Composer

Does climate affect the way music is composed? Come find out for yourself in this unusual program juxtaposing works composed near earth’s 45th and 60th parallels, where temperatures and daylight hours differ dramatically. The Escher Quartet offers its signature performances of Verdi and Sibelius, while the indomitable duo of Alexander Sitkovetsky and Wu Qian provide bracing cold and soothing warmth.

EPSG:4326

Verdi and Sibelius Quartets

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Fabulous "Finnish" - Symphony Orchestra

ISU Center for the Performing Arts

First United Methodist Church, Springfield

Osmo Vänskä & Renaud Capuçon

Gasteig HP8

Sunday Matinee 04: Constantinos Carydis & Karen Gomyo

Great Festival House

James Ross’ Finale – Bruch & Sibelius

Northern Virginia Community College - Alexandria Campus

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial

Alitalia was the name of Italy’s premier airline for 75 years. We borrow it here because all three composers on this program owed a creative debt to the culture and vibrancy of that wonderful country.

In a letter written to Sibelius in 1901, Baron Carpelan strongly encourages his fellow Finn to go abroad:  "You have been sitting at home for quite a while, Mr. Sibelius, it is high time for you to travel. You will spend the winter in Italy, a country where one learns cantabile, balance and harmony. You remember what Italy meant for Tchaikovsky’s development and for Richard Strauss."

The lure of Italy to those who live in cold Northern Europe cannot be understated. Composer after composer went south and brought back their musical memories of that country of sunshine and warmth, of folksong and dance, and of landscapes from seaside to mountain.

For Strauss it was about finding external inspiration like the story of Till Eulenspiegel; for Tchaikovsky, it was exposure to folk tunes he heard on the streets of Florence; and for Sibelius, it was where he jotted down the first ideas that would become his Second Symphony. All thanks to Italy…

Alitalia

Mount Saint Mary College

The finale for Season 76 features an incredible Side-by-Side performance with the IFS Youth Orchestra, under the direction of our beloved Dr. Thomas Heuser in his last season concert during his tenure as IFS Music Director & Conductor. This truly historic event will feature a huge group of adult and student musicians performing together as one ensemble. The music for the combined groups includes the beloved symphonic poem Finlandia by Jean Sibelius, plus the comic Overture to Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss Jr., whose 200th birthday in 2025 will be celebrated worldwide. After intermission, the intrepid adult Symphony musicians will round out the program with the awe inspiring First Symphony of Johannes Brahms.

Passing the Baton: Side-by-Side with IFS Youth Symphony

Idaho Falls High School

The most famous motif of the Fifth Symphony of Sibelius comes in the final movement. Often drawing inspiration from nature, Sibelius’s connection with the Finnish landscape was integral to his identity. “Today at ten to eleven I saw sixteen swans,” he wrote in his diary in 1915. “One of my greatest experiences! Lord God, what beauty! They circled over me for a long time. Disappeared into the solar haze like a gleaming silver ribbon.” This moment was the inspiration for what he would call the “Swan Hymn,” the swinging horn motif that evokes the graceful beating of the swans’ wings as the woodwinds’ countermelody suggests their call.

Gleaming Glow

Southern Oregon University

Grants Pass High School

Collier Center for the Performing Arts

Royal Northern Sinfonia is reunited with old friend Thomas Zehetmair, the orchestra’s former Music Director.

Sibelius' Second Symphony

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music

Juilliard Orchestra Conducted by David Robertson

Lincoln Center

Alpesh Chauhan conducts Smetana, Kodály and Sibelius

Teatro La Fenice

It was England's first major violin concerto. It quickly became clear that it was by no means banal or purely artistic – after all, in his Opus 61, performed here by the British composer Anthony Marwood, Edward Elgar had laid bare nothing less than his innermost being. Even the Finn Jean Sibelius, whose value has long since been fully recognized after initial public skepticism, famously didn't create a single banal bar. His last symphony, premiered in the 1920s, is, like its predecessors, dark and profoundly serious, emotionally gripping, and, with just one movement, formally revolutionary. The second half of the concert, conducted by Anna Rakitina, opens with a cheerful work by the early Haydn: his Symphony
"Morning" features a beautiful sunrise.

