Day 4 - Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival 2010

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Day 4: Australian dress code for the sweltering Kuhmo heat during the first week:

Kontio School - one of the four venues - after concert:
Martti Rousi, cellist, and Valeria Resjan, piano.

Violinist Elina Vähälä - stylish as ever - even on the bicycle!

In between concerts: musicians (cellist David Cohen from Belgium),
staff, audience - all together...

Back to Kontio school for the next concert.

Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival Featured Composer 2010 -

Kaija Saariaho:

Life and work

Kaija Saariaho was born in Helsinki and studied music at the Sibelius Academy there. She later studied in Freiburg (under
Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber) and at IRCAM in Paris. Most critics, however, cite spectral music composers Gérard
Grisey and Tristan Murail as her largest influences. Her work in the 1980s and 1990s is marked by its emphasis on timbre
and use of electronics alongside traditional instruments; Nymphéa (Jardin secret III) (1987), for example, is for string quartet
and live electronics. It contains an additional vocal element: the musicians whispering the words to a poem by Tarkovsky. In
the late 1990s Saariaho began to expand beyond electronics, often writing strictly acoustic pieces, focusing increasingly on
melody.

Saariaho was influenced by post-serialism, but she grew to find it too restrictive: "You were not allowed to have pulse, or
tonally oriented harmonies, or melodies. I don't want to write music through negations. Everything is permissible as long as
it's done in good taste."

She has won the Prix Italia and, in 1989, the Prix Ars Electronica; received commissions from Lincoln Center for the Kronos
Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Intercontemporain; and has been the subject of a pan-European collaborative
project to produce a CD-ROM Prisma about her work.

In 2000 she won the Nordic Council Music Prize for the work Lonh for soprano and electronics.

She was awarded the title Musician of the Year 2008 (announced by Musical America, the US publishing company for
performing arts), for being "among the few contemporary composers to achieve public acclaim as well as universal critical
respect".

Invited by Walter Fink, she was the 20th composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik
Festival in 2010, the second female composer after Sofia Gubaidulina. Music included Sept Papillons for cello solo (2000),
played by Anssi Karttunen, and Quatre Instants for soprano and piano (2002), performed by Pia Freund and David Lively.
An orchestral concert with the SWR Sinfonieorchester, conducted by Susanna Mälkki, featured Aile du songe, a flute
concerto with soloist Camilla Hoitenga, and Laterna Magica.

Kuhmo Church - another festival venue...

The Festival Cafe - with extremely hardworking staff serving great 'fast food'
such as salmon steaks and elk fries.

Kuhmo Arts Centre details.

 A group of stage hands arriving for yet another concert assignment,
and what a brilliant job they did!

Kuhmo Art Centre:

 

The youngest Kuhmo Festival 2010 performer, cellist Joona Pulkkinen
- we are bound to hear a lot of him (and his playing) in the future!

Artist audience relaxing during the hot (hence the fan) Arts Centre interval:
Katsunori Seo (flutist, left), Ashley Wass (pianist, in red tee), Ilya Gringolts (violinist),
and a general audience member trying to get cool.

Two pianists having a chat: Irina Zahharenkova and Paavali Jumppanen.

An actual scene outside during one of the late concert intervals in the Arts Centre.

And back 'home' after midnight

WEDNESDAY 14.7.

10 11.30 Kuhmo Church €19.50/14

The Bach Family

Johann Christoph Bach (1642–1703):

Chaconne from the cantata Meine Freundin, du bist schön 

Haller, Gringolts, Rohde, Donin, Maijala, Wilson, Schmidt

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710–1784):

Pieces for Clock Organ

Pedrini

J.S. Bach (1685–1750):

Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007 for Solo Cello 

Maintz

Intermission

C.Ph.E. Bach (1714–1788):

Fantasy and Fugue in C minor, H 75.5

Pedrini

J.S. Bach:

Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008 for Solo Cello 

Geringas

J.C. Bach (1735-1782) - W.A. Mozart (1756–1791):

Piano Concerto in D, K. 107/1 

Wass, Hughes, Petitdemange, Lehto, Lindroos

P.D.Q. Bach (1807–1742):

Encore: Aria from the Sonata for Viola Four Hands and Harpsichord, S. 440

Bogino, Vähälä, Deschamps, Schmidt

11 15.00 Kuhmo Arts Centre €19.50/14

Haydn

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809):

Baryton Duet in D, Hob. X:11 

Baryton Duet in D, Hob. XII:3+5 

Geringas, Maintz

Baryton Trio in D, H. 11/97 

Geringas, Rohde, Maintz

Intermission

Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806):

Little Organ Pieces for Organ

Pedrini

Joseph Haydn:

Piano Trio No. 25 in C, Hob. XV: 27

Yang, Lehto, Kudritskaya

12 18.00 Kontio School €19.50/14

The Mendelssohns

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847):

Lied ohne Worte in D, Op. 109 for Cello and Piano 

Rousi, M. Kärkkäinen

Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847):

Das Jahr for Piano

Mikkola

Arnold Mendelssohn (1855–1933):

Violin Sonata in C, Op. 71, 1st movement

Mikkola, Yang

Alfred Mendelssohn (1910–1966):

String Quartet No. 8 

Meta4

Intermission

Felix Mendelssohn:

String Octet in E flat, Op. 20 

Shaham, Tikkanen, Heikinheimo, Pensola, Kilpeläinen, Stasevska, Lee, Djupsjöbacka

13 21.15 Kuhmo Arts Centre €19.50/14

J.S. Bach (1685–1750):

Suite No. 3 in C, BWV 1009 for Solo Cello (arr. for Cello and Piano by R. Schumann)

Maintz, Zahharenkova

Robert Schumann (1810–1856):

Three Romances, Op. 94 for Clarinet and Piano 

Sundqvist, Mikkola

 

Clara Schumann (1819–1896):

Piano Concerto No. 1 in A, Op. 7 (arr. for Piano and String Quintet by R. Schumann)

Kudritskaya, V. Szigeti, Yang, Mendelssohn, Djupsjöbacka, Simon

Intermission

Robert Schumann:

Piano Quintet in E flat, Op. 44

Resjan, Gringolts, V. Szigeti, Riebl, Rousi