Archives de l’auteur : Derek Ho

The Helsinki Philharmonic Choir celebrates Schnittke

The Russian composer Alfred Schnittke would have turned 80 this year, and several Helsinki-based musicians and ensembles have quietly acknowledged this anniversary. On this evening's concert, the Helsinki Philharmonic Choir ...

Andrew Litton conducts all-Russian program with the Tampere Philharmonic

The American conductor Andrew Litton is known in the Nordic orchestral world through his work in Bergen, although he has not been engaged by the major Finnish orchestras, at least ...

Strauss’ Olympic Hymn with the Helsinki Philharmonic

Although Richard Strauss' reputation is firmly established in both the concert hall and the opera house, only a handful of the large number of works he wrote for orchestra are ...

Symphonies 4 et 16 de Pettersson de référence par Lindberg

Chaque interprétation de la musique de Pettersson par Christian Lindberg établit une nouvelle référence, et c'est encore le cas pour les Symphonies n° 4 et 16. Le compositeur suédois Allan ...

Aura Go explores four generations of Finnish piano music

Ever since Sibelius, the music of Finnish composers has been a constant presence in orchestral concerts worldwide. Sibelius, Rautavaara, Lindberg, and Salonen are all acknowledged for their mastery of the ...

Excellent, but necessary? Christian Tetzlaff plays Shostakovich’s Violin Concertos

The Finnish record label Ondine seems to be quite interested in Shostakovich right now. Since late 2013, Ondine has released four Shostakovich discs: two featuring vocal-orchestral works, and two featuring ...

Lindberg sets a new reference for Pettersson’s Symphonies No. 4 and 16

Every release of Pettersson music under Christian Lindberg's guidance has set the new reference for each work in question. The Swedish composer Allan Pettersson wrote possibly the most physically, emotionally, and ...

The Radio Filharmonisch Orkest explores Maderna, Castiglioni, and Widmann

The sound worlds of Maderna, Castiglioni and Widmann at the Concertgebouw. The Dutch radio orchestras have had a difficult recent history. In 2010, the Dutch government threatened to completely defund the ...

Finnish RSO season opening concert

Hannu Lintu has enjoyed a long relationship with the Finnish RSO and this collaboration became a commitment during the 2013-2014 season, when Lintu became Chief Conductor of this ensemble. In ...

Karita Mattila sings Schönberg at the Helsinki Festival

The second program of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra at this year's Helsinki Festival was focused on Vienna: Mahler's final symphony. Guest conductor Susanna Mälkki provided three contrasting views on ...

Sibelius Academy Summer Young Talent Series: Elisa Rusi-Matero, violin

One of reasons why classical music continues to thrive in Finland is due to the steady stream of extraordinarily talented musicians trained at the Sibelius Academy. The Summer Young Talent ...

Peter Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the Helsinki Festival

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, despite being one of Canada's flagship ensembles, has had a difficult recent history. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the orchestra struggled with financial difficulties, a ...

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts all-Shostakovich at the Helsinki Festival

The Finnish musical world is rightly proud of its many conductors working on the international circuit, but there seems to be an extra layer of excitement and anticipation whenever Esa-Pekka ...

Sibelius Academy Summer Young Talent Series : Pinja Laine, cello

2014 marks the 80th birthday year of the great Russian composer Alfred Schnittke. Although Schnittke's first cello sonata and first cello concerto are starting to enter the repertoire, most of ...

Young talent at the Helsinki Chamber Summer

Now in its tenth year, the Kamarikesä Festival (Helsinki Chamber Summer) was founded to serve as a platform for young and talented Finnish musicians to showcase their artistry in a ...

John Storgårds parle de son intégrale symphonique de Sibelius

John Storgårds est le nouveau chef qui monte dans le répertoire de Sibelius. Chef principal de l’Orchestre philharmonique d’Helsinki, l’orchestre le plus lié à la musique de Sibelius, il a ...

Jukka-Pekka Saraste dirige Dutilleux à Helsinki

La présence de Jukka-Pekka Saraste est familière au public d’Helsinki où il dirige régulièrement le Philharmonique d’Helsinki et l’Orchestre symphonique de  la Radio finlandaise. Son interprétation se concentre habituellement sur ...

Hartmut Haenchen conducts the Helsinki Philharmonic

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 may be one of the most performed pieces of orchestral music, and the first 2-4 measures of this work could be the most recognized musical excerpt ...

Hannu Lintu, chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

"The audience understood that contemporary music is a natural thing, not something that you should escape from" ResMusica: You are about to finish your first full season as Chief Conductor of ...

Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts the Finnish RSO in Dutilleux, Strauss, and Brahms

Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a familiar presence to Helsinki audiences, regularly conducting both the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. His interpretive style generally focuses on clarity, balance and ...

A journey with quater tones, and death: Hannu Lintu conducts the Tapiola Sinfonietta

For both musicians and audiences only familiar with the Western chromatic scale of 12 pitches, listening to music which employs quarter tones can be a disorienting experience. If a composer ...

John Storgårds talks about his new Sibelius symphony cycle with the BBC Philharmonic

ResMusica: Although this is not a new symphony cycle of Brahms, Beethoven, or even Mahler, now we have new symphony cycle of Sibelius. Many of your Finnish colleagues have already ...

Ville Matvejeff leads the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass

Orchestral concerts in Finland during the Easter season are generally dominated by performances of Bach's Passions. In this concert, the rising conducting talent Ville Matvejeff  provided a refreshing alternative, leading the ...

Rising from the abyss: Leif Segerstam with the Turku Philharmonic

Three cities often come to mind when discussing the Finnish orchestral scene: Helsinki, Lahti, and Tampere. Turku is usually left out of the discussion, but the recent appointment of Leif ...

Nikolai Alexeev conducts all-Shostakovich program with the Estonian National Symphony

According to the marketing materials for this concert, this program featured the “two faces” of Shostakovich. In the suite from Korzinkina’s Adventures we find Shostakovich at his most light-hearted and ...

Sakari Oramo, conductor

ResMusica: You began your career as a violinist, as concertmaster of the Finnish RSO, and now you are conducting the top orchestras of the world. Did you always envision conducting ...

Michael Francis conducts the Helsinki Philharmonic in an all-British Program

Although performances of British music are not entirely rare in Helsinki, an entire evening dedicated to mid-20th century British orchestral music is quite remarkable. Michael Francis, the current chief conductor ...

Kalevi Aho continues his world-music explorations

After Osmo Vänskä became music director of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003, it was not unexpected that he would commission a work from Aho. The composer writes that he was ...

Oslo Philharmonic plays Mahler’s sixth symphony in Helsinki

Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a familiar presence in the Helsinki music scene, regularly guest conducting both the Helsinki Philharmonic and Finnish RSO. On this evening's concert, however, Saraste was not on ...

Alexander Kniazev performs Miaskovsky’s Cello Concerto

The mid-twentieth century cello concerto is dominated by two great Russian works: the Sinfonia Concertante of Prokofiev and the first cello concerto of Shostakovich. Both works feature fiendishly difficult solo ...