Change

Stadthalle Göttingen

Since 2010, Anneleen Lenaerts has been the principal harpist of the Vienna Philharmonic, and in 2024 she visited the Musikkens Kammerklub in a concert with the Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud. Now she is the soloist in Glière's rarely performed but very beautiful harp concerto. Here the composer truly shows the full potential of the harp in a work that is both technically demanding and delightfully catchy.

Sibelius & Gliére's Harp Concerto

Aalborg Central Waterfront

Julie Rossland | Scandinavian evening

The Bell, Bremen

Sibelius and de Sarasate

Curtis Institute of Music

‘Tremendous’ declared one critic when Nadine Benjamin made her Glyndebourne debut, and this dazzling British soprano has a voice that has to be heard to be believed. Today she joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra to bring all her radiance, her insight and her effortless dramatic flair to Eastbourne. How to follow that? Rising star (and LPO Fellow Conductor) Nefeli Chadouli explores the epic vistas and northern forests of Sibelius’s First Symphony: a young genius in a new nation, pouring all his imagination into music as wild as a winter storm and as wonderful as the Northern Lights.

Sibelius’s First

Congress Theatre

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, The Syracuse Orchestra performs music from around the world that celebrates freedom and our richly diverse local community.

Let Freedom Ring

St. Paul's Syracuse, the Downtown Episcopal Church

The Campus String Ensemble is comprised of non-music major students, faculty members, staff, and alumni of the University of Michigan.

Campus Orchestra String Ensemble

Earl V. Moore Building

This afternoon's concert begins with music by one of the most original and exciting composers of our time, Danish Matias Vestergård. As  Artist in Residence  at the dynamic and hip chamber music festival  Festival & Friends  in Copenhagen, he composed the chamber work  Die Welt ohne Schwere in 2024. It has now become a full-fledged orchestral work. The music is inspired by a comic medieval motif, where knights carry flowers, cakes and fragrant oils as weapons.

Gladsaxe Music Prize 2026

Grønnemose Skole

Join music director candidate Ian Passmore and the Great Falls Symphonic Choir for an evening of powerful and evocative music.

The Search Ian Passmore

Mansfield Theater

Shostakovich’s immersive Second Cello Concerto weaves a wide-ranging rhapsody that is brooding and spooky with moments of levity from the least likely of sources: a bagel. Inspiration is nothing if unpredictable, and Shostakovich’s muse was the Ukrainian street vendor’s song “Who will buy my bagel?”, which he transformed into a challenging cello tour de force. On stage and in her celebrated 2016 album featuring the concerto, Alisa Weilerstein has been praised for her deft interpretation of the work, leading The Guardian to write, “Her playing ranged from tranquil passages of sensual beauty to rough, demotic outbursts performed with the furious expression of one who has been rudely awoken from a beautiful dream.”

Shostakovich & Sibelius

Walt Disney Concert Hall

The German-American Augustin Hadelich is considered one of the world's most outstanding violinists. He has enjoyed a special friendship with the WDR Symphony Orchestra for a long time. Now, together, they will perform Dmitri Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto – a work full of gripping emotion, ranging from deep pain to grotesque humor and feverish energy. Dima Slobodeniouk will conduct from his adopted home of Finland, performing two magnificent orchestral works by Jean Sibelius: the enchanting tone poem "Pohjola's Daughter" opens the concert, before the Second Symphony concludes with a radiant finale.

Resonances - Hadelich & Shostakovich

Museum Ludwig

Elgar's legendary cello concerto requires a virtuoso – and such a virtuoso is Denmark's new cello star, Jonathan Swensen! Not yet 30 and recipient of both the Léonie Sonning talent prize and a host of international cello prizes. Matias Vestergård is among the most original composers of our time. And Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 is simply among the most magnificent symphonies ever. At the head of the whole glory is chief conductor Christoph Gedschold.

Sibelius and Elgar

The Conservatory Concert Hall

Experience the passion and intensity of two Romantic masterworks as the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra presents Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor, featuring MSO Violin Fellow Haeun Honney Kim. The evening concludes with the sweeping emotional power of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor—a dramatic and unforgettable musical journey.

