New encounters between the arts await at Turku Music Centre Fuuga

According to Samppa Rinne, director of Fuuga, the building was designed with the needs of acoustic art music in mind.  

– The building will have a large concert hall with a capacity of 1,300 people, as well as a smaller 350-seat Ateljee Hall, says Rinne.

Roughly half of the programme in the main concert hall will consist of performances by the philharmonic orchestra and local artists, while the other half will be guest performances and other programmes. A new feature in Turku is the orchestra pit in Fuuga, which will enable, for example,  opera and ballet performances. 

Different practitioners and audiences come together

Turku City Theatre and Fuuga are part of the same company, and a corridor connecting the two buildings links them in a very concrete way. Rinne believes that the hybrid of theatre and concert hall allows for wilder and bolder programming than before.

– We have a total of five halls at our disposal, and we can move things around to see what works best and where.

This opens up new possibilities for different types of content. Rinne's hope and goal is to bring together different art forms and genres of music, especially in the smaller Ateljee Hall. He could well imagine encounters between art music and circus, or jazz and contemporary performance, in a space that can be adapted from the audience's perspective.

There are also plans to launch a residency programme, so that Fuuga could serve as a platform for work and generate new works.

– The aim is to create an open-minded meeting place for different artists and audiences.

An open space for everyone

Fuuga also has two restaurants, a street-level restaurant Frida and a wine bar Fino where you can stop for a drink before or after a concert or performance. The rooftop terrace will also feature an open urban space where you can come to read or just hang out. 

Having grown up enjoying many different musical subcultures, Rinne knows how important it is to make urban spaces accessible. Fuuga is not intended for the few or the select.

– Fuuga welcomes all Turku residents, and the music hall's restaurants on the street level and roof terrace are also open outside of events. Everyone is welcome to enjoy Fuuga's atmosphere and views.

Rinne's email and phone have been flooded with questions and enquiries from artists since he took over as the director of Fuuga last May. The opening ceremony will be held in October, the website will be launched, and the autumn programme will be published this spring.

Rinne believes that it is a bold move by the City of Turku to invest so heavily in culture at this particular time.

– Our goal is to draw the attention of the whole of Finland to Turku and revitalise the entire Finnish cultural scene. We want to show that it is worth coming here, as there are many interesting things happening.

AUTHOR: HEIDI HORILA 

The article has been published in Finnish in Turkuposti 1, 2026.