-        The autumn 2021 season features classics, premieres, and the resumption of the Beethoven concert series

As in all the arts, the past eighteen months have been an unusual time for the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra (OCO). During the autumn 2021 season we hope to be able to perform live music in the concert hall, with due respect for the safety of both audiences and performers. The now familiar streaming will continue for some of the concerts.

The autumn season includes some quite large orchestral works. On the programme for the opening concert on September 3 are two symphonies by Franz Schubert: Nos. 1 and 3, both in D. The OCO and Broman intend to perform all the Schubert symphonies in the next few years.

At its concert on September 24, Johannes Gustavsson will conduct Kokkola’s own orchestra in a concert at which one of the works will be the fourth symphony, the “Italian”, Op. 90 by Felix Mendelssohn. The long-awaited Beethoven series will be resumed with Symphony No. 8 on December 3. The eighth concert in the series, it will be conducted by the orchestra’s founder and Honorary Conductor Juha Kangas.

Our Artistic Director, violinist-leader Malin Broman, will be visiting Kokkola twice during the autumn, on Friday September 3 and Saturday November 13. Among the other conductors this season will be Aku Sorensen (October 16), who was introduced to our Kokkola audience during the visit by the Sibelius Academy conducting class last year, and Anna-Maria Helsing (November 27), Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra and Artistic Director of the RUSK Chamber Music Festival. Versatile conductor Jaakko Kuusisto will conduct our traditional Christmas concert on December 18.

Conductor-violinist Jan Söderblom, a collaborator with the OCO for many years, will be coming to conduct the concert on October 28. On October 7 we welcome a Kokkola first-timer, Alexander Melnikov, who will conduct the concert from the piano and harpsichord. Internationally-acclaimed Topi Lehtipuu, tenor, will conduct the All Saints’ Day concert on November 5, in a work not heard in Kokkola for a long time now, the Stabat Mater by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736).

As usual, the OCO will also be offering some new music – both premieres and the first performances of works not heard before. The Kokkola Quartet will premiere a new work for string quartet by Juho Kangas (b. 1976) on November 16, and a new piece by Jarkko Hartikainen (b. 1981) will have its first performance on October 28. This latter concert will also include the recently-premiered Im Freien by Swedish composer Britta Byström (b. 1977) and some ‘rediscovered’ works by composers such as Finland’s Ida Moberg (1859–1947). The Double Bass Concerto by trending US composer Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980) will have its first Finnish performance in Kokkola on September 3.

The soloists will feature friends both old and new. Appearing for the first time with the OCO in the moving In memoriam concert on November 13 will be British soprano Ruby Hughes. Starring in the All Saints’ Day concert on November 5 will be singers who have won acclaim in international competitions: soprano Johanna Isokoski, a native of Kokkola, and mezzo-soprano Erica Back. The soloist in the OCO concert on September 3 will be another native of Kokkola, Pauli Pappinen, who nowadays plays double bass in Berlin. Irish-German Niamh McKenna, principal flautist in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, is the soloist on September 24, and the soloist in the Kantele Concerto No. 2 by PH Nordgren on Friday December 3 is Eija Kankaanranta. Janne Virkkala, the orchestra’s own second principal cello, will be accompanied by Joel Papinoja in a programme of sonatas for cello and piano in December, thereby rounding off the Beethoven and the Cello chamber music series on December 11.

Soprano Mari Palo has this year been given the honour of curating the programme for the season’s ‘lighter’ concert, An Evening with Mari Palo on Saturday October 16. The concert will be conducted by Aku Sorensen and the programme will consist of some of her favourites: classics, musicals and other lighter numbers. Aarne Pelkonen, a Finnish baritone nowadays much in demand, will join the OCO for the KPO Cooperative concerts on December 9 & 10, for the Christmas concerts in Maalahti and Perho Churches and in Kokkola on December 18.

The OCO will continue its visits to other parts of the region and Finland. At the Niittykoski guest concert in Kaustinen it will perform repertoire to be recorded later in the autumn by Kaustinen folk musician-composer Viljami Niittykoski (1895–1985).

A quartet of OCO players will be touring with ‘Moments from K’ that was part of the Dance All Year Long project held in Kokkola last year. Consisting of music by Ralf Nyqvist and choreography by Mia Malviniemi, it will be performed in Vaasa, Seinäjoki and Pietarsaari between September 28 and October 1.

The whole orchestra is to visit the Schauman Hall in Pietarsaari on September 4 (cond. Malin Broman) and November 27 (The RUSK Chamber Music Festival), the Akustiikka Cultural Centre in Ylivieska (October 8), and the Kaustinen Music Festival on October 29.

The outreach work close to the OCO’s heart will be resumed as Covid permits. We are constantly exploring new avenues that will help us to reach people who for one reason or another cannot make it to a concert hall. We also intend to run our ‘before the concert’ sessions. Details of individual concerts and any alterations should be checked on the orchestra’s website (www.kamariorkesteri.fi) or social media channels.

Only unnumbered seats observing the safety regulations will be sold this autumn for OCO concerts at the Snellman Hall, as they were last season. Tickets are on sale at www.nettiticket.fi.

Should the pandemic situation deteriorate, so that the orchestra cannot perform to a live audience, the concerts will once again go online. There are at this stage plans for hybrid concerts, i.e. both streamed and live, for the following: the opening concert on Friday September 3, An Evening with Mari Palo on Saturday October 16, and In memoriam on Saturday November 16. A charge will be made for these concerts.

The Beethoven 8 concert (Friday December 3) had to be postponed at very short notice in spring 2020. Anyone wishing to update a ticket purchased in spring 2020 for the Beethoven 8 concert in autumn 2021 should do so in good time, at either a Netticket outlet or via the OCO office.

Further info: Sara Nikula-Nyman, Publicity Manager
Tel. 040-762 7616, sara.nikula-nyman@kamariorksteri.fi.