Lahti Symphony Orchestra

"It will come as no surprise that Dima Slobodeniouk and his Lahti musicians give all four works committed and lively performances, and that the BIS team have captured them in vivid sound."

Quarries and ravines, repurposed industrial facilities and world-class auditoriums: music occupies an incredibly diverse range of spaces in Finland. How are these needs shifting with technological and social changes?

In November 2020, the pandemic situation in Finland has remained calm enough for cultural functions to carry on.* In these exceptional times, there is an unusually great hunger for art, and socially distanced concerts provide a vital antidote to anxiety and uncertainty.

While music as a profession or hobby is not the worst imaginable environmental polluter, no-one in our time and age can afford to think they are above environmental responsibility. Musicians experience eco-anxiety especially for the amount of travel associated with their profession. What can an individual musician or music consumer do to help the environment, and is it possible to achieve change through music?

While climate change is a real concern for us all, there has not been a lot of noise about it on the music front so far. Committed climate action pioneers in Finland, however, include the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and the Flow Festival, both of which wish to set an example to other music organisations and provoke them to reflect on how to best participate in this endeavour that requires all humanity’s involvement.

Lauri Porra reveals in the first sentence of his booklet commentary that he is the great-grandson of Jean Sibelius – but it’s more by way of explaining his musical background than to trade on the relationship.

The performance of Rautavaara's Flute Concerto with Sharon Bezaly, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, and Dima Slobodeniouk is enjoyable in its richness of instrumental colours.

Bram van Sambeek presents two valuable additions to the bassoon repertoire. Kalevi Aho wrote his concerto for Bence Bogányi in 2004, while Sebastian Fagerlund’s concerto Mana (2014) was tailor-made for Sambeek himself.

"It is meaningless to select a ‘best’ recording when musicians have such different views of the same pieces of music, but I can say that you would be hard-pressed to find more satisfying performances anywhere else."

The wooden architecture of the new Sibelius Hall in Lahti provided both traditional and modern support to the Lahti Symphony’s performance of Sibelius’ Finlandia at the hall’s debut on March 9th [2000].The hall’s intriguing combination of proven and new should also help efforts to export Finnish wood-construction expertise and design. Externally, the hall was almost completed in time for the inaugural concert, but it will still take months to “tune” the acoustics. The New York firm Artec and its acoustics team want to polish the hall's timbre to its utmost.

Dima Slobodeniouk will begin his post as the Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra this autumn. It is a busy time for the conductor who has climbed to the top the long way. His hectic lifestyle is balanced by his passion for aviation.