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 amphitheater of Ukko-Luosto and the banks of the river Kitinen, as well as Sodankylä’s historic old church.
The theme of 2024 is Echoes of History. On offer is a highly varied program of orchestra, chamber, and performance of familiar classics, connections with folk music, 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. During the festival tickets can be bought also from Festival Office and at the door.
Summit series consists of the opening concert on Luosto and the concert on Pyhätunturi on 1.8, the main concert at Ukko-Luosto and evening concert on Luosto on 3.8 (a total of 4 concerts).
Sodankylä day (2.8) consists of the Sodankylä Old Church concert, Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory concert, and Porttikoski concert (a total of 3 concerts)
Luosto day (3.8) consists of the main concert at Ukko-Luosto and the evening concert on Luosto (a total of 2 concerts).
TICKET PACKAGES CAN BE BOUGHT HERE:
SUMMIT SERIES (a total of 4 concerts)
Presale 110 € • Festival Office 120€
THURSDAY 1.8. • Echoes of History, Luoston Hovi, Luosto • Folk Joy, Pyhä-Luosto Visitor Centre Naava, Pyhätunturi
SATURDAY 3.8. • Revolution, Ukko-Luosto Outdoor Stage, Luosto • A Room of One’s Own, Restaurant Ski-Knööli, Luosto
SODANKYLÄ DAY (a total of 3 concerts)Presale 80 € • Festival Office 90 €
FRIDAY 2.8. • The Spruce in the Yard, Sodankylä Old Church • The Garden of Joy and Sorrow, Porttikoski stage • Innocents, Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory
LUOSTO DAY (a total of 2 concerts)Presale 50 € • Festival Office 60 €
SATURDAY 3.8. • Revolution, Ukko-Luosto Outdoor Stage • A Room of One’s Own, Restaurant Ski-Knööli
CONCERTS & SIDE EVENTS
WEDNESDAY 31.7.2024
POP-UP PROGRAMS
The day before the festival begins, our artists will wander throughout the region, performing a little appetizer of the program for locals and travelers alike.
THURSDAY 1.8.2024
17.00–18.00 Restaurant Ski-Knööli, Luosto
ECHOES OF HISTORY – OPENING CONCERT
Presale 29/10 € • At the door 35/15 €
Includes welcome drink
The Sounds of Luosto has traditionally begun with a concert which examines our theme on a meta-level, and thus, this year’s concert examines echoes of history. The concert contains four works which borrow or pay homage to composers from their respective history. Now playing in our time, the circle continues, music heard again and again, echoing through generations.
Shaw Blueprint
Ravel (arr. Morlock) Le Tombeau de Couperin
Widmann Fantasie
Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia
Livia Schweizer, flute
Helmi Malmgren, clarinet
Hilda Kunnola, harp
Tuulia Hero, violin
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Philip Zuckerman, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Aida Hadzajlic, viola
Saara Särkimäki, cello
20.00–21.30 Pyhä-Luosto Visitor Centre Naava, Pyhätunturi
FOLK JOY
Presale 29/10 € • At the door 35/15 €
In folk music we find a reflection of a people: their joy, pride, and sorrows. It is a living archive of their customs and their history. This program is built of four classical works, which attempt to borrow from different folk music and introduce it to the classical tradition. Classic of all-classics, Dvořák’s Ukrainian-influenced Dumky trio ends the program, but before that, Grieg and Busoni interpret Norwegian and Finnish folk songs, and we hear the Finnish premiere of Price’s Five Folk Songs in Counterpoint.
Grieg Improvisations on two Norwegian Folk-Songs op. 29
Busoni Kultaselle
Price Five Folksongs in Counterpoint
Dvořák Piano Trio No. 4 ”Dumky” op. 90
Martin Malmgren, piano
Tuulia Hero, violin
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Philip Zuckerman, violin
Aida Hadzajlic, viola
Saara Särkimäki, cello
Laura Martin, cello
This concert contains an intermission.
FRIDAY 2.8.2024
10.00 Lapland Hotels Luostotunturi auditorium, Luosto
MORNING PRESENTATION: A PEEK AT THE DAY’S CONCERTS
13.00–14.00 Sodankylä Old Church, Sodankylä
THE SPRUCE IN THE YARD
Presale 25/10 € • At the door 30/15 €
The old church of Sodankylä has stood next to the river Kitinen for well over 300 years, and it has watched many generations pass by its doors. Similar landmarks can be found everywhere you look: quiet guardians, watching time go by. Bach’s Goldberg variations, one of the most famous works from one of history’s most famous composers, has served a similar role, but only now, 283 years after its publication, will it be heard for the first time in a church just decades its elder.
J. S. Bach (arr. Sitkovetsky) Goldberg variations BWV 988
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Aida Hadzajlic, viola
Saara Särkimäki, cello
16.00–17.00 Porttikoski stage, Sodankylä, Aska
THE GARDEN OF JOY AND SORROW
Presale 25/10 € • At the door 30/15 €
The Soviet Union was never the biggest fan of Sofia Gubaidulina. A modernist female composer, inspired by western classical music and strongly devout, her situation only got worse in the year 1979, when the Union of Soviet Composers blacklisted her. Despite this, or perhaps in spite of it, in 1980 she would composer her famous harp trio, “The Garden of Joy and Sorrow”. In this concert we will build this dream garden in the middle of the beautiful environs of Porttikoski, as a sign of respect to Gubaidulina and all other voices that history tried to silence.
