The Sounds of Luosto festival will be organized in the Lappish landscape on Luosto, Pyhä, and in Sodankylä. Concerts will be held in places like the natural amphitheaters of Ukko-Luosto and Aittakuru, as well as Sodankylä’s historic old church.
The theme of 2023 is from earth to sky. On offer is a highly varied program of orchestra, chamber, and solo performance of familiar classics, contemporary music, and forgotten masterpieces, as well as the traditional saloon concert!
Transportation to concert venues will be provided by a bus that departs from Lapland Hotels Luostotunturi. Tickets for this bus can be purchased from the Festival Office, located inside the hotel.
In addition to individual tickets, patrons will have the possibility to buy different types of ticket packets. All tickets are sold on Ticketmaster.
Summit series consists of the opening concert on Luosto, two concerts on Pyhätunturi, and the main concert at Ukko-Luosto (a total of 4 concerts)
Sodankylä series consists of the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory concert, Old Church concert, and the festivals finale concert (a total of 3 concerts)
TICKET PACKAGES CAN BE BOUGHT HERE:
SUMMIT SERIES
Presale 95 € • Festival Office 105 €
Thursday 27.7. • From Earth to Sky, Luoston Hovi, Luosto
Friday 28.7. • Air spirit, Aittakuru Outdoor Stage, Pyhätunturi • These Dark Lands, Visitor Centre Naava, Pyhätunturi
Saturday 29.7. • The Kingdom of the Sky, Ukko-Luosto outdoor stage, Luosto
SODANKYLÄ SERIESPresale 75 € • Festival Office 80 €
Thursday 27.7. • Heaven Above, Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory
Friday 28.7. • On the Riverbank, Sodankylä Old Church
Sunday 30.7. • On Wings of Wind, Sodankylä City Hall
CONCERTS & SIDE EVENTS
WEDNESDAY 26.7.2023
THE SOUNDS OF LUOSTO
Before the festival officially begins, the festival’s artists will spread out across Luosto, Pyhä, and downtown Sodankylä and perform brief, 15-minute musical-moments from the upcoming festival program, thus bringing music even closer to the region’s residents and visitors.
THURSDAY 27.7.2023
16.00–17.00 Luoston Hovi, Luosto
FROM EARTH TO SKY – OPENING CONCERT
Presale 27/11 € • At the door 30/15 €
Includes welcome drink
Luosto is the perfect place for a festival themed From Earth to Sky, for on Luosto, one is always right between these two worlds. This opening concert features four works, which celebrates this slice of the world on the border of forest, fell, and horizon. The concert ends with the piano quartet of Finnish Lapland-lover Helvi Leiviskä.
Kalevi Aho Am Horizont
Cecilia Damström Die Berge •Der Wald
Helvi Leiviskä Piano Quartet
Livia Schweizer, flute
Amalie Kjældgaard, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Saara Kurki, viola
Laura Martin, cello
Martin Malmgren, piano
Joel Ward, electronics
19.30–21.30 Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, Sodankylä
HEAVEN ABOVE
Presale 32/11 € • At the door 35/15 €
The festival’s second concert will be organized at the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, site of some of Finland’s most important research of the skies. This concert is our first deep dive into the sky aspect of this year’s theme: the heavens above, both metaphysical and natural, home to souls and stars. This concert, featuring satellites and elegies, is crowned by a performance of Schubert’s immortal cello quintet.
Arnold Bax Elegiac Trio
William Grant Still Seven Traceries
Garth Knox Satellites
Franz Schubert String Quintet in C-major D. 956
Livia Schweizer, flute
Hilda Kunnola, harp
Martin Malmgren, piano
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Amalie Kjældgaard, violin
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Saara Kurki, viola
Saara Särkimäki, cello
Laura Martin, cello
This concert contains an intermission.
FRIDAY 28.7.2023
10.00 Lapland Hotels Luostotunturi auditorium, Luosto
MORNING PRESENTATION: A PEEK INTO THE MUSIC OF THE DAY
13.00–14.00 Sodankylä Old Church, Sodankylä
ON THE RIVERBANK
Presale 22.50/11 € • At the door 25/15 €
River Kitinen has flowed by the location of the Sodankylä old church for thousands of years. This beautiful wooden church will house a concert representing the flow of the river and time itself. The program consists of duo and trio pieces from the lifespan of the old church. This musical story continues chronologically, a steady flow forward—a flow much like that of the Kitinen.
Georg Philipp Telemann Sonata for violin and flute TWV 40:111
Ludwig van Beethoven “Eyeglass” Duet for viola and cello, WoO 32
Antonín Dvořák Terzetto op. 74
Per Nørgård Tjampuan
Livia Schweizer, flute
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Amalie Kjældgaard, violin
Saara Kurki, viola
Laura Martin, cello
17.00–18.00 Aittakuru Outdoor Stage, Pyhätunturi
AIR SPIRIT
Presale 22.50/11 € • At the door 25/15 €
This concert brings its listeners to the point between poem and song. The program consists of ten texts from different poets and well-loved songs about creeks, birds and more. At the meeting point of these two artforms: the span of a human life, reflected in nature.
Composers: Aarre Merikanto, Heikki Sarmanto, Oskar Merikanto, Ilmari Hannikainen, Yrjö Kilpinen, Toni Edelmann
Poets: Eeva Kilpi, Edith Södergran, Katri Vala, Aaro Hellaakoski, Tommy Tabermann
Eija Ahvo, poems and songs
Juho Punkeri, songs
Tuula Hällström, piano
We recommend using festival-provided transportation, which departs from the parking lot of Hotel Luostotunturi.
20.00–21.00 Visitor Centre Naava, Pyhätunturi
THESE DARK LANDS
Presale 22.50/11 € • At the door 25/15 €
Underneath the bright of the sky, the surface of the earth is rarely so happy. In the shadows cast by the sun and moon, all kinds of things happen: beautiful and not-so beautiful. George Crumb’s Black Angels quartet carries the powerful subtitle Thirteen Images from the Dark Lands, and it is this darkness that this late-night chamber program examines. Bach’s Flute Partita represents a small glimmer of hope amidst the hopelessness, reminding us that in the darkness, there is also light.
Johann Sebastian Bach Flute Partita in a minor: Allemande
Bent Sørensen The Shadows of Silence
Johann Sebastian Bach Flute Partita in a minor: Corrente
Kaija Saariaho Fall
Johann Sebastian Bach Flute Partita in a minor: Sarabande
George Crumb Black Angels
Johann Sebastian Bach Flute Partita in a minor: Bourrée anglaise
Livia Schweizer, flute
Martin Malmgren, piano
Hilda Kunnola, harp
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Saara Särkimäki, cello
Joel Ward, electronics
SATURDAY 29.7.2023
10.00 Lapland Hotels Luostotunturi auditorium, Ukko Luosto
MORNING PRESENTATION: A PEEK INTO THE MUSIC OF THE DAY
13.00–15.00 Ukko-Luosto Outdoor Stage, Luosto
THE KINGDOM OF THE SKY
Presale 37/11 € • At the door 40/15 € • Under 16 years free
The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra makes their long-awaited return to the outdoor stage of Ukko-Luosto, led by their artistic director Malin Broman. The concert is opened by Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi’s fantastic Birds of Paradise. This is followed by recently departed composer Jaakko Kuusisto’s fantastic cello concerto, one of his final works. The concert is concluded by Tchaikovksy with a Twist, a work commissioned by the orchestra which combines Tchaikovsky’s eternal string serenade with four new movements, composed by young Finnish composers.
Andrea Tarrodi Paradisfåglar
Jaakko Kuusisto Cello concerto op. 38
Pjotr Tchaikovsky – Touko Niemi, Robert Ruohola, Ossi Hiltunen & Heidi Hassinen Serenade for Strings in C Major op. 48Tchaikovsky with a twist
Malin Broman, violin and leader
Tomas Djupsjöbacka, cello
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
This concert contains an intermission.
16.00–17.30 Jaakkola Reindeer Farm, Luosto
FOREST, DREAM, STONE AND SKY
Presale 39.00 € • At the door 42 €
The Jaakkola Reindeer Farm will once again be the location of fantastic local treats, stories, and yoiks – but before all that, two pieces, which examines the contrast between the year’s thematic points: forest and dreams, stone and sky.
Olli Virtaperko Metsä ja uni
Sally Beamish Stone, Salt and Sky
Amalie Kjældgaard, violin
Laura Martin, cello
Saara Särkimäki, cello
Anu Magga, stories and yoiks
19.00–20.00 Lampivaara Amethyst Mine, Luosto
HALF-LIGHT
Presale 22.50/11 € • At the door 25/15 €
Twilight, or the moment between life and death? Darkness, or the gate to the underworld? Half-light, in the middle of the Lampivaara Amethyst Mine, is the locale of this evening’s concert. Song, guitar, and flute serve as guides as we examine the world of dreams, twilight, and death, before the sound of a violin lifts us, through a metaphysical sunrise, back to the world of the living.
After the concert, the audience will have the opportunity to dig their own amethysts in the mine. (Included in the ticket price.)
Lennox Berkeley Songs of the Half-Light op. 65
Tōru Takemitsu All in Twilight
Christoph Willibald Gluck La plainte d’Orphée • Dance of the Blessed Spirits (version for flute and guitar)
Atso Almila Elämästä ja kuolemasta…
John Dowland Flow my Tears (Lachrimae)
Eugène Ysaÿe Violin Sonata no. 5 op. 27, Mvt. 1 ”L’Aurore”
Olivia Moss, soprano
Teuvo Taimioja, guitar
Livia Schweizer, flute
Elisar Riddelin, violin
We recommend using festival-provided transportation, which departs from the parking lot of Hotel Luostotunturi. There are stairs to the concert location.
21.00–23.00 Restaurant Punakettu, Luosto
PUB NIGHT
Presale 25,00 € • At the door 27 €
One drink included
The traditional Sounds of Luosto saloon concert ends the festivals last full day. Artists from the festival gather in the Punakettu Restaurant to play a lighter, more casual program for festival guests.
SUNDAY 30.7.2023
13.00–15.00 Sodankylä City Hall, Sodankylä
ON WINGS OF WIND – FINAL CONCERT
Presale 32/11 € • At the door 35/15 €
Every concert is a moment in time, and it disappears after the applause dies. It may live on in memory, but it will never return the same. And no piece is ever performed exactly the same way. A festival of earth and sky must breath air, and this finale concert is full of notes, caried by this air, that will touch the audience and then float away. After a celebration of wind, the festival closes with the Brahms String Sextet no. 2.
Missy Mazzoli Vespers for Violin
Tōru Takemitsu And then I knew ‘twas Wind
Kaija Saariaho Vent nocturne
Johannes Brahms String Sextet no. 2 in G Major op. 36
Livia Schweizer, flute
Hilda Kunnola, harp
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Amalie Kjældgaard, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Saara Kurki, viola
Laura Martin, cello
Saara Särkimäki, cello
Joel Ward, electronics
This concert contains an intermission.
The right to make changes is reserved.