Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s fourth season as principal conductor of the Philharmonia opens with a season focusing on the relationship between music, nature and the climate crisis from a Nordic perspective, Nordic Soundscapes (26 September to 10 November) with music by Sibelius, Grieg and Nielsen plus seven UK premieres from contemporary Nordic composers, plus Notes on Nature discussions that will delve to the themes of the series.
Things open with something rather special, Sibelius’ Kullervo where Rouvali and the Philharmonia are joined by the choir that sang at its premiere back in 1892, the YL Male Voice Choir. There is also Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Stephen Hough and the UK premiere of Icelandic composer María Sigfúsdóttir’s Oceans. Rouvali’s second concert features the UK premiere of Miho Hazma‘s What the Wind Brings (she is the Tokyo-born chief conductor of the Danish Radio Big Band), plus Nielsen’s Violin Concerto (with Bomsori Kim) and Sibelius’ The Oceanides and Symphony No. 3. Sibelius’ Violin Concerto features María Dueñas as soloist, with Rouvali conducting a programme that includes the UK premiere of Swedish composer Mats Larsson Gothe‘s Submarea and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5.
For the Music of Today series, Chloe Rooke conducts the UK premieres of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho‘s Semafor and Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen‘s Two Inger Christensen Song (with soprano Ella Taylor). The Philharmonia Wind Quintet will be performing Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen‘s Memoria and Nielsen’s Wind Quintet.
Emilia Hoving conducts the UK premiere of Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen‘s Mosaics plus Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, and the final concert in the series features Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski’s Flounce, the UK premiere of Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg‘s Viola Concerto (with Lawrence Power) and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1.
There are also concerts outside the theme, Sir Andras Schiff directs the orchestra and is soloist in piano concertos by Haydn and Mozart, plus Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, Marin Alsop conducts an all Mahler programme mixing the music of Gustav with that of Alma. Rouvali conducts Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian including his Violin Concerto with Nemanja Radulović.
Full details from the Philharmonia’s website.
