon Kahane is a French-German conductor. Known professionally as James S. Kahane, he is currently principal conductor of the Polytech Orchestra and the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, co-principal conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de la Drôme, and music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.