Introduction

XXV Summer Sounds, June 30 - July 4, 2010

The programme for Avanti’s 2010 Summer Sounds festival is being planned by Finnish cellist Seppo Kimanen. Founder of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in 1970, Kimanen is nowadays employed by Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as Counsellor for Press and Culture at the Finnish Embassy in Tokyo.

 

This year’s Summer Sounds is the festival’s 25th and will once again be held in Porvoo from June 30 to July 4, after the Midsummer break. The main festival venue, the Art Factory, will be undergoing major repairs this summer and on into 2011. Hence the events of the XXV Summer Sounds will be held in local halls and the Cathedral.

 

Says Seppo Kimanen of Summer Sounds:

 

“The annual Summer Sounds festival in Porvoo is, though small, a big event in Finnish music. Planning a programme for it is challenging yet at the same time immensely exciting because the performers are among the best in Finland and Porvoo is full of interesting concert venues.

 

The repertoire performed at Summer Sounds has, though highly international, looked mainly to Central Europe, Britain or the United States. In recent years at least there has been no Asian music at all. I intend to use the rich music on offer in my present home city, Tokyo, to build a musical bridge with Porvoo.

 

I do hope that, as a result of my work, Avanti! may have a chance to perform Finnish music in Japan in the not-too-distant future and that the programme for the next Summer Sounds may feature some contemporary Japanese gems in addition to more traditional works.

 

Due to the repairs at the Art Factory, the emphasis in the programme for the 2010 festival will be more on small ensembles than in previous years.”

 

 

 

Translation: Susan Sinisalo