John Storgårds & HPO: Schumann & Zender

Time and eternity. Beauty and ephemerality. An orchestral fantasy by the German new music composer is paired with this great rarely-performed choral work by the Romantic master composer.

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor John Storgårds
State Choir LATVIJA
Soprano Anna Danik
Tenor Mika Nisula
Bass Matti Turunen

Zender: Schumann-Phantasie (premiere in Finland)
Schumann: Missa sacra op. 147

In co-operation with Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

JOHN STORGÅRDS (b. 1963) began his musical career as a violinist but later studied orchestral conducting at the Sibelius Academy and obtained a conducting diploma in this in 1997. He has been Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland since 1996, was a regular conductor of the Tapiola Sinfonietta 2001-03 and Chief Conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic 2006-09. In autumn 2003 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and in August 2008 its Chief Conductor. He has also been the Artistic Director of the Korsholm Music Festival and Luosto Classic.
Storgårds has been invited to conduct all over the world - in many European countries, Australia, Japan, etc. In July 2005 he made a highly-acclaimed debut at the London Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Over the past few seasons he has received first invitations from, among others, the Gothenburg Symphony, the Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo, the MDR Sinfonieorchester in Leipzig and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted opera at the Finnish National Opera and the Savonlinna Opera Festival and frequently performed and recorded as a violinist. His disc of music by Peteris Vasks, featuring him as both violinist and conductor, won the Cannes Classical Award: Disc of the Year + Orchestral 20th Century Award in 2004.

The STATE CHOIR LATVIJA is Latvia's biggest concert choir. Founded in 1942, it was granted State Choir status in 1947 and has a repertoire consisting of great oratorios, cantatas, masses, symphonic works, operas in concert performance, many unaccompanied works and music for choir and organ. Its repertoire spans the period from the Renaissance to the 20th century (Schönberg, Honegger, Britten, Messiaen, Pärt, Vasks, Kancheli). The Artistic Director since 1997 has been Māris Sirmais and the General Manager Māris Oslejs. Four times the choir has been the recipient of the Great Music Award of Latvia. It has collaborated with leading symphony orchestras both in Latvia and in Israel, Germany, Estonia, Lithuania, Spain and Russia and with such top conductors as Māris Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Mstislav Rostropovich, Valery Gergiev and Zubin Mehta. Notable performances in recent years have included Schönberg's opera Moses and Aron in Graz, the premiere of Lera Auerbach's Russian Requiem in Bremen, the premiere of Pärt's Deer's Cry in Ireland, its debut at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki (2008) and appearances at the Lucerne and Berlin Festivals.

The HELSINKI PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA is the oldest professional symphony orchestra in Finland still active today. It was founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, who conducted it for half a century until 1932. The orchestra acquired its present name in 1914, when it was taken over by the City of Helsinki. After his outstandingly long term Kajanus was succeeded as Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra by Georg Schnéevoigt, Armas Järnefelt, Martti Similä, Tauno Hannikainen, Jorma Panula, Paavo Berglund, Ulf Söderblom, Okko Kamu, Sergiu Comissiona, Leif Segerstam and, from August 2008, John Storgårds.
The HPO first went abroad, to England, in 1934, but began touring regularly in the 1960s. Since the late 1970s it has travelled abroad almost annually. All in all the HPO has made nearly 50 tours, to various parts of Europe and four times to both Japan and the United States. Recording is also an important item in its schedule. Among the greatest achievements in its recording history have been the complete Sibelius symphonies with Paavo Berglund conducting in the 1980s and again under Leif Segerstam at the beginning of this century.

Photo: Marco Borggreve