orchestras

Sointi Jazz Orchestra was assembled for a composition concert in the autumn of 2013. This collection of photographs features visual highlights of the 18-member orchestra’s album release concert in October 2024 – eleven years after their debut.

History will be made later this month, as Nicholas Collon becomes the first non-Finn to lead the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. What can Finland expect from the British musician – and should the rest of the world be listening too?

Sakari Oramo is one of Finland’s international star conductors and is known for his extended engagements with orchestras and for his sense of responsibility. During the Year of the Coronavirus, his duties with his orchestras in London and Stockholm were suspended almost completely, but his new job as Professor of Orchestral Training and Orchestra Conducting with the world-famous conducting class of the Sibelius Academy has kept him busy. Here, he is responsible not only for Finland’s reputation in orchestra conducting but also for our standard of orchestral playing, which has recently become a cause for concern.

​The coronavirus pandemic is affecting the lives of people all around the world, and the music sector is not immune to its impact. In Finland, for instance, the Government has decided to ban all public events with more than 500 attendees until further notice. But this cannot stop the music: times of crisis such as this heighten the importance of music in bringing people together and providing encouragement and comfort. FMQ compiles information on available live streaming and explains how Finnish music is responding to the challenges of the pandemic. This article will be updated on a weekly basis, so watch this space!

There is a clinic at the Music Centre in Helsinki where anything up to a dozen physicians and other health care professionals may be found treating one patient. Multi-discipline collaboration is leveraged to address the most difficult ailments at the Musicians’ Clinic.

Orchestras have developed an interest in adopting a more prominent role in society at large. It is time to engage in a debate about why orchestras exist. Classical concerts are not going anywhere, nor is there any question of compromising on artistic quality, but the role of orchestras in society is coming to be understood far more broadly than before.

A study published by the Foundation for Cultural Policy Research Cupore in 2013 investigated the importance of central government transfers for Finnish orchestras, using as its research material the financial statements and annual reports of orchestras and a survey carried out among orchestra managers.

Finland’s national public service broadcasting company YLE has gone through some major changes lately. The new tax might be argued about, but at the same time the company receives kudos for promoting Finnish music abroad.

There are probably more orchestras, music schools and colleges and music festivals in Finland per head of population than in any other country in the world. Crucial to the development has been the Finnish Theatres and Orchestras Act, in which the state guarantees a certain number of person years for orchestras every year. The subsidy has not kept up with actual trends in costs, but the situation is soon to improve.