International guest conductors and soloist virtuosos charm on Jyväskylä Sinfonia’s autumn season

A week after the opening concert, Jyväskylä Sinfonia's latest addition, double bassist Joonas Korjus, will bring the rarely soloist double bass into the spotlight with Giovanni Bottesini's Concerto No 2.

At the end of September, a round-the-world trip to the musical cultures of different continents will take place when the Pangea concert takes over the stage of the Jyväskylä Theatre Hall on 27 September. Spanish multi-instrumentalist and skilled player Abraham Cupeiro and conductor Dimas Ruiz Santos will weave the concert into a magical ensemble of music and light, also suitable for school-age children. The concert is part of the concurrent City of Light event.

The audience's favourite pianist Olli Mustonen will perform Edvard Grieg's only piano concerto in a concert on 11 October. Joining him will be the Czech conducting maestro Jiří Rožeň, who will also conduct Cecilia Damström's new work Nixus and Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No 2.

Ville Matvejeff's season in Jyväskylä ends 

The tenure of Ville Matvejeff, long-time chief conductor and current artistic advisor of Jyväskylä Sinfonia, will end this autumn. Matvejeff's concerts will include a varied programme of his own music. The September concert on 13.9. will feature Matvejeff's Rendezvous trilogy, and the October concert will feature his Violin Concerto, commissioned for the opening of Musiikkitalo in 2011. The work was premiered then by violinist Petri Aarnio, who will also appear as soloist at the concert on 25 October.

Tomas Djupsjöbacka, who belongs to the orchestra’s chief guest Meta 4 string quartet, will put the audience in the soloist's shoes at his concert on 8 November, when Nicola Campogrande's Concerto for Audience and Orchestra will be performed for the first time in Finland. The second work in the concert is a reduction of Hector Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony for a smaller orchestra. Meta4's violinists Minna Pensola and Antti Tik-kanen will lead the orchestra on 29 November in the Violin Spectacle concert, which will feature Kurt Weill's Violin Concerto and Max Richter's reinterpretation of Vivaldi's Seasons.

Samuli Edelmann and Jukka Perko will visit in November

The entertainment music event of the autumn will take place on 15 November, when Samuli Edelmann's cult-famous Vaiheet albums will be performed as orchestral arrangements with Jyväskylä Sinfonia. Vaiheet album, released in 1997, was recorded with Paris Symphony Orchestra, and now the time has come to hear the most beloved compositions with a large orchestra in Finland. The concert will be led by saxophonist Juk-ka Perko, with Leri Leskinen (keyboards and electronics), Matti Paatelma (piano) and Andreas Lönnquist (mixing).

Mozart's Requiem and a magical Christmas concert in Taulumäki 

On Thursday of All Saints' Day Week, the monumental Requiem by W. A. Mozart will be played in Taulumäki Church. The concert will be conducted by Benjamin Lévy, who made his debut in Jyväskylä last autumn, with soprano Ana Quintans, mezzo-soprano Anthea Pichanick, tenor Tuomas Katajala and bass Luigi de Donato as soloists. The Musica Choir will also be present.

The season will end with a Christmas concert in Taulumäki under the baton of Peruvian conductor David Claudio. The concert will feature charming soloists Maria Ylipää and Ville Rusanen, who will interpret traditi-onal and more recent Christmas carols. The programme also includes classical music delights such as parts of the Nutcracker Ballet and Leopold Mozart's Musical Ride, not forgetting Peteris Vasks' hauntingly beautiful Lonely Angel.

Concerts in the province and in the spirit of chamber music

Before the opening concert of the autumn season, Jyväskylä Sinfonia will travel to Hankasalmi (31 August) and Jämsä (1 September). The orchestra will be conducted by students of professor Sakari Oramo of Sibelius Academy, and the soloist will be 17-year-old cellist Saima Malmivaara.

The autumn chamber concert will take place in September at Kuokkala Church in the spirit of the Viennese Classical period, when the modern instruments will be replaced by old period instruments. This is a rare op-portunity to hear the classical oboe and the fortepiano, the forerunner of the modern piano. The concert will feature chamber musicians from Jyväskylä Sinfonia and pianist Tero Tavaila.