Masterworks IV: Tchaikovsky Season Finale

Troy University

Jean Sibelius called one of his many symphonic poems "The Bard." We're never told what the piece is about. Only that it centers on a wandering poet and singer, like those found in many legends, including Norse mythology. And this bard, of course, is given his own instrument: the harp, which plays an important role in Sibelius's score. Sibelius was probably simply interested in a timeless portrait of the artist—after all, aren't he and his performers essentially all "bards"?

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Johan Dalene / Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

“To be or not to be?” This timeless question, which tormented Hamlet, continues to captivate minds. Ophelia, too, sought an answer, though hers ended tragically, culminating in one of literature’s most haunting scenes of madness. Shakespeare’s play—and Ophelia’s florid drowning—have inspired countless works of art, but it is the ambiguity of her mental state, coupled with her astonishing transition from speech to song, that has particularly intrigued composers.

Ophelia's Madness

Grand Théâtre de Québec

Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 brilliantly balances simmering drama with the rhythms of Bohemian folk music. Karen Gomyo is the soloist in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, a work of supreme virtuosity and eloquent musical storytelling. In his NY Phil debut, Domingo Hindoyan conducts this program, which starts with Allison Loggins-Hull’s reflection on the US national anthem.

Dvořák’s Seventh & Sibelius’s Violin Concerto

David Geffen Hall

WDR Happy Hour - Sibelius

Konzerthaus Dortmund

Chamber Music Tuesday welcomes celebrated cellist Clive Greensmith. From 1999 until its final season in 2013, Clive Greensmith was a member of the world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet, giving over one hundred performances each year in the most prestigious international venues. This performance is presented in collaboration with SFCM alumni, faculty, and students.

Chamber Music Tuesday with Clive Greensmith

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Path means movement. And movement can take many different directions: straight ahead, of course, but also circularly, as a spiral ever closer towards a center – or conversely ever further outwards towards infinity. Paths can be traveled quickly or slowly, alone or by several people at once. When different speeds occur synchronously, then things get really exciting. As in the violin concerto by the all-round British compositional genius Thomas Adès, who can be heard several times with the Gürzenich Orchestra this season.

Fabulous

Cologne Philharmonie

The State Theatre is turning 200 – and we're celebrating! Under the musical direction of our General Music Director, Per-Otto Johansson, a diverse program will be performed at Christ Church in Detmold.

Symphony Concert 1

Kurpark Bad Oeynhausen

Tualatin Valley Symphony presents a riveting program including Sibelius' Finlandia, Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto, and Symphony No. 1 by 19-year-old Dmitri Shostakovich..

Music for Our Lives

Tigard Friends Church

Get going to Scandinavia. With composers from Finland, Norway, and Denmark, Masterworks V is full of Nordic flair. Start with the delicate melancholy of Sibelius’s Valse triste – A melancholic waltz of memories both beautiful and somber. Pianist Winston Choi dives into the icy and emotional depths of Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, “The Inextinguishable,” finishes the program in fiery, fierce, and dramatic style.

Masterworks V

Paramount Theatre Iowa

5th Plaza

USO 2025-26 Season Concert 4

Mendocino College

This concert feels like hope. Copland’s Appalachian Spring is an American masterpiece… gentle, powerful, and full of wide-open skies and quiet triumph. Pair it with Clyne’s haunting Wild Geese and Sibelius’s heroic Symphony No. 2, and you’ve got a concert that soars. It’s both nostalgic and fiercely modern. It’s deeply human, and unmistakably beautiful. Bring tissues; this is the kind of concert programmed to pull the emotions out of you.

Appalachian Spring

The University of Akron

Peruvian composer Jimmy López’s Fiesta! Four Pop Dances for Orchestra is a vibrant and exhilarating celebration of life, culture, and happiness. Filled with pulsating rhythms, bold colors, and infectious energy, it draws from the rich traditions of Latin American music and ends with a blazing Techno finale. Rodrigo’s Concierto Andaluz performed by the world-renowned Los Angeles Guitar Quartet celebrates the spirit of Andalusia, a region in southern Spain with its lively rhythms and soulful melodies. Each movement captures a unique aspect of Spanish culture, from the exuberance of a flamenco dance to the delicate beauty of a serenade. This work shines as a testament to Rodrigo’s genius and the flavorful allure of Spanish music. Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 is a powerful work often described as the “Symphony of Independence.” It is deeply rooted in the Finnish composer’s national identity, filled with moments of lyrical beauty and triumphant resolve. We’ll come away from this concert feeling the rhythms of living through music.

