Program

French composer Lili Boulanger (1893–1918) was born into a musical family. Her sister Nadia (1887–1979) became a celebrated teacher and also a composer. Lili studied the organ and music theory at the Conservatoire de Paris while also taking lessons in voice, violin, cello and harp. In 1913, she became the first woman to win the distinguished Prix de Rome with her cantata Faust et Hélène.

Boulanger’s life was fraught with illness and came to an early end. Her death at the age of only 24 is one of the greatest tragedies in the history of Western classical music. While her output remained limited, it demonstrates that she was unarguably a highly talented and original composer.

In 1917, already very frail, Boulanger wrote two pieces intended as a diptych: D’un matin de printemps and D’un soir triste. She completed three versions of both the ‘spring morning’ and ‘sad evening’: for duo, for piano trio and for orchestra. The orchestral version of D’un matin de printemps was the last piece that Boulanger completed before her death in 1918. The music understandably has a melancholic tinge, but also a measure of elevated spirit and humour. The piece was premiered in Paris in March 1921.

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) had a skill for combining Romantic expressiveness with traditional forms and strict counterpoint. This had a major influence on the music and thinking of Arnold Schönberg (1874–1951), so much so that Schönberg penned an essay describing Brahms as progressive, as opposed to him usually being described as a conservative composer. Schönberg also orchestrated Brahms’s Piano Quartet no. 1 in G minor op. 25.

Brahms’s Quartet was premiered in Hamburg in 1861. It is a beautiful example of his chamber music, which despite being absolute music is always melodic and emotionally appealing. The best known of the four movements of this work is the rollicking rondo finale. 

Schönberg orchestrated the Piano Quartet in 1937, having fled the Nazi regime to the United States. He explained in a letter: “It is always very badly played, because the better the pianist, the louder he plays, and you hear nothing from the strings. I wanted once to hear everything, and this I achieved.”

This arrangement could be dismissed as a curiosity if it did not so obviously show a deep respect and love for the original. There are instruments in the orchestra that Brahms would never have used, such as a xylophone, but this just serves to emphasise the underlying philosophy of the arrangement: Brahms is a composer for all ages. Schönberg’s arrangement, sometimes referred to as ‘Brahms’s Fifth Symphony’, was premiered under Otto Klemperer in Los Angeles in 1938.

Michael Sanderling has served as Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra since 2021. His appointment followed a long-standing, successful collaboration, with the shared aim of further developing the orchestra’s focus on late Romantic repertoire, including works by Bruckner, Mahler, and Strauss.

As a guest conductor, Michael Sanderling leads renowned orchestras worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. From 2011 to 2019, he was Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. Prior to this, he served as Chief Conductor of the Kammerakademie Potsdam from 2006 to 2011.

Michael Sanderling is deeply committed to nurturing young musical talent. He teaches at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and collaborates regularly with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. From 2003 to 2013, he was Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie.

Pianist Laura Mikkola lives in Paris and performs extensively in Europe and beyond. She is particularly known as a profound connoisseur and interpreter of Eino-Juhani Rautavaara. She has recorded all of Rautavaara's piano concertos and solo piano works, as well as works composed for solo piano by Einar Englund. 

Having won numerous piano competitions at the age of under 20, Mikkola has worked with the most renowned conductors, such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Hannu Linnu, Leif Segerstam, Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Ahmed El-Saed. In 2024, Laura Mikkola was elected a Steinway Artist in Hamburg, Germany. The title is given to the best pianists of their era. 

Mikkola founded the Iitti Music Festival in 2003 and has been the festival's Artistic Director ever since. 

The principle of putting on regular concerts given by an orchestra of top musicians has remained right up to the present day in the over 140 years since the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra was formed. It premiered most of the symphonic works by Jean Sibelius with the composer himself conducting, and continues its commitment to contemporary music by commissioning works by composers both Finnish and foreign. 

Now a band of 102 musicians, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra annually performs to a total audience of over 110,000 and has become an important constituent of its host city’s cultural capital. It also reaches people who for one reason or another cannot attend concerts at the Helsinki Music Centre, for in addition to making international tours, it sends small ensembles out across the city, provides opportunities for young people to perform and, through its active education programme, is able to make contact with special groups. For the third time it invited an entire age group – this time all the children born in Helsinki in 2020 – to enjoy music with their families over the next seven years as members of the HPO Kids -program.  

The HKO Screen concerts and background interviews screened live or recorded on the Internet makes the process of creating a piece of music even more readily accessible. 

The orchestra has a three-member Artistic Leadership Team, which comprises Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Co-director Pekka Kuusisto and Composer-in-Residence Anna Thorvaldsdottir.