Finlandia – Festival Finale
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Sunday, 4 May 2025
6:30 pm
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Snow Concert Hall
Canberra Grammar, Monaro Crescent
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General Admission $78,
Concession $various
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In Association with
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With Support From
Anchored by the beloved hymn Finlandia and featuring a debut collaboration with an ensemble of powerhouse, Australian-based Finnish musicians, this program promises to captivate audiences with its scale and artistic depth. Featuring over 200 voices from local choirs and community singers, it celebrates Finnish-Australian relations in a unique, participatory event. Audiences can enjoy the world premiere of music sung in the ancient language of Gathang, composed by Nicole Smede or revel in the return of beloved artists from the current and previous festivals. With a strong presence of female voices including CIMF composer-in-residence Olivia Davies and the legendary Kaija Saariaho, this program spotlights Australian composers alongside Finland’s finest, culminating in an inspiring and heartfelt festival finale.
PROGRAM
Works by Sibelius, Saariaho, Olivia Davies, Nicole Smede and Helvi Leiviskä
ARTISTS
Satu Vänskä (violin)
Timo-Veikko ‘Tipi’ Valve (cello)
Erkki Veltheim (violin / viola / electric violin / composition)
Paavali Jumpannen (piano)
Flinders Quartet
Mark Atkins (yidaki/digeridoo)
Gaël Chauvin, Mickaël Cozien, Erwan Keravec, Enora Morice (pipers)
Eugene Ughetti (percussion)
Community Choirs: comprising 200-300 voices (SATB)
Roland Peelman AM (conductor)
UNLEASH YOUR TALENT
For those with a passion for singing, our choir project offers the chance to elevate your voice alongside a vibrant community of singers, culminating in the powerful and inspiring and heartfelt Festival finale – Sing with us – Expression of Interest.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This concert is generously supported by Margaret and John Saboisky.
Photo credit – Joakim Honkasalo
Click here to BECOME A MEMBER.
VISIT ACCESSING THE SNOW CONCERT HALL for information on PARKING and ACCESS. LOCATION MAP
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Sunday, 4 May 2025
6:30 pm
-
Snow Concert Hall
Canberra Grammar, Monaro Crescent
-
General Admission $78,
Concession $various
ARTIST Learn more about the artist
Artist Roland Peelman AM
“His encyclopaedic understanding of performing and visual arts and his theatrical instinct place him in constant demand as a musician of flair and imagination.” – Antony Jeffrey, Many Faces of Inspiration.
Born in Belgium, Roland Peelman has been active in Australia over 30 years as a conductor, pianist, artistic director and mentor to composers, singers and musicians alike. He has established a reputation as one of Australia’s most innovative musical directors, awarded with numerous accolades. On the sidelines, Roland remained active as a pianist, putting his fingers in the service of social activism, in particular Human Rights.
Artist Erkki Veltheim - composer/performer
Erkki Veltheim is an Australian/Finnish composer and performer. His practice spans noise, audio-visual installation, improvisation, notated music, electro-acoustic composition, pop arrangements and cross-disciplinary performance. Erkki has been commissioned by the Adelaide Festival, Vivid Festival, Australian Art Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Musica nova Helsink and composed the orchestral works for celebrated Australian indigenous musician Gurrumul’s posthumous album Djarimirri.
Photo by Aaron Chua
Artist Tipi Valve - cello
Timo-Veikko Valve, affectionately known by audiences far and wide as “Tipi”, grew up in Finland, surrounded by a family who are “musically oriented normal people”. Music lessons were a natural part of his upbringing, and at six years old, Tipi was encouraged to pick up the cello after a teacher at the local music school declared with considerable conviction that “he looks just like a cellist!”. To this day, Tipi remains somewhat puzzled about what that statement actually meant. Whatever the subtext, the teacher seems to have been correct.
Artist Erwan Keravec - highland bagpiper, composer and improviser
Artist Oriana Chorale
Founded in 1977, the Oriana Chorale is an auditioned group of professional and amateur musicians who are dedicated to quality performance of a diverse selection of choral music.
Oriana’s mission is enriching the cultural life of Canberra with choral music projects of the highest standard, both a capella and with instrumental accompaniment. The Chorale repertoire ranges from Schütz, Tallis and Byrd, to Rachmaninov, Pärt, Whitacre, and contemporary Australian composers.
Directed by Dan Walker, the Chorale presents three major concerts each year, often with associate artists, and is a regular participant in the Canberra International Music Festival as well as a collaborator of prominent vocal ensembles such as The Song Company and The Tallis Scholars. Members of the community have the opportunity to join the Chorale for its annual choral workshops.
Artist Paavali Jumppanen - piano
In the span of recent seasons, the imaginative and versatile Finnish virtuoso Paavali Jumppanen has established himself as a dynamic musician of seemingly unlimited capability as a solo recitalist, orchestral collaborator, recording artist, artistic director, and frequent performer of contemporary and avant-garde music.
Artist Satu Vänskä - violin
Born to a Finnish family in Japan, violinist Satu Vänskä has developed an international profile through her role as Principal Violin with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, a position that she has held for the past twenty years. In that time Satu has both directed and performed as soloist with the ACO, an ensemble regarded as one of the greatest chamber orchestras in the world, hailed for its striking virtuosity and innovative programming.
Satu’s development of solo violin projects is reflective of her desire to continually evolve as a musician and to courageously embrace new musical challenges. She has a passion for dynamic programming that explores the link between old and new music, alongside presenting boundary-blurring cross-genre collaborations, that resonate with today’s classical music audiences.
Artist Kompactus Youth Choir
Kompactus is a youth chamber choir, aimed at developing the skills of talented singers between the ages of eighteen and thirty. Founded in 2008 with countertenor David Yardley as director, The group now performs regularly in Canberra, under the artistic direction of composer and choral conductor, Olivia Swift.
Kompactus maintains a diverse and versatile repertoire, drawn from many time periods and styles stretching as far back as the late medieval through to modern contemporary music. Kompactus has sung at the Canberra International Music Festival, as part of the Flowers of Peace series, at Floriade and many more, as well as regularly performing around our local Canberra.
Photo credit – Jorge Garcia
Artist Mark Atkins - yidaki (didgeridoo)
Acknowledged as one of Australia’s finest Yidaki (didgeridoo) players, Mark Atkins is also recognised internationally for his collaborative projects with some of the world’s leading composers and musicians. A descendant of Western Australia’s Yamitji people, as well as of Irish/Australian heritage, Mark is known not only for his masterly playing, but also as a storyteller, composer, percussionist, visual artist and instrument maker. Mark has performed alongside and composed with artists such as Led Zeppelin, JimmyPage and Robert Plant, Sinead O’Connor, Philip Glass, Donald Lunney, Ornette Coleman, Peter Sculthorpe, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Gondwana, Jenny Morris, John Williamson, James Morrison, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO). He is a founding member of Black Arm Band.
Photo by Kristian Gehradte
Artist Flinders Quartet
Flinders Quartet (FQ) is instantly recognisable as one of Australia’s most loved chamber music ensembles. A quartet for the 21st century and a highly respected force in Australian chamber music, FQ marks their twenty-fifth anniversary with acknowledged musical skill and maturity.
FQ lives up to their motto of “caring for tradition, daring to be different” through a busy schedule encompassing live and online performances, commissioning, recording, education and mentorship programs including the successful composer development programs ‘Ascend’ and ‘Emerge’, and outreach activities through their artistic patronage of John Noble’s Itet regional quartet program, Resonance String Orchestra, and Musica Viva’s Strike a Chord championship.
Photo credit – Pia Johnson