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 2026 is Music of travel. 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! In ten concerts, we will embark on an adventure together, exploring different places and contemplating how travel is reflected in our own lives. After all, traveling is a way to discover the new and reconnect with old friends – whether it’s music or people.
Transportation to concert venues will be provided by a bus that departs from Lapland Hotels Luostotunturi. Bus transportation will be available also from Sodankylä Municipal Centre to Luosto and Pyhätunturi.
In addition to individual tickets, patrons will have the possibility to buy different types of ticket packets. All tickets are sold on Ticketmaster. During the festival tickets can be bought also from the festival office and at the door.
The Pyhä-Luosto series consists of the evening concert on Luosto on 6.8., two concerts on Pyhä on 7.8., the main concert at Ukko-Luosto, and the evening concert on Luosto on 8.8. (a total of 5 concerts)
The Pyhä day consists of two concerts on Pyhä on 7.8. (a total of 2 concerts)
The Luosto day consists of the main concert at Ukko-Luosto, and the late afternoon and evening concerts on Luosto on 8.8. (a total of 3 concerts).
TICKET PACKAGES CAN BE BOUGHT HERE:
THE PYHÄ-LUOSTO SERIES (a total of 5 concerts)
Presale 140 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • Festival Office 155 €
Thursday 6.8. • Souvenirs, Kelo Restaurant, Luosto
Friday 7.8. • The Voyage of the Saxtronauts, Aittakuru, Pyhä • Trailhead, Chapel of Northern Lights, Pyhä
Saturday 8.8. • Songs of Travel, Ukko-Luosto outdoor stage, Luosto • A Journey Ends, Kelo Restaurant, Luosto
THE PYHÄ DAY (a total of 2 concerts)Presale 50 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • Festival Office 60 €
Friday 7.8. • The Voyage of the Saxtronauts, Aittakuru, Pyhä • Trailhead, Chapel of Northern Lights, Pyhä
THE LUOSTO DAY (a total of 3 concerts)Presale 86 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • Festival Office 95 €
Saturday 8.8. • Songs of Travel, Ukko-Luosto outdoor stage, Luosto • To sea!, Ski Restaurant Knööli • A Journey Ends, Kelo Restaurant, Luosto
CONCERTS & SIDE EVENTS 2026
WEDNESDAY 5.8.2026
POP-UP PROGRAMS
On the day before the festival proper, musicians will wander around Pyhä-Luosto and Sodankylä, offering musical interludes to residents and tourists alike.
THURSDAY 6.8.2026
17.00–18.00 Hotel Sodankylä, Sodankylä
THE LONE WANDERER – OPENING CONCERT
presale 29/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 35/15 €
Includes welcome drink
At the opening concert of this travel-themed festival, we meet solo adventurers. We ponder what it is like to encounter the world in all its beauty and horror alone. When a solo performer steps onto the stage or a person experiences something new in their everyday life, are they truly alone? And how do our wanderings reflect our roots?
Joan Tower Big Sky
Kalevi Aho Solo XVI ”Ballade”
György Ligeti Sonata for Solo Cello
Franz Schubert Wanderer Fantasy op. 15
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Annika Valkeajoki, cello
Martin Malmgren, piano
Hilda Kunnola, harp
20.00-21.30 Kelo Restaurant, Luosto
SOUVENIRSPresale 29/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 35/15 €
Composers are among the few who can truly pack light, eternal souvenirs from their travels. This concert features works that describe journeys and places. The pastoral idyll of Ireland and Scotland, the temples of Taiwan, and the streets of Florence arrive in the concert hall through the composers’ memories.
Arnold Bax Quintet for Harp and Strings
Helen Grime To see the summer sky
Lu Yun Temples in Taiwan
Pyotr Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence op. 70
Tuulia Hero, violin
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Aida Hadzajlic, viola
Saara Särkimäki, cello
Annika Valkeajoki, cello
Hilda Kunnola, harp
This concert has an intermission.
FRIDAY 7.8.2026
10.00 Lapland Hotels Luostotunturi auditorium, Luosto
MORNING PRESENTATION
13.00–14.00 Sodankylä Old Church, Sodankylä
GRAND TOURpresale 25/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 30/15 €
In the 1700s and 1800s, upper-class men, mainly from the United Kingdom, traveled throughout Europe to broaden their general knowledge and see the world. This journey, known as the Grand Tour, often took them from London to Paris and Rome. This concert features works that travelers might have heard on this tour or upon their return home.
Attr. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Trio Sonata no. 1 in G Major
Joseph Bologne String Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 1 no. 2
Anna Bon Sonata in D Major, op.1 no. 4
Joseph Haydn String Quartet in C Major, op. 74 no. 1
Livia Schweizer, flute
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Tuulia Hero, violin
Aida Hadzajlic, viola
Saara Särkimäki, cello
17.00–18.00 Aittakuru, Pyhä
THE VOYAGE OF THE SAXTRONAUTSPresale 25/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 30/15 €
The renowned Finnish saxophone quartet Saxtronauts is the perfect guest for this year’s festival. After all, they like to call themselves an exploratory ensemble. In a unique concert in the magnificent Aittakuru, the Saxtronauts will create a space where everything is in dialogue: modernity and the Renaissance, space and performance, musicians and audience, people and nature. A wonderful adventure awaits.
