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Kullervo opens the 26th Sibelius Festival in Lahti, but the new edition brings a big change: not all the music will is by Sibelius! 

Pet Halmen’s 2003 production of Puccini's unfinished final opera places asks more riddles than Turandot's quiz questions to her would-be suitors. 

Olavinlinna, also known as St Olaf's Castle, provides an atmospheric setting for Verdi's take on Shakespeare's “Scottish play”. 

Reija Wäre's Édith Piaf: La vie en rose for Finnish National Ballet has a slight commercial gloss which does not detract from the powerful central roles and memorable performances.

A welcome revival of Javier Torres' condensed version of The Sleeping Beauty with Finnish National Ballet provides challenges for the entire company.

Skilfully drawn characters and excellent dancing make this a great alternative to the plethora of Nutcrackers during the festive season.

Krzysztof Pastor's Dracula offers much in both dance and drama, as well as providing a visual feast.

Ein beklemmendes psychologisches Drama... jedoch lässt die choreographische und musikalische Spannung nach Beginn schnell nach.

Christof Loy ist eine glaubhafte psychologische Durchdringung der Handlung und ihrer Protagonisten gelungen, die in jeder Sekunde aus der Musik heraus empfunden ist.

The traditional end of year performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony took on extra significance in this, his 250th anniversary year. 

For any opera house, the production of a new Wagner Ring cycle is a huge undertaking and becomes a mission statement. For Finnish National Opera, its mission is to stage an all-Finnish Ring.

Marco Arturo Marelli's 2012 production lacks mystery but puts a fine Golaud centre stage, while Esa-Pekka Salonen ensures superior musical values in the pit. 

The Mirjam Helin's singer-only jury plump for a polished soprano and youthful baritone in a final concert with no obvious stand-out star. 

Carè, Stundytė and Pursio all shine as singers and actors in an intense, exciting production at the Finnish National Opera.

Baiba Skride gripped the audience in Sibelius's Violin Concerto in the opening concert of this year's Sibelius Festival in Lahti, along with some rarities by the composer.

Auguin conducted as if he really believes in this evergreen work, which was wonderful to hear in the composer’s rather overlooked anniversary year.

This was more stadium rock than stuffy opera house, lighting as ‘metaphor made real’ as the lovers were – literally – star-struck, blinded by love.

There is a reason that Butterfly has the highest blub factor in the repertory, for it is not only for Cio-Cio-San that we weep, but for ourselves. 

David McVicar's production may divide audiences with its no holds barred approach to the debauchery of the court of Mantua, but is well worth seeing for the Gilda of Tuuli Takala.

The Savonlinna Opera Festival took a break from the stage and brought in the YL Male Voice Choir and the Tapiola Choir for a concert of Finnish choral music.

The Castle in the Water, Sallinen's new “chronicle”, is a new work of innovative beauty. Tragic, comic and epic, in seventy-five minutes it tells the history of Olavinlinna and gives a snap-shot of those connected to it.

Kari Heiskanen's questionable production of Sallinen's bleak opera is revived with a superb cast under the nuanced baton of Hannu Lintu.

The opening production of the 2017 Savonlinna Opera Festival had an optimistic message, strongly delivered by a cast led by the exceptional Konstanze of Hulkar Sabirova.

Finnish pianist Juhani Lagerspetz impresses in Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. 

Die Kalewainen in Pochjola, the epic opera by Karl Mueller-Berghaus, both of which you have never heard of but should not be missed, staged in Turku, Finland. 

New harp of the Turku Concert Hall had its first outing in a concert with a diverse program featuring a duet with flute and harp and Schoenberg’s sinister Verklärte Nacht.  

Turku Philharmonic with conductor Atso Almila joined the Finland's 99th indepence day jubilee in a concert flourishing with national feeling. 

Barnabás Kelemen gave a strong performance of Shostakovich to last a dark polar night in Turku. 

On Friday evening, the first snow cast its veil over my hometown. Despite the frost, Olli Mustonen’s concert at the Turku Concert Hall got people on the move.

Latin American and Spanish music at the medieval Turku Castle in the heart of the former capital of Finland. A perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

The Turku Philharmonic showcases some of the finest work from 20th-century Slavic composers.  

A three hour Bach "meditation", with Bach mixed with Kurtág, various other modern pieces and free jazz improvisation all sounded a bit radical. But the results were extraordinary. 

Gábor Farkas performs an all-Liszt recital on a 19th-century Érard piano such as Liszt used, showing us both its highlights and its shortcomings.

At BRQ Vantaa Festival, Ronald Brautigam opens eyes and ears, displaying immaculate technique on a replica of a Beethoven-era piano.

The Festival Director gives himself the onerous task of conducting four of the more elusive masterworks.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra, escaping Proms duty, perform the second of two concerts at Lahti's Sibelius Festival. 

The Finnish forests, the creation of the world and a mythical hero were vividly brought to life in the opening concert of the 15th Sibelius Festival in Lahti

Matti Salminen and conductor Leif Segerstam come together, probably for the last time, to give us an excellent evening's opera which touched the heart of Boris Godunov – a Finnish swan song as potent as anything penned by Sibelius.

The atmospheric surroundings of St Olaf's Castle in Savonlinna host a well acted and well sung Tosca, with opera and chorus on top form as well as three highly credible soloists.

Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival provides a satisfying selection of musical frauds in the magnificent surroundings of Kuhmo Arts Centre.

Baritone Jaakko Koretkangas and pianist Nino Gvetadze prove the stars of an evening of great variety ending with a thrilling scene from an obscure Hindemith opera.

Starring celebrated heldentenor Klaus Florian Vogt, Kasper Holten's highly-praised production of Korngold's Die tote Stadt for Finnish National Opera is brilliantly revived.

What I have experienced multiple times with Tapiola Sinfonietta and with Pekka Kuusisto, and today with both, is that no matter how high your expectations are, these players will always outperform them.

Last Sunday, Pekka Kuusisto performed in Siuntio, a Finnish town not so far from Helsinki, as part of the Lux Musicae Festival, together with pianist Joonas Ahonen and hornist Hervé Joulain. In the penumbra of the candles and the gentle lights of a beautiful church from the 1400s, the first notes of Brahms’ Violin Sonata in G major resounded. Kuusisto’s sound is all about the power of simplicity.

Tenor Joseph Calleja, conductor Giuliano Carella and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra presented an interesting choice of repertoire on Monday. The composers were celebrated Italian and French masters of opera, and the programme alternated between overtures for orchestra and arias starring Calleja.

In accordance with clichés about prima donnas, Nigel Kennedy’s concert at the Musiikkitalo in Helsinki starts 15 minutes after the lights have faded away in the hall. The Nigel Kennedy Quintet enters and its leader makes a couple of jokes to break the ice.

If you move in academic, corporate or philanthropic circles, you will certainly have attended speeches and lectures about leadership