Finland’s oldest annual contemporary music festival gathers the top names of contemporary music to Viitasaari again from 4th to 9th of July. The festival will be opened by London Sinfonietta, who are visiting Finland for the first time in 30 years. Other guests include for example the composer-singer Joan La Barbara, the Swedish ensemble Norrbotten NEO and the Australian composer Liza Lim.
London Sinfonietta’s concerts at Viitasaari will feature Hans Werner Henze‘s song cycle Voices, one of the landmark works of contemporary music, for the first time in Finland. The piece dealing with current topics will be performed as a set of two concerts on July 4-5. These concerts also include world premieres related to current social themes.
The American Joan La Barbara is known as a versatile performer who has expanded the expressive possibilities of the human voice with non-traditional singing techniques. In Viitasaari, she will perform her own works as well as, among other things, the music of her long-time colleague John Cage. La Barbara will also be heard in the Voices & Turntables concert together with composer-sound artist Mariam Rezaei. In the John Cage: Song Books concert, Cage’s extensive work collection Song Books will be performed by the students of the Time of Music course led by La Barbara.
In her works, the award-winning Australian composer Liza Lim explores, for example, the supernatural and rituals, as well as fireflies and other light-producing creatures. At Time of Music, her works will be performed by Norrbotten NEO as well as the Canadian string quartet Quatuor Bozzini. From Lim, also a piece called Extinction events and dawn chorus will be heard. The piece is a powerful reminder of the problems caused by the plastic waste in the oceans.
The closing concert Between Light and Dark at the Viitasaari church will concentrate on the twilight atmosphere between night and day. The program includes, among others, works by the Finnish Minna Leinonen and the Australian Kate Moore, that are inspired by the sounds of nature, whereas Celestial Beings by the Finnish Cecilia Damström introduces the listeners to the goddesses of ancient Greece.
Other top moments of Time of Music include for example Riot Ensemble‘s concert in the dark and a meditative sound and space work realized by Quatuor Bozzini. The performance of the NEKO3 ensemble mentioned in some mentioned in some earlier releases will instead be moved to next year.
Tickets are on sale at Lippupiste from June 1st on. At Time of Music, in addition to individual tickets, you can buy a cheap festival pass covering the entire festival, as well as day tickets. A joint ticket for two concerts is also available for the 21st Century Voices concerts of London Sinfonietta and top soloists. You can find the entire program on our website at musiikinaika.org/en, and tickets can be bought on Lippupiste’s online store.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Communications coordinator Sampsa Heiniö, press.musiikinaika@gmail.com +358 40 671 2977
Artistic director Johan Tallgren, johan.tallgren@musiikinaika.org, +358 40 742 6345