LA Guitar Quartet

Overture Center for the Arts

Led by Principal Guest Conductor Tabita Berglund, the DSO’s Northern Lights Festival begins in Finland with Rautavaara’s pairing of orchestra with recorded birdsong, and Sibelius’s breathtaking, stormy Violin Concerto performed by renowned soloist Christian Tetzlaff. Continuing to Berglund’s native Norway, Grieg’s incidental music to Ibsen’s Peer Gynt features some of the composer’s most iconic passages.

Northern Lights Festival | Tetzlaff Plays Sibelius

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Framed by the near-pictural precision of Strauss and the exhilarating breath of Sibelius, Bartók's diabolical Concerto No.2 crackles under the bow of Renaud Capuçon!

Orchestre de Paris / Esa-Pekka Salone

Philharmonie de Paris

Horn Studio Recital

This concert features the world premiere of Highsmith winner Pierre Fontaine’s Ancient Dances in Modern Times. The Highsmith Award, endowed by Jim Highsmith, is the Conservatory’s top composition prize. Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin features six movements, all based on traditional dance movements from the French Baroque suite: Prélude, Fugue, Forlane, Rigaudon, Menuet, and Toccata and is dedicated to the memory of his friends lost in the first World War. Jean Sibelius wrote The Oceanides for his one and only trip to the United States in 1914 meanwhile Sibelius’ Violin Concerto is noted for its rhapsodic nature and technical challenges, all of which are dear to violinists. This concert features SFCM Concert Competition Winner Jeehin Kim and student conductor Jason Gluck. 

SFCM Orchestra with Edwin Outwater

Dive into a night of orchestral brilliance with Bath Philharmonia as we journey through iconic landscapes of sound. Jean Sibelius’ Karelia Suite opens with stirring, folk themes celebrating the rich heritage of Finland. Dani Howard’s Trombone Concerto, performed by virtuoso soloist Peter Moore [BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist 2015–17], illuminates the resilience of the human spirit in times of hardship. Errollyn Wallen’s Mighty River, composed to mark the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in Britain, flows with rhythmic vitality and cultural resonance, echoing the cries and echoes of human hearts and voices. The programme culminates in Borodin’s hypnotic and theatrical Polovtsian Dances. Under the direction of dynamic conductor Michael Seal [Associate Conductor, CBSO], this concert invites audiences to feel the pulse of society, the drama of human experience, and the exhilarating power of music.

Peter Moore & Bath Phil

The Forum Bath

After losing his right arm in the First World War, pianist Paul Wittgenstein refused to give up his art and commissioned Maurice Ravel to write his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The result is one of the most captivating works in the piano repertoire, blending jazzy rhythms with profound beauty. Pianist Cédric Tiberghien brings this masterpiece to life. Jean Sibelius’ First Symphony combines a Tchaikovskian tradition with hints of the unique sound world he would later develop. With great flair, Nuno Coelho leads the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra through this rich and colourful programme.

Ravel's Piano Concerto for the left hand

Queen Elisabeth Hall

Andris Nelsons shares the Symphony Hall podium with our two 2025 Tanglewood Conducting Fellows. for this geographically oriented program. The TMC Fellows lead two movements from Bedřich Smetana’s homage to his Czech homeland: conflict and history embodied in "Vyšehrad," a Prague fort overlooking the Moldau River; and a Bohemian cultural mosaic is depicted in the journey of the river itself. Nelsons conducts the First Symphony of Finland’s greatest composer, Jean Sibelius, who infused his work with Finnish musical and cultural traditions.

Sibelius Symphony No. 1

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Andris Nelsons leads this program featuring Tokyo-born rising star Mao Fujita as soloist in Mozart’s popular Piano Concerto No. 21, which he composed in 1785. Finland’s greatest composer, Jean Sibelius, infused his own music with Finnish musical and cultural traditions, even in his apparently abstract symphonies. Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen, a native of Lapland near the Arctic Circle, composes music influenced by the region’s distinctive landscape and culture. Her BSO co-commissioned Day Night Day employs two traditional Sámi melodies.

