The program of Time of Music has been published. The theme in this year’s festival is Timeshifts – Memorials for the future. The program will include traditional concerts, hybrid events, and a 20-minute ritualistic installation that can only be accessed by two people at a time. There will be extraordinarily many Finnish ensembles and artists in Viitasaari this summer as well as several domestic premieres. Due to possible corona-restrictions, the number of tickets has been limited.
The concerts in Time of Music festival from 6th to 11th July 2021 in Viitasaari will tell about the friction, helplessness and loss of the transition period. According to the festival’s artistic director Johan Tallgren art is a primary way for society to process loss. “I wanted to make a festival that tries to understand and deal with the chance of an era in the middle of crisis, not to dodge it”, Tallgren says. The small chamber concerts of the summer 2021 Time of Music are symbolic memorials for the future and manifestations of the importance of remembering. These issues are worked on by Uusinta Ensemble, Tristero Trio, Kaaos ensemble and guitarist Petri Kumela in their concerts.
As an experimental festival, Time of Music is also open to present new forms of artistic processes. The collaborative chain poem, Nagori Rengakai, that is created during the festival is a kind of “comprovisation”. The audience can follow daily on the digital channels of the festival for one hour starting at 6 pm finnish time how the material of the process accumulates. The medieval Japanese chain poetry tradition Renga, which was already of interest to John Cage, gets its digital counterpart when the multicultural Ensemble Extrakte, led by composer curator Sandeep Bhagwati, and Finnish Tölöläb, record and process video material in Viitasaari and Berlin remotely. A total of 10 musicians are involved, e.g. Sheng virtuoso Wu Wei, tabla artist Ravi Srinivasa and in Viitasaari, in addition to Bhagwati, e.g. Taavi Oramo, Turkka Inkilä and Bulgarian folk singer Deniza Popova to name a few. The outcome of the process will be heard in an online concert on Saturday 10.7. at 6 pm. The performances are free to watch online.
A completely different experience is offered by composer Brigitta Muntendorf and director Michael Höppner: Memorial of Rebellion is in itself a child of the pandemic. Since their song-play Songs of Rebellion could not be performed last year, they made an installation version of their work that at the same time remembers all the rebellions we have failed to carry out. The ritual-like installation at the Old School of Viitasaari can only be experienced by 2 people at a time. Pieces by Muntendorf will also be heard in other concerts at the festival, the largest beeing an extensive 45-minute trilogy for two pianos and electronics. It will be performed by pianists Mirka Viitala and Emil Holmström at the Viitasaari Arena on Sunday 11th July.
Concerts feature Finnish artists and premieres
This summer several Finnish premieres will be heard at Time of Music. Two new works by Sibelius Academy graduate Mioko Yokoyama, who has made Finland here home, will be heard. Uusinta Ensemble premieres the sextet There are always flowers and Tristero Trio premieres Kinesis. A work called Hauraskidelaskeuma by Kimmo Kuokkala will get its premiere in the same concert of Tristero Trio. Violinist Eriikka Maalismaa performs Minna Leinonen‘s Second Mirror and Lauri Supponen‘s Picea. In addition, there will be a wide selection of chamber music by Erik Bergman, who is celebrating his 110th anniversary.
A novel perspective to the past is offered by Mia Simanainen and Quartet Ajaton with their concert “Early Music in the Latest Way”, on Saturday 7th of July. In addition to singer Mia Simanainen, Henrik Sandås (bandoneón), Kari Ikonen (moog synthesizer) and Markus Hohti (baroque cello) take the stage interpret Renaissance and Baroque songs in a contemporary way.
Due to the corona restrictions and safety distances that may still stand in July, the number of spectators at the concerts has been limited. That’s why it’s definitely worth buying concert tickets this summer in advance. It is also advisable to book your visit in advance for the installation. The tickets will be available later at Lippupiste online shop. The start of ticket sales will be announced in a newsletter and at our web pages www.timeofmusic.org.
Further information:
Artistic director Johan Tallgren, johan.tallgren@musiikinaika.org, Tel +358 40 724 6345