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International Opera Awards, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Timo Mustakallio and Mirjam Helin Singing Competitions

 

Finland celebrated a double success in the recent International Opera Awards, held in Munich on 2 October 2024. The International Opera Awards recognise organisations striving to implement innovative, forward-thinking environmental policies.

Savonlinna Opera Festival was named Best Festival. This is a month-long festival staged in the grounds of the stunningly-situated mediæval Olavinlinna Castle, also called St Olaf's Castle, built on an island in the Kyrönsalmi Strait in South-East Finland.

Olavinlinna Castle, home of the Savonlinna Opera Festival
Olavinlinna Castle, home of the Savonlinna Opera Festival

The next Savonlinna Opera Festival runs from 4 July until 2 August 2025 and productions include Musorgsky's Boris Godunov, Verdi's Macbeth, Purcell's The Fairy Queen, The Last Temptations by Finnish composer Joonas Kokkonen (1921–96) and Puccini's Turandot. Savonlinna will also be hosting the thirty-third Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition, which runs during the festival. Held since 1974, the competition was founded by Finnish tenor and opera festival director Timo Mustakallio (1929–84).

Further information: operafestival.fi

The second success at the International Opera Awards was Finnish National Opera, awarded the Sustainability Award for its proactive efforts, guided by the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

Finnish National Opera's forthcoming productions include Richard Strauss's Salome (tomorrow night and 31 October only), The Ostrobothnians (22 November 2024 until 4 January 2025) by Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja (1887-1947), Isfåglarna (22-23 November 2024) by Finnish composer Olli Kortekangas (born 1955), Verdi's Don Carlos (31 January until 6 March 2025), Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow (13 February until 9 April 2025), Animal Farm (28 March until 6 May 2025) by Russian composer Alexander Raskatov (born 1953) with a libretto by Ian Burton from the UK, and The Horseman (9-28 May 2025) by Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen (born 1935) with a libretto by Finnish poet and writer Paavo Haavikko (1931-2008).

Further information: oopperabaletti.fi


 

Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (born 1958) recently announced his resignation as music director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra when his current contract expires in 2025. He remains conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He teaches conducting at the Colburn School in Los Angeles.

Esa-Pekka Salonen. Photo © Benjamin Suomela
Esa-Pekka Salonen. Photo © Benjamin Suomela

Earlier this month, Finnish cellist Senja Rummukainen made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in Salonen's Cello Concerto, with the composer conducting. Classical Music Daily's Halida Dinova was in the audience, and thought it was great. There's another chance to hear Salonen's Cello Concerto tomorrow, Tuesday 29 October 2024, featuring different performers in Vilnius, Lithuania. Nicolas Altstaedt takes the solo part, and Modestas Pitrėnas conducts the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. Also on the programme: Enno Poppe's Altbau and the first performance of the Violin Concerto by Rūta Vitkauskaitė (born 1984), with soloist Dalia Kuzecovaitė.


 

In June 2024, young Montreal-based Chinese mezzo Jingjing Xu won the top prize of fifty thousand euros in Finland's ninth Mirjam Helin Singing Competition. She was also the student jury's favourite, chosen by students from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, the Sibelius Academy and Turku University of Applied Sciences.

Jingjing Xu wins the 2024 Mirjam Helin Competition
Jingjing Xu wins the 2024 Mirjam Helin Competition

This year's competition took place in Helsinki, from 3-12 June 2024. The other finalists were German soprano Kathrin Lorenzen (second place, forty thousand euros, plus Finnish broadcaster Yle's audience award), South Korean tenor Junho Hwang (third place, thirty thousand euros) and three other finalists who each received ten thousand euros - Polish soprano Justyna Khil (fourth), Armenian baritone Aksel Daveyan (fifth) and Croatian soprano Josipa Bilić (sixth).

There was also a series of special awards: German baritone Gabriel Rollinson, best lied performance for Harry Burleigh's Among the Fuchsias and Hungarian soprano Renáta Gebe-Fügi, best Finnish solo song performance for Erkki Melartin's Män metsän polkuja kuljen. Norwegian soprano Hedvig Haugerud was the press jury's favourite.

The competition jury consisted of soprano Soile Isokoski (chair), bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, pianist Keval Shah, baritone Bo Skovhus, mezzo Randi Stene and soprano Dawn Upshaw. Soile Isokoski commented that the level of competitors was exceedingly high.

The competition was created in 1984, following a large grant from Finnish singer and teacher Mirjam Helin (1911-2006), who turned down an operatic career in the 1930s because of objections from her father and husband. The competition has been run every five years since then by the Finnish Cultural Association, and is a significant event in Finland's cultural calendar and the international world of classical singers. Former prizewinners include Olaf Bär, Elīna Garanča, Julia Lezhneva, René Pape and Andrea Rost.

Further information: mirjamhelin.fi

Posted 28 October 2024 by Keith Bramich

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