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 with Mao Fujita

Strauss’ Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) traces the final moments of a life: memories surface, struggles fade, and a soul wins its final release. Under the baton of Simone Young, the NSO displays the full scope of Strauss’ vision and the promise of beyond. Winner of the prestigious International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition Sergey Khachatryan brings fire to Sibelius’ Violin Concerto.

Death and Transfiguration Khachatryan plays Sibelius

Kennedy Center

With its evocation of snowy northern landscapes and an unforgettable, triumphant finale, Sibelius’ Second Symphony stands as an emblem of Finland’s nationalist spirit. The program begins with Brahms’ gloriously lyrical tribute to Haydn and Prophecy, a one-movement accordion concerto exploring the tradition of clairvoyance in various cultures by Estonian composer (and progressive rock veteran) Erkki-Sven Tüür.

Sibelius 2 & Tüür Accordion Concerto

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Having displayed all his conducting finesse in Debussy's luminous hedonism, Esa-Pekka Salonen transforms himself into a composer for an exceptional premiere, before celebrating Finland's eternal bard in Sibelius.

Orchestre de Paris / Esa-Pekka Salonen

Following the success of the 2023 Final, the three most promising young conductors of the 2026 competition will each take to The Bridgewater Hall stage to direct the Hallé orchestra live, competing to become the newest member of the Hallé family.

Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition 2026 Final

The Bridgewater Hall

Put through their paces the previous week, these shortlisted, emerging artists have been selected from hundreds of applicants around the world. To showcase their astonishing abilities, each finalist will conduct Bernstein’s Candide Overture before tackling one of these popular symphonic works:

Twice a year, the talented musicians of the Antwerp Youth Orchestra (AJO) dazzle audiences in the magnificent Queen Elisabeth Hall. Under the baton of conductor Stijn Saveniers and after intensive coaching from Antwerp Symphony Orchestra musicians, these gifted players aged 14 to 26 bring challenging programmes to life. Each performance promises an unforgettable experience for both the young musicians and their devoted listeners.

AJO plays Sibelius

She is passionate about the works of her Scandinavian homeland: Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund. At 36 years old, she has already conducted many of the world's most important orchestras – but the trained cellist has never before appeared as a guest with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. The newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic is now celebrating her Hamburg debut with arguably Finland's biggest symphonic hit: Jean Sibelius' Second Symphony. "Like a river of small streams" – as the composer once described his organic compositional technique – in this piece, one theme after another grows from a simple three-note motif, culminating in the broad melodic flow of the triumphant finale. Immediately after its premiere in 1902, the work became a model for many other Scandinavian composers – and to this day, no other symphony by Sibelius has been able to surpass the popularity of this Second Symphony, which brilliantly bridges the gap between Romantic tradition and innovation.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Tabita Berglund

In our season finale, experience the bold brilliance of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra in a dynamic program that also features Sibelius’s stirring Finlandia and Bruch’s lyrical Violin Concerto No. 1.

Brilliant Bartók

California State University, Chico

Cascade Theatre

Join the MSO for a captivating evening of music inspired by the spirit of the North. Acclaimed pianist Sheng Cai joins the MSO for Grieg’s beloved Piano Concerto—a work of lyrical charm and dramatic intensity. The program concludes with Sibelius’ First Symphony, a sweeping and emotional journey through the rugged landscapes of Finland.

The Nordic Experience

Living Arts Centre

Students perform side-by-side with members of the Oklahoma Chamber Symphony, gaining real-world orchestral experience in a supportive, professional setting.

Orchestra Concert 5 - Student Spectacular

First Church OKC

At the Paliesius Manor – talented pianist Morta Grigaliūnaitė and music by Finnish composers! The axis of this program – the piano work of one of the most important Finnish composers of the last century, Einojuhanos Rautavaara (1928–2016). Often called a mystic, Rautavaara drew inspiration from literature, religion, philosophy and his own dreams and childhood memories. This is illustrated by such titles of works as "The Gift of Dreams", "The Sermon on Fire" and "The Angel of Light". At the same time, Rautavaara perfectly understood the inner world of man and its nuances. The composer's creative process involved a constant search for different means of expression, maneuvering between the intangible world and the need for virtuoso expression by the performer.

