concerts

Kaija Saariaho’s last work, trumpet concerto HUSH, was premiered by jazz trumpetist Verneri Pohjola and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in late August 2023. “Living and breathing together throughout the 65e-page score, the musicians and the fully packed audience were joined in musical ritual of rare depth and transformative beauty”, writes Jari Kallio.

Magnus Lindberg’s Piano Concerto No. 3 was recently premiered by Yuja Wang and the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. The concerto is a virtuoso affair, writes Jari Kallio.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a boom time for freelancers, according to Forbes. But not for freelance musicians.

“There is a solemn atmosphere at concerts in 2020, held with social distancing. Nothing, it seems, can be taken for granted any more. Circumstances may change at short notice, and any given live performance may turn out to be the last one for a long time. Audiences are subdued. There is a sense of ceremony at concerts: guided by staff, we exit the hall in an orderly procession, faces covered.” Auli Särkiö-Pitkänen discusses the importance of extraordinary concerts in these extraordinary times.

In November 2020, the pandemic situation in Finland has remained calm enough for cultural functions to carry on.* In these exceptional times, there is an unusually great hunger for art, and socially distanced concerts provide a vital antidote to anxiety and uncertainty.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused an abrupt and total dissolution of the work opportunities and income of music professionals. Freelance musicians, concert venues and festivals have been the hardest hit, but the long-term impacts of the crisis will reverberate throughout the sector. FMQ talked to representatives of organisations in the field of music in Finland to gauge how they feel about the current situation and outlook. What have we learned about the music sector in the light of the crisis so far? Are there any potential positive outcomes?