The Minnesota Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Osmo Vänskä, returns to Carnegie Hall for a performance in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage on Monday, March 1 at 8:00 p.m. In recent seasons, the orchestra and Mr. Vänskä have received acclaim by critics and audiences alike for their interpretations of the music of Beethoven and Sibelius. For this concert, they perform Beethoven’s Große Fuge along with Sibelius’s choral work Kullervo featuring Finnish vocal soloists soprano Päivi Nisula and baritone Hannu Niemelä, as well as the YL Male Voice Choir. A pre-concert talk starts at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with Glenda Dawn Goss, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.In 1890, Sibelius began an intensive reading of the Kalevala, the national epic poem of Finland that would inspire many of his works. Kullervo was the first of Sibelius’s works to draw on the Kalevala, and from that epic the composer chose a dark and bitter tale of a young man, Kullervo, who suffers the slaughter of his family by his uncle Untamo and is himself sold into slavery. He escapes but is trapped in a life of difficulty and poverty. One day he encounters a young woman in a sleigh and attempts to seduce her. Repeatedly rebuffed, he eventually ravishes her and only then discovers that she is his long-lost sister. Overcome with guilt, Kullervo heads off to battle his uncle and, armed with a magnificent sword given him by the chief of the gods, he wipes out his uncle’s entire family. Then, coming upon the place in the forest where he attacked his sister, he braces his sword on the earth and throws himself on it.
Sibelius scored Kullervo for soprano and baritone soloists, large orchestra, and men’s chorus. Premiered under the composer’s direction in Helsinki on April 28, 1892, Kullervo was a rousing success. But after it had been presented five times in 1892–93, Sibelius banned all future performances, allowing only a single presentation of the central movement in 1935 to help celebrate the centenary of the publication of the Kalevala. Fortunately, Kullervo was not among the many early compositions Sibelius destroyed. This striking music makes clear that at age 26 he had already developed an individual voice.
Artist Information
Finnish soprano Päivi Nisula makes her Minnesota Orchestra debut in February 2010. Ms. Nisula has sung in many productions with the Finnish National Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival, and has appeared as soloist with orchestras from Europe and the U.S. to Japan and Malaysia. She began her career as a mezzo-soprano, and, in recent years, she has added several soprano roles to her repertoire, including the title role in Puccini’s Tosca.
Finnish baritone Hannu Niemelä, makes his debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in February 2010. Mr. Niemelä has performed in opera houses and concert halls on four continents. He performs most frequently with the Finnish National Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival, and has earned special renown for his roles in Verdi and Wagner operas.
Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä became the Minnesota Orchestra’s tenth music director in September 2003. Praised for his intense and dynamic performances, Mr. Vänskä is recognized for compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary, and Nordic repertoires, as well as the close rapport he establishes with the musicians with whom he works. In his first six seasons in Minnesota, Mr. Vänskä has drawn acclaim for concerts both at home and abroad, including a February–March 2009 European Tour, an August 2006 tour of major European festivals, and performances in communities around Minnesota. During his tenure, he has emphasized Beethoven, Nielsen, and Bruckner in programming, been named Conductor of the Year by Musical America, and made his Twin Cities clarinet performance debut at the 2005 Sommerfest, playing the Beethoven Clarinet Trio. He won acclaim as a clarinetist in New York when he performed Mozart’s Serenade No. 11 as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival in August 2007. Highlights of Mr. Vänskä’s seventh season in Minnesota include a Stravinsky festival in collaboration with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and world premieres of commissioned works by Kalevi Aho, Sally Beamish, and Manuel Sosa. Mr. Vänskä has extended his tenure with the Minnesota Orchestra through 2015. During his tenure as music director of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Vänskä transformed the regional ensemble into one of Finland’s flagship orchestras. Under his leadership, the Lahti Symphony received international attention through its collection of innovative Sibelius recordings on the BIS label and its international performances in London, Birmingham, and New York. In May 2008, after two decades at the helm of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Vänskä became that ensemble’s conductor laureate.
The YL Finnish Male Voice Choir (YL), founded in 1883, regularly performs concerts in its native Finland and vigorously exports Finnish music through tours throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The ensemble, led by conductor by Matti Hyökki, has a history of commitment to new choral music; many of Sibelius’ works for male choir were commissioned and premiered by YL. In addition to their a cappella repertoire, YL performs works for accompanied male choir with major orchestras worldwide.
The Minnesota Orchestra, now in its second century and led by Music Director Osmo Vänskä, ranks among America’s top symphonic ensembles. Its distinguished history includes acclaimed performances in its home state and around the world, award-winning recordings, radio broadcasts and educational outreach programs, and a visionary commitment to building the orchestral repertoire of tomorrow. The 98-member ensemble now performs nearly 200 programs each year, primarily at its home venue of Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis, and its concerts are heard by live audiences of 400,000 annually. Its Friday night performances are broadcast live regionally by Minnesota Public Radio with many programs subsequently featured on American Public Media’s national programs, SymphonyCast and Performance Today. During the 2009–10 season, the Orchestra is featured in a six-concert broadcast series on BBC Radio 3. Mr. Vänskä and the Orchestra also recently embarked on a series of new recording initiatives, include a five year project with BIS to record all five Beethoven piano concertos with pianist Yevgeny Sudbin; a CD of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony with BIS; and, for the Hyperion label, live recordings of Tchaikovsky’s First, Second and Third Piano Concertos and his Concert Fantasia, recorded over two years with British pianist Stephen Hough.
Program Information
Monday, March 1 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA
Osmo Vänskä, Music Director and Conductor
Päivi Nisula, Soprano
Hannu Niemelä, Baritone
YL Male Voice Choir
Matti Hyökki, Chorus Master
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Große Fuge, Op. 133 (arr. Michael Steinberg)
JEAN SIBELIUS Kullervo, Op. 7
Pre-concert talk starts at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with Glenda Dawn Goss, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki.
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.