9.8.2012

Turku Music Festival 9 to 18 August

A celebration of power and emotions

"Education and play go hand in hand. There are many different ways in which music can describe difficult and contemporary issues," says tenor Topi Lehtipuu, who is also Artistic Director of Turku Music Festival.

“Kenraali”  – a news opera – addresses power politics as well as individual human fates. The photo shows rehearsals for the opera.

Mikko Franck will conduct Orchestra War on 10 August.

The theme for the more than 40 concerts that will be held during this year’s Turku Music Festival (TMF) is power. And power’s forms and possibilities are considered through “news operas,” political soirées as well as orchestra and jazz wars.

Music has the power to move people emotionally and physically. It touches us, makes our dancing feet move, delights us, sometimes it even angers us.

– Music affects the way we experience a sense of community, and it is capable of mobilising large masses of people. Therefore, rulers have always been eager to interfere with the activities of musicians and composers. The latest example of this is the trial of the Russian girl punk band Pussy Riot, says TMF’s Artistic Director, Topi Lehtipuu.

In addition, one of the Music Festival’s stars, Turkish piano virtuoso and composer Fazil Say, also faces trial in his home country for publically insulting Islamic values ​​in a Twitter message. The theme of politics and power continues with the “news operas,” which combine a variety of musical styles combine to approach difficult issues in a light way. The operas “Shit Storm” and “Kenraali” were written in their entirety during May and June against the backdrop of the euro’s financial crisis and Russia's political and human rights situation.

– A problem with traditional opera is that it often undergoes a long and arduous process of creation, which means it is not able to deal with current issues. However, the quick and close cooperation of the director, the composer and librettist, and the formation of an ensemble featuring only a few singers and musicians allow a quick response to the burning issues of the day and that is a news opera’s essence, says an excited Lehtipuu.

World stars and concerts in homes

Turku Music Festival opens on Thursday, 9 August with surprise musical numbers throughout the city. On Friday it goes straight to the heart of the power struggles when Mikko Franck leads the Finnish National Opera Orchestra and the Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra in a unique battle – an opera war. Competition on Logomo’s stage will continue later in the evening during the Jazz Wars concert, in which leading Flame Jazz musicians will play music composed by Jussi Frederiksson that perfectly matches the festival’s theme.

One of TMF’s most anticipated stars is a world renowned tenor Rolando Villazón, who will twice perform "Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda" together with Topi Lehtipuu, French soprano Sandrine Piau and Emmanuelle Haïm, who conducts the vocal and instrumental ensemble Le Concert d'Astrée.

As a new feature of the festival – and a suitable counterweight to world-class stars on concert stages – it is possible to listen to music in the spaces in which it was composed – in the homes of Mikko Heiniö, the Rettig family, and Jan-Erik Andersson and Marjo Malin.

TMF’s Bach tradition will continue with an concert series in the afternoon, in which the featured instrument will be the accordion, and likewise in the Bach-themed evening music concert at Turku Cathedral. On Night of the Arts (August 14), Turku Cathedral will quieten to listen to gamba music by candlelight.

Read more:

• Turun Music Festival