Hovhaness The Garden of Adonis op. 245
Tarkiainen Kunnes kivi halkeaa
Sibelius The Trees op. 75
Gubaidulina Garden of Joy and Sorrow
Livia Schweizer, flute
Hilda Kunnola, harp
Martin Malmgren, piano
Tuulia Hero, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
20.00–21.00 Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, Sodankylä
INNOCENTS
Presale 29/10 € • At the door 35/15 €
It is difficult to look at the wheel of history and not see war as one of the rungs. And where there is war, there is the ever-painful death of the innocent. This powerful evening of song by international stars Pilsl and Shah dives into that most terrible aspect of war: the loss of children. With a program that stretches through the centuries, they pay respect to the victims and look to the future with hope, at the same time questioning why we never seem to learn.
Anon Lully, lulla, lullay
Macmillan The Children
Schubert Raste, Krieger
Wolf Zitronenfalter im April
Zemlinsky Uber eine Wiege
Weber Und der Regen rinnt
Ravel Kaddisch
Mendelssohn Raste, Krieger
Debussy Noel des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons
Weber Wiegala
Strauss Meinem Kinde
Beach When mama sings
Brahms Guten Abend, gut’ Nacht
Theresa Pilsl, soprano
Keval Shah, piano
SATURDAY 3.8.2024
10.00 Lapland Hotels Luostotunturi auditorium, Ukko Luosto
MORNING PRESENTATION: A PEEK AT THE DAY’S CONCERTS
13.00–15.00 Ukko-Luosto Outdoor Stage, Luosto
REVOLUTION – MAIN CONCERT
Presale 34/10 € • At the door 40/15 € • Under 16 years free
Sometimes comes a moment that shapes history. A revolution, sometimes quiet, often anything but, that resonates to the modern day. Young Ethyl Smyth writing her first orchestral piece, quietly preparing to loudly announce her presence in a heavily male-dominated industry. She would go on to be one of history’s best recognized suffragettes. A century earlier, Beethoven, writing during Napoleon’s wars and reshaping what we would consider classical music for generations to come.
Smyth Serenade in D Major
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” op. 55
Jyväskylä Sinfonia
Aku Sorensen, conductor
This concert contains an intermission.
16.00–17.30 Jaakkola Reindeer Farm, Luosto
THE EARTH BENEATH US
Presale 40 € • At the door 45 €
Some places just resonate with history, stories told and untold. Paris has played home to many a composer over the centuries, and as time has passed, that history has become as much of a draw to the next generation as the city in all its beauty. This performance begins with two works from Finnish women who found inspiration in Paris, before moving slightly closer to home, with hostess Anu Magga performing joik and telling stories of the reindeer farm and surrounding region while serving local specialties.
H. Aho Syringa (2019 version)
Saariaho Tocar
Magga Joik and stories
Livia Schweizer, flute
Hilda Kunnola, harp
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Anu Magga, joik
18.30–19.30 Restaurant Ski-Knööli, Luosto
A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN
Presale 25/10 € • At the door 30/15 €
A common refrain throughout history has been the unbelievable claim that women cannot compose. The explanations have varied throughout the years, but woman after woman has fought to prove them wrong. Although works by women will be played throughout our festival, this program contains three pieces written by women who disappeared into history after they wed. Clara Schumann and Doreen Carwithen both ended their compositional careers after they married men who were composers themselves, and although Fanny Mendelssohn’s husband supported her “hobby”, her works were never published by request of her more famous older brother.
C. Schumann Drei Romanzen op. 22
Carwithen Violin Sonata
Mendelssohn-Hensel Piano Trio op. 11
Helmi Malmgren, clarinet
Martin Malmgren, piano
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Philip Zuckerman, violin
Laura Martin, cello
21.00–23.00 Restaurant Punakettu, Luosto
PUB NIGHT – ROOM FOR JOY
Presale 25 € • At the door 30 €
One drink included
Our festival’s Saturday has traditionally ended with a saloon night, and this year is no difference. After all, the concept of a pub or saloon as a gathering place to end the day and celebrate together is universal. During this concert, the artists of the festival perform lighter-fare, including tangos and klezmer-music. Let’s spend a moment of joy together!
SUNDAY 4.8.2024
13.00–15.00 Sodankylä County Government Hall, Sodankylä
WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND? – FINALE CONCERT
Presale 29/10 € • At the door 35/15 €
What echos will we leave behind? What will history say – or will it say anything at all? In the final concert of the festival, we ask what our message is to the future. Will anything trace remain of this festival, of this performance?
K. Aho Lamento
Clarke Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale
Ysaÿe Violin Sonata No. 2 “Obsession” op. 27
Brahms Clarinet Quintet op. 115
Helmi Malmgren, clarinet
Tuulia Hero, violin
Joonas Pekonen, violin
Philip Zuckerman, violin
Vuokko Lahtinen, viola
Aida Hadzajlic, viola
Saara Särkimäki, cello
This concert contains an intermission.
The right to make changes is reserved.