Morta Grigaliūnaitė (piano, Lithuania)

Paliesius Manor

Featuring the ethereal “Morning Mood” and the hair-raising “In the Hall of the Mountain King”—both pop-culture staples you’ll recognize instantly—Grieg’s Peer Gynt is one of classical music’s most enduringly popular works. Prepare for a magical theatrical experience bringing the Peer Gynt story to vivid life. Bewitching works by Sibelius and William Grant Still round out a concert steeped in legend and enchantment.

Grieg’s Peer Gynt

Jones Hall

In the century since its infamously riotous premiere, The Rite of Spring has become a perennial favorite and an undisputed masterpiece. Complementing Stravinsky’s heart-pounding evocations of pagan rituals are two beloved works from Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela and Violin Concerto, with soloist Sergey Khachatryan. Conductor Rafael Payare and The Cleveland Orchestra are joined by members of the New World Symphony for this electrifying evening.

The Rite of Spring

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

This inspiring concert features Prokofiev’s powerful Symphony No. 5, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the dazzling Joyce Yang, and Sibelius’s Finlandia featuring the Amarillo Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Prokofiev’s Hymn to Freedom

Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts

In the century since its infamously riotous premiere, The Rite of Spring has become a perennial favorite and an undisputed masterpiece. Complementing Stravinsky’s heart-pounding evocations of pagan rituals are two beloved works from Sibelius — The Swan of Tuonela and Violin Concerto, with soloist Sergey Khachatryan. Conductor Rafael Payare and The Cleveland Orchestra are joined by members of the New World Symphony for this electrifying evening.

Miami — The Rite of Spring

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County

Music has a pulse, a heartbeat that connects us all. Sibelius’ Valse Triste begins in a hush, a waltz that feels like a dream just out of reach. Then, LSO’s own Matthew Beck steps forward for Puts’ Marimba Concerto, a piece that plays with rhythm, texture, and the sheer joy of sound. We close with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, a piece that never stands still—its rhythms drive forward, lifting us higher with every note. This is music that asks us to move, to feel, to be present in the moment.

Sibelius, Puts, & Beethoven

Wharton Center for Performing Arts

An album of film music arrangements, the major cello concertos of the repertoire, chamber music with friends, and Persian music with his father: Kian Soltani is an incredibly versatile artist. At the beginning of his meteoric career, he won the highly endowed Paulo Competition in Finland with Witold Lutosławski's Cello Concerto – now he will perform the demanding work in the third of his residency concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, accompanied by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

Iceland Symphony Orchestra / Kian Soltani / Eva Ollikainen

When Jean Sibelius was working on his intensely beautiful and dramatic Fifth Symphony, he already sensed he was creating something remarkable. “I’ve received a wonderful theme,” he noted in his diary. The inspiration came from seeing sixteen swans in flight – a moment that gave rise to the magnificent theme of the symphony’s final movement. “One of the great experiences of my life! My God, what beauty.”

Sibelius and Songs from the Northern Wilds

Konserthuset Stockholm

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra plays in Stockholms Konserthus together with principal conductor Pekka Kuusisto and singer Katarina Barruk.

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra plays in Stockholm

Stockholm Concert Hall

A concert about the power of language with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Sámi singer Katarina Barruk, whose incredible stage presence combines folk tunes and pop in symphonic dress. Pekka Kuusisto leads the orchestra in Sibelius’ versatile Symphony No. 5.

Beyond Words with Kuusisto and Barruk

Göteborgs Symfoniker

Every story has to start somewhere, and in this remarkable choral symphony the young Sibelius retells Finland’s most ancient poem, the Kalevala. This is Sibelius in the raw: the tragedy of a young hero and a love more terrible than war, told in music of operatic power. So gather round as Robin Ticciati, a full chorus and two star singers retell the story tonight. Lotta Wennäkoski – one of modern Finland’s most original young voices – has something new to add, too.

Voices from Finland

Southbank Centre

Silvestrov’s Quiet Music sets a calm and reflective tone with gentle melodies that take listeners on a meditative journey, away from the noise of everyday life.

Northern Lights

Lesher Center for the Arts

Conducted by Donato Cabrera, California Symphony performs at the Lesher Center, featuring California Symphony Concertmaster Jenny Cho and Assistant Concertmaster Sam Weiser.

