About Korsholm Music Festival

31 July – 7 August 2013

Waves of Change

Welcome to Korsholm Music Festival, held in the city and region of Vaasa and Korsholm. Vaasa is situated on the west coast 450 km north of Helsinki and 45 minutes by flight and 60 minutes away from Stockholm. Direct flights operate on a regular basis from Copenhagen (1.5 hours), Riga (1.5 hours) and Umeå (20 minutes) in Sweden.

The coastline and the archipelago of Vaasa and Korsholm are among the most beautiful areas in the Nordic region. Since 1983 the Korsholm Music Festival has invited leading Nordic and international artists to perform during these wonderful summer weeks with music ranging from baroque compositions to classical chamber works and new music.

The festival, that is one of the most acknowledged chamber music festivals in Finland, brings its own mood to this coastal region as music resounds in concert halls, restaurants, museums and idyllic church buildings. Our famous “daylight” during the nights brings a special magic to the festival atmosphere!

Korsholm Music Festival is changing the waves this year. The time for the festival is from 31 July to 7 August 2013. Our new Artistic Director is Henri Sigfridsson (piano). Sigfridsson is working as a professor in chamber music and piano at the Folkwang University of Art in Germany.

The theme for the festival in 2013 is called “Waves of Change”. We move from Baroque period to the Viennese classicism led by sons of Bach, Scarlatti and Boccherini among others. From the Classicism we move to the Romantic era by following the footsteps of composers such as Spohr, Stamitz, Berwald and Mendelssohn. Between the Romanticism and the Impressionism we find Chausson’s touching pieces and from the beginning of the Modernism we hear, as one example, Stravinsky’s sensational ballet The Rite of Spring in an arrangement for piano and accordion!

Our guest composer this year is Mr Uljas Pulkkis a Finnish composer of contemporary music. His first performance on the festival will be a piano quintet with a woodwind ensemble, the same as Mozart’s piano quintet.

Among the artists next year are experienced and distinguished chamber musicians from Finland and abroad. The opening concert is in Korsholm Church, with Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and Juha Kangas as conductor, soloist Peter Hoerr (cello). Among other artists we find The Rastrelli Cello Quartet, Artende Quartet, Martti Rousi (cello), Boris Garlitsky and Erik Schumann (violin), Vladimir Mendelssohn (viola), Teemu Kauppinen (double bass), Michael Faust (flute) Thorsten Johanns (clarinet), Joris van den Hauwe (oboe), Etienne Boudreault (bassoon), Akiko Sigfridsson, Antti Siirala, Valeria Resjan, Jarkko Riihimäki (piano), Janne Rättyä (accordion), Tatjana Timchenko (soprano), Irina Zahharenkova (harpsichord) Iiro Rantala String Trio.

Regional concerts will be arranged around the Ostrobothnian region. The Salting House in Björköby, in the outer archipelago in the middle of UNESCO’s world heritage site, will be one concert site during the festival. The day consist of two concerts, lunch and nature activities out in the archipelago. The idyllic Replot Church is the other concert site. All concerts are easily accessible by bus from the City center of Vaasa. Good hotel accommodation and programs available for visitors.

The image: The Salting House in UNESCO’s world heritage site, where the famous Rastrelli Cello Quartet will perform on 3 August.

For full details, visit the Korsholm Music Festival website.