Hildegard von Bingen O nobilissima viriditas (arr. Anna-Sofia Anttonen)
Maria Kõrvits Polaaröö
Erkki-Sven Tüür Lamentatio
Outi Tarkiainen There is more light in this room when you are here
Arvo Pärt Summa
Hildegard von Bingen Karitas (arr. Anna-Sofia Anttonen)
Anna-Sofia Anttonen, saxophones
Nanna Ikonen, saxophones
Nanako Lammi, saxophones
Sikri Lehk, saxophones
19.30–21.30 Chapel of Northern Lights, Pyhä
TRAILHEADPresale 29/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 35/15 €
Every journey begins somewhere, and even the longest ones start with a single step. This evening concert tells the story of that first moment, full of anticipation and expectation, when everything is still possible. The program features the breakthrough works of Toivo Kuula and Ruth Crawford Seeger, the first compositions that brought them wider recognition, as well as Claude Debussy’s harp trio, one of the first works composed for this rarer ensemble.
Ruth Crawford Seeger Sonata for violin and piano
Claude Debussy Sonata for flute, viola, and harp
Toivo Kuula Piano Trio in A Major, op. 7
Livia Schweizer, flute
Tuulia Hero, violin
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Annika Valkeajoki, cello
Martin Malmgren, piano
Hilda Kunnola, harp
This concert has an intermission.
SATURDAY 8.8.2026
10.00 Lapland Hotels Luostotunturi auditorium, Ukko Luosto
MORNING PRESENTATION
13.00–15.00 Ukko-Luosto Outdoor Stage, Luosto
SONGS OF TRAVEL – MAIN CONCERTPresale 33/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 40/15 €
Under 16-year-olds free of charge
For the main concert of the year, the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra take us on a journey through the music of three composers. Young rising star baritone Gabriel Kivivuori Sereno interperts Vaughan Williams’ touchingly beautiful Songs of Travel, which ask us to consider how our travels shape us. The program is opened with a piece by Kalevi Aho that has influences from as far as Japan and Tunisia, and the second half features Mendelssohn’s Symphony no. 3, which was inspired by a trip to Scotland.
Kalevi Aho …frozen were the restless waters
Ralph Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel (orchestrated by the composer and Roy Douglas)
Felix Mendelssohn Symphony no. 3 in a minor, op. 56 “Scottish”
Kuopio Symphony Orchestra
Aku Sorensen, conductor
Gabriel Kivivuori Sereno, baritone
This concert has an intermission.
16.00–17.00 Ski Restaurant Knööli
TO SEA!Presale 25/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 30/15 €
Traveling by ship has an almost mythical significance in human history, as water is so important in bringing people and cultures together. This concert reflects on the sea, which connects and carries us. The performance culminates in a harp quintet composed by naval officer Jean Cras while serving on a warship.
Sebastian Fagerlund Oceano
Mioko Yokoyama Agape
Jean Cras Harp Quintet
Livia Schweizer, flute
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Annika Valkeajoki, cello
Hilda Kunnola, harp
18.30–20.30 Kelo Restaurant, Luosto
A JOURNEY ENDSPresale 29/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 35/15 €
In the fall of 2018, Tarmo Järvilehto began a series of performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano sonatas in Sodankylä. Now, after eight years, the journey is coming to an end. In the final recital of the series, we will experience three milestones in Beethoven’s life: his first sonata, his last sonata, and the monumental Appassionata.
Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata no. 1 in f minor, op. 2 no. 1
Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata no. 23 in f minor, op. 57 “Appasionato”
Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata no. 32 in c minor, op. 111
Tarmo Järvilehto, piano
This concert has an intermission.
21.00-23.00 Restaurant Punakettu, Luosto
BY THE CAMPFIRE – SALOON CONCERTPresale 30 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 40 €
Ticket price includes one drink
Every year, the penultimate evening of the festival ends on the terrace of Restaurant Punakettu, where the festival musicians perform a lighter program and spend time with festival guests. Shared enjoyment – like sitting around a campfire on a long journey.
SUNDAY 9.8.2026
13.00–15.00 Hotel Sodankylä, Sodankylä
ON THE BORDER – CLOSING CONCERTPresale 29/10 € (+ Ticketmaster handling fees) • at the door 35/15 €
What does it mean to stand at the border? Behind you lies everything you know, have experienced, and learned. Ahead of you lies the unknown. How do we cross these borders in our own lives? When composing the work on this program, Amy Beach was preparing to retire from composing. Felix Mendelssohn, on the other hand, was recovering from the death of his beloved sister and trying to imagine life without her. Sally Beamish pondered the borders between land and sea and life and death and considers what they all have in common.
Amy Beach Piano Trio in a minor, op. 150
Sally Beamish Between Earth and Sea
Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6 in f minor, op. 80
Livia Schweizer, flute
Elisar Riddelin, violin
Tuulia Hero, violin
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Aida Hadzajlic, viola
Annika Valkeajoki, cello
Saara Särkimäki, cello
Hilda Kunnola, harp
Martin Malmgren, piano
This concert has an intermission.
The right to make changes is reserved.