This program features a beloved concerto, an elemental symphony, and an exciting world premiere. Called "brilliantly skillful and selflessly musical" (Financial Times), violin soloist Stefan Jackiw joins the orchestra for one of classical music's greatest hits: Tchaikovsky's mighty Violin Concerto, a work as grand as it is intimate. The orchestra traverses the vast landscapes of Symphony No. 7 by Finnish master Jean Sibelius, a work the composer called a "symphonic fantasia." The concert opens with a new work called Moño, co-commissioned by the Monterey Symphony, by Hispanic-American composer Marina Lopez whose music explores the psychological, ethnomusicological, and physical roots of her musical heritage.

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto + Sibelius Symphony No. 7

Sunset Center Theater

March 21 is the vernal equinox — the precise day winter concedes to spring. This concert makes that moment audible. The first half belongs to Sibelius: the brooding, iron-cold grandeur of Finlandia, followed by a violin concerto that sounds like one human voice against an entire frozen landscape. This is endurance music. Nordic, uncompromising, beautiful in its bleakness.


The Last Dark Night

Artelize Hall

March 21 is the vernal equinox — the precise day winter concedes to spring. This concert makes that moment audible. The first half belongs to Sibelius: the brooding, iron-cold grandeur of Finlandia, followed by a violin concerto that sounds like one human voice against an entire frozen landscape. This is endurance music. Nordic, uncompromising, beautiful in its bleakness.

Then comes the interval. And everything changes.

The second half is Stravinsky's Rite of Spring — complete, uncut, and performed at full force. One of the most famous premieres in concert history, it doesn't describe spring so much as ambush it: the sudden eruption of rhythm, the sacrifice, the sheer physical violence of the season arriving. After the stillness of Sibelius, it lands like a weather system.

This is one of the great programming pairings in the orchestral canon. The date makes it a ritual. Come to mark the turning of the year.

The Night Before Spring

Odense Symphony Orchestra commemorates two giants in the Nordic classical music scene when, on the same evening, we play Per Nørgård's mysterious masterpiece with one of the most beautiful titles in music history, as well as Kaija Saariaho's sonorous transformation sphere of musical reflections in a purely Nordic concert that also features Sibelius's last symphony. A work that, in one long movement, transforms the symphony as a genre – into an organic, ever-changing sound universe. In other words, a journey is set to take place both into ourselves and into the most wondrous corners of music, when three of the Nordic greatest composers stand side by side in tonight's program.

NØRGÅRD & SIBELIUS' 7th.

Odense Concert Hall

A single hand must conquer the entire keyboard. Maurice Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand was originally composed for the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein. Yuja Wang, the extravagant, top-class pianist, takes on this challenge of extreme dexterity and subsequently plays a second piano concerto. In Einojuhani Rautavaara's work, composed in 1969, cantabile melodies and arpeggios meet a modern sound language – a powerful firework display between tradition and innovation.

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Yuja Wang / Esa-Pekka Salonen

Returning to Spivey Hall by popular demand after his astounding debut in 2024, Alexander Malofeev has created a brilliant program of musical geography for us, opening with three Nordic composers and concluding with four Russians. At just 24 years old, Malofeev displays mature interpretations and emotive depth far beyond his years. Known for his precise yet lyrical playing, he effortlessly blends technical mastery with a deep understanding of the emotional essence of the music he performs. With a rapidly growing international career, Malofeev continues to rise as one of the most exciting young pianists of his generation.

Composer

Jean Sibelius

Events

Upcoming events

Jun 22, 2025 - Jun 28, 2026

Elbphilharmonie Family Orchestra · Elbphilharmonie

May 5, 2026

Keitaku Iwata, violin · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

8 - 9 May, 2026

Sol Gabetta shines with Elgar · Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

8 - 10 May, 2026

Grieg's Piano Concerto · Kansas City Symphony

May 9, 2026

CVSO: Maestro's Finale: Conductor Nobuyoshi Yasuda's Farewell Concert · Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra

Past events

May 3, 2026

Verdi and Sibelius Quartets · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

1 - 2 May, 2026

Fabulous "Finnish" - Symphony Orchestra · Illinois Symphony Orchestra

About

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