Oulu’s Capital of Culture Year Comes Alive – in Sight and
Sound
Oulu Sinfonia’s programme for the European Capital of Culture year is filled with productions of
unprecedented scale: major artistic ventures, striking concerts, world-class guest artists, great
masterpieces of classical music, world premières, and tours with both orchestras and festivals.
The jubilee year 2026 opens on 16 January with the world première of opera Ovllá at the Oulu Theatre,
conducted by Chief Conductor Rumon Gamba. A second conductor for the performances in January and
February is Aku Sorensen. Composed by Teosto Prize winner Cecilia Damström, the opera explores
Sámi history and the weight of memory. The libretto, written from a Sámi perspective, is by Juho-Sire/Siri
Broch Johansen, with joiks by Ánndaris/Anders Rimpi. The production is directed by Heta Haanperä.
In 2025, Oulu Sinfonia, Ensemble Nylandia and Waltteri Torikka performed works by Johann Sebastian
Bach at the Helsinki Festival, with dance legend Jorma Uotinen creating the choreography.
Bach–Torikka–Uotinen will be experienced at Oulu Cathedral on 19 and 20 February. On 17 April comes
the long-awaited premiere of MASS (1971), monumental stage work by Leonard Bernstein, who is also
known from West Side Story. Alongside Oulu Sinfonia, the production brings together blues and rock
ensembles, the Lapland Military Band, mixed choir, children’s choir and vocal ensemble. Collaboration
with JoJo – Oulu Dance Centre brings professional dancers and dance-teacher students from Oamk to
the stage. The central role is sung by baritone Ville Rusanen, with direction and choreography by Petri
Kauppinen.
Spring Season Presents New Guest Stars
The spring’s guest appearances begin on 26 February with violinist Malin Broman and conductor Simon
Crawford-Phillips. Broman performs Daniel Börtz’s Double Concerto for One, a work in which the
soloist moves effortlessly between violin and viola. Finnish Broadcasting Company will record the concert
for broadcast on 4 March on Yle Radio 1. More world-class violin artistry follows on 13 May, when Sueye
Park, winner of the 2025 Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, performs Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto
under the baton of Pietari Inkinen. Ukrainian violinist Aleksey Semenenko appears just before Easter
on 2 April, performing Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto with conductor Jascha von der Goltz.
Orchestral collaborations include an Evening of Estonian Music with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra
(19 March) at the Oulu Music Festival, conducted by Risto Joost. The programme centres on Arvo
Pärt’s meditative piano concerto Lamentate, inspired by Anish Kapoor’s monumental sculpture Marsyas
at Tate Modern. The soloist is Maximilian Fagerlund, the most recent winner of the Leevi Madetoja
Piano Competition. A spectacular joint concert with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra crowns the spring
season on 29 May with György Ligeti’s Atmosphères, heard in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space
Odyssey; Sergei Prokofiev’s fiercely driven Scythian Suite; and one of the best-loved orchestral works
of all time, Gustav Holst’s The Planets.
Beloved favourite film-with-live-orchestra concerts continue. On 26 March, Madetoja Hall screens the
documentary Tale of the Sleeping Giants with Erkki Lasonpalo conducting Panu Aaltio’s evocative
score. Finland’s uniquely joyful May Day traditions take centre stage at the May Day Matinee, featuring
local choirs and surprise soloists from within the orchestra. Tutti Juttu (21–22 May), created with Oulu
music classes, reunites young musicians and seasoned professionals in a tradition spanning more than
30 years.
For the Europe Day Concert (9 May), musicians from across Europe gather in Oulu. Tenor Tuomas
Katajala performs Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde alongside Norwegian mezzo-soprano
Marianne Beate Kielland. A new orchestral work by Lara Poe has been jointly commissioned by the
festival, Naantali Music Festival and Sinfonia Lahti. Oulu Sinfonia closes the spring season with a guest
appearance at the Naantali Music Festival.
Autumn Season brings World-Class Soloists to Oulu
The autumn season opens with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 16 in D Major,
performed by the legendary Angela Hewitt, who brings her Mozart Project to Oulu. On 8 October,
American violist Jennifer Stumm makes her Oulu debut with one of her instrument’s cornerstones, Béla
Bartók’s neoclassical Viola Concerto, conducted by Vuokko Lahtinen. A week later, cello star
Anastasia Kobekina performs Trembling Earth, the newly written cello symphony by Bryce Dessner –
known also as guitarist of The National – with André de Ridder, Artistic Director of the Ostrobothnian
Contemporary Music Festival, conducting.
Local mastery is celebrated on 10 September when pianists Mika Rännäli and Vanessa Cunha, recently
returned to Oulu from New York, join forces in Francis Poulenc’s sparkling Concerto for Two Pianos,
conducted by Leo McFall. The distinguished Finnish double bassist Maria Krykov, principal bass of the
Konzerthausorchester Berlin, performs Giovanni Bottesini’s F-sharp minor concerto on 17 September
under the baton of Italian conductor Nil Venditti, who makes her Oulu debut. On 5 November, Oulu
Sinfonia’s own piccolo player Carlotta Petri gives the world premiere of Kalevi Aho’s new Piccolo
Concerto.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem will be heard on 30 October in a joint performance with Jyväskylä Sinfonia.
On Singles’ Day, 11 November, Oulu welcomes the Oulu All Star Big Band for a performance of Wynton
Marsalis’s Swing Symphony, an electrifying journey through the history of American jazz by the nine-time
Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning legend.
From 1 to 3 October, Madetoja Hall presents a new interpretation of Carmen, in which Georges Bizet’s
music transforms into a flamenco work shaped by the acclaimed dancer Israel Galván. Carmen’s story is
told by three opera singers, with the Male Choir Huutajat as the chorus. The production has previously
been performed at the Les Nuits de Four Viére -festival under the direction of Maria Itkonen.
In November, Beyond the Sky is presented as part of the Lumo Light Festival. Inspired by the life’s work
of Oulu-based astrophotographer Jukka-Pekka Metsävainio, the piece intertwines with Lauri Porra’s
music in a truly unique way. The performance is conducted by Dalia Stasevska.
At the end of the year, Oulu Sinfonia participates in the world premiere of the musical Snowball, which
tells the story of Santa Claus’s (Kristo Salminen) goddaughter Krista (Saara Aalto). The musical is
written and composed by Douglas Pashley, directed by Richard Brooke, and conducted by Kristian
Nyman.
August – A Month Dedicated to Audience Engagement
August is traditionally a month of audience outreach, with open-air Oulu Sinfonia Open concerts at the
Hupisaari Open-Air Theatre. In addition, a shared hymn-singing event Hymns We Hum will be held in
Ainola Park in collaboration with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Oulu, inviting everyone to sing the
hymns that have become beloved companions along life’s journey.