The Opera gets a head start for the Helsinki Festival. In collaboration with the festival, we’re proud to present the Finnish premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s brand new cello concerto — conducted by the composer himself. The cello soloist will be the young virtuoso Nicolas Altstaedt, a rising star of international fame whose skills have swept critics and audiences off their feet.
The concerto, which utilises electronics, has been composed for cellist Yo-Yo Ma and is a joint commission by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Barbican Centre in London and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Fans of Salonen will see their long wait rewarded when the work premieres in Chicage in spring 2017.
The concerto will be complemented by Maurice Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin. Originally composed for the piano, its orchestral version is one of Ravel’s most stunning achievements. Composed between 1914 and 1917, the work echoes the horrors of the First World War: the movements are dedicated to Ravel’s friends and colleagues who perished in the war.
The intensive concert will end with Igor Stravinsky’s Perséphone, a masterwork of Greek mythology that allows the orchestra and chorus to unleash their musical force in its full glory.
Listen the concert online
Listen the radio broadcast from the concert online at Stage24. The broadcast can be listened only in Finland until 9 Sept 2017.
Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera
Chorus and children’s choir of the Finnish National Opera
Production by Helsinki Festival and the Finnish National Opera
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