Season Concert Series Spring 2023 starts with the new KSO Chief Conductor and ends with Rite of Spring

Published 16.12.2022

Season tickets available at Early Bird prices until 2nd of January

The Kuopio Symphony Orchestra’s Season Concert Series in Spring 2023 will introduce both contemporary music and classics from different time periods. There will also be glimpses of jazz music and circus among others in the programme. The KSO guest conductors and soloists will include both international and Finnish stars. The season concert series starts on the 2nd of February under the baton of the new KSO Chief Conductor, Eugene Tzigane, and will end on the 27th of May with the Rite of Spring. The season tickets are available at Early Bird prices until the 2nd of January.

The first season concert Welcome Eugene! on the 2nd of February represents the new KSO Chief Conductor Eugene Tzigane. The soloist will be the Czech Zuzana Rzounková, who is the solo French horn player of the Prague Symphony Orchestra. She will perform the First French Horn Concerto by Richard Strauss composed when Strauss was only 18 years old. The concert will begin with Kurt Schwertsik’s Shrunken Symphony (1999) and end with Franz Schubert’s Symphony in C, one of the great symphonies starting the Romantic era.

Enigmas and Treasures on the 9th of February with an English programme will introduce a rarely performed Piano Concerto by Dorothy Howell composed in the 1920’s. This skillfully constructed piece of the Late Romanticism style will be interpreted by the British pianist Danny Driver, now making his debut in Kuopio. We will also hear Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Anna Clyne’s Pivot, which was composed for the Edinburgh Festival last year. The orchestra will be conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing, who will revisit Kuopio.

On the 23rd of February at the Nature Murmurs concert we will enjoy the Danish Carl Nielsen’s Flute Concerto, where the flute is interacting humorously with the other orchestra instruments. The soloist will be the German-Irish Niamh McKenna, who works as the solo flutist of the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra. Voices from the nature can be heard in Richard Wagner’s Forest Murmurs and in Felix Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony conducted by Olari Elts, the Chief Concuctor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

On the 23rd of March it is Time for Miracles – we will hear Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto, which requires both technical and interpreting skills. The soloist will be Marko Ylönen, whose career includes performing as a soloist and a chamber musician, recitals around the world, rewards, recordings and teaching among others. Alissa Firsova’s Stages, based on Herman Hesse’s poem, will have its Finnish premiere and the programme also includes György Ligeti’s Concert Romănesc and Joseph Haydn’s 96th symphony, also titled as The Miracle. The orchestra will be conducted by Leo McFall.

Visual elements of circus will join with the orchestral music on the 14th of April at the Sounds of Circus season concert, where the professional artists of the Kuopio Circus will perform with different circus instruments to the music. Under the baton of Jukka Untamala, we can experience the cold atmosphere of North in Einar Englund’s White Reindeer Suite, whereas Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo will take us under the Andalucian sun. The soloist will be Anna Murtola, the world’s northernmost flamenco singer. As an overture we will hear Andrea Tarrodi’s Lucioles.

On the 20th of April we will enjoy a guest performance by the winner of the International Maj Lind Piano Competition 2022, Piotr Pawlak in Poetic Rachmaninov. He will interpret one of the most familiar concertos of the Romantic era, Sergey Rachmaninov’s 2nd piano concerto. The concert will begin with Guillaume Lekeu’s Adagio for String Orchestra and end with the Norwegian Johan Svendsen’s beautiful 2nd symphony conducted by Ari Rasilainen, a familiar guest conductor in Kuopio.

Evolving Spring on the 11th of May will introduce jazzy influences when the cellist and improviser guru Matthew Barley, who has long been shaking up the classical scene with his collaborations and inventive approaches to performance, will play Misha Mullov-Abbado’s cello concerto Evolving Spring. Barley also played in the premiere of the piece in 2019. Before the concerto we will hear Wiima by Jaakko Kuusisto, the former KSO Chief Conductor, and Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings conducted by Michael Seal.

Rite of Spring will crown the Spring Season as the KSO fills the stage together with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. Igor Stravinsky’s legendary Rite of Spring is considered to be the most influential piece of music of the 20th century. Its primeval chords, pounding rhythms, and deafening volume will keep both players and spectators alike on their toes foreshadowed the events which left the world irrevocably altered. The soloist of the evening will be the British baritone, multiple-time Gramophone winner Sir Simon Keenlyside, who will perform Gustav Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer. The concert that will finally be realised after a three-year wait, will be conducted by Rumon Gamba, Oulu Symphony’s Chief Conductor.

The KSO Season Series Spring 2023 Season Ticket includes all of the above mentioned 8 concerts. The Season Tickets are available at Early Bird prices until the 2nd of January.

Early Bird Season Ticket (20€ discount): 200 € basic price / 160 € senior citizens

Normal Price Season Ticket: 220 € basic price / 179 € senior citizens. Normal Price Season Tickets are available for purchase starting from 3 Jan, 2023 until 2 Feb, 2023.

KUOPIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Producer & Publicity Manager Elina Prepula, tel. 044 718 2364, elina.prepula(at)kuopio.fi
www.kuopionkaupunginorkesteri.fi | Facebook: Kuopionkaupunginorkesteri | Instagram: kuopionkaupunginorkesteri