SEASON SERIES CONCERT 8: BEETHOVEN & JUHO POHJONEN

Thursday 10.12.2026 at 6pm Kuopio Music Centre Concert Hall

At 5.30 Atrium
PRE-TALK

Kuopio Symphony Orchestra
Jessica Cottis, conductor
Juho Pohjonen, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio Overture Op. 72
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 1 in C major Op. 15
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 5 D in Major

“It’s always a great pleasure to make music with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra. I am so looking forward to returning to conduct two works that, despite the century that separates them, both share a sense of optimism and renewal. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is full of vitality, youthful exuberance and wit. Yet within its more introspective passages we hear Beethoven’s already daring harmonic imagination, as well as moments of incredible mystery and depth. This sense of inward reflection is carried through into Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 5, a masterpiece of great peace and hope. Written during the troubled times of World War II, it is one of the composer’s most transcendent and enduringly beautiful creations. This is music that lifts and brings light to our hearts!”
Jessica Cottis 

The overture to Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, distils the work’s central themes – freedom, courage, and hope – into a musical arc that grows from a gentle opening toward heroic brilliance. 

Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto is one of the composer’s most good-humored works. Its energetic opening movement is breathtakingly inventive, and as a soloist, one gets to playfully engage with constantly new musical ideas. The following Largo offers a moment of timeless and deeply lyrical repose, until the work culminates in an irresistibly rhythmic, mischievous, and spirited finale.
Juho Pohjonen 

Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 5 is one of the most radiant and consoling orchestral works of the 20th century. Composed in the shadow of war, the symphony nevertheless breathes peace, quiet strength, and deep spirituality. At the time, the composer was also working on his large‑scale stage work The Pilgrim’s Progress, and many of the symphony’s themes and moods draw from this long‑standing project. The music carries a sense of spiritual reflection, of wandering and searching, and of profound, comforting humanism. Vaughan Williams’s Fifth has often been seen as a counterforce to the chaos of war – a kind of quiet prayer, cleansing and deeply humane – and it has secured its place as one of the composer’s most beloved symphonies. 

Duration approx. 1 hour 45 minutes including interval.

The concert is included in the Season Series Ticket and Mini Series Ticket 2.

Produced by the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra
Tickets: 34,60 € / 28,10 € senior citizens and groups min. 20 persons / 10,60 € children under the age of 16 and students

SEASON SERIES TICKET

Includes 8 Season Series concerts:
10.9. – 1.10. – 8.10. – 22.10. – 29.10. – 26.11. – 3.12. – 10.12.

Early Bird price 200 € / 160 € senior citizens
Available: 16.4. – 28.5.
Buy Season Series Ticket

Normal price 220 € / 179 € senior citizens
Available: 29.5. – 10.9.

MINI SERIES 2

Miniseries 2
Includes 4 Season Series concerts:
1.10. – 22.10. – 26.11. – 10.12.

Early Bird price 110 / 90 € senior citizens
Available: 16.4. – 28.5.
Buy Miniseries 2

Normal price 120 € / 95 € senior citizens
Available: 29.5. – 1.10.