Sibelius was caught in the upsurge of Finnish national awareness when, in 1891, he travelled abroad. In his quest for his roots, he found in Vienna his inner rune singer. Inspired by the Finnish national epic, Kalevala, he composed a symphonic poem lasting over an hour about the epic’s most tragic character, Kullervo. Here to perform one of the most monolithic works in Finnish symphonic literature is a real Dream Team led by Sakari Oramo, Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with Ville Rusanen and Tuija Knihtilä, both of whom have sung this symphony many times across the world, the Polytech Choir, the OCO and the Oulu Symphony Orchestra.