The Helsinki Chamber Orchestra is launching and proud to announce it's Spring 2019 Season! Discover our upcoming concerts, our musicians, and find out more information about the orchestra and its missions. Stay tuned for more coming very soon!
Symphonic and Chamber Music, undivided.
"There has traditionally been a division within the Finnish musical scene between the Symphonic repertoire, performed by orchestras of various sizes, and the chamber repertoire, brought by chamber music groups of usually up to 8 players. The Helsinki Chamber Orchestra blurs the line between these categories by positioning itself at the crossing of Symphonic and Chamber music, bringing a new way to perform both as one."
The Helsinki Chamber Orchestra is the fruit of the desire held by young professional musicians and music student in Finland to bridge the symphonic and chamber repertoire together, by performing pieces that often sit in between these genres; chamber symphonies, concertos for chamber groups, quartets or sextets arranged for string orchestras, the examples are countless. In addition to that, by acting as a collective of highly skilled musicians from various backgrounds, the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra aims not only to provide a consistent stream of high quality performances, by supporting the smaller chamber groups within the Orchestra, but also to link seemingly extremely different styles of music together, from Classical, Romantic and Modern Music, up to Baroque and Folk.
Discovering and rediscovering Western Classical Music.
From the times of early music until nowadays, the classical music that we hear in concert today, including the pieces by the most prominent composers, represents only the tip of the iceberg, over an unimaginable amount of equally brilliant pieces that hasn't made its way to the recurring repertoire yet. In balance with the recognized masterpieces of the classical music tradition, the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra systematically champions lesser-known pieces, as a way to reveal to our audiences new "gems" to discover for the first time. By incorporating them in our programs built around specific philosophical concepts, historical periods or regional contexts, each concert carries another dimension which ties together the showcased pieces, renowned or not, and effectively changes the way the audience perceives the performance as a whole.
Chamber musicianship at the heart of the performance.
“In addition to our superior standards of performing, and beyond the goal of durably implementing the chamber symphonic repertoire in Helsinki, an important element unique to this orchestra is how the shared leadership acts as a catalyst for the quality of the sound: each musician, no matter where he is seated, is equally active in the leading process and in the music making, and has as much responsibility over the final result as all the other players.”
Chamber Musicianship is the core element of the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra's music making. It is primarily encouraged through the emphasis on individual responsibility and leadership in the group, by implicitly setting all the musicians on an equal foot. Within the ensemble, the conductor acts as a general reference and channels the musical energy rather than imposing his own will. His vision of a piece is the result of discussions and concertations between him and the musicians, with the respect of the composer's intent at the heart of it. The concertmaster and section leaders act as partners in a similar fashion, while also arbitrating the propositions and musical wishes of their sections in relation to the interpretation of the piece and its coherence.
Discover our Spring 2019 Concerts!
We are proud to hereby present you our program selection for Spring 2019, starting March. The Helsinki Chamber Orchestra will be performing a total of 5 series concerts in the Spring, the first one reflecting over the place of Neo-Tonal Music in the early 20th century, the second one focused on the expression of passion and raw feelings in music of different periods, the third one based on the philosophical dichotomy of Apollonian and Dionysian art, the fourth one centered around French music of the Belle Epoque, and finally, the last one consisting of a baroque concert displaying the roots of Finnish folk music and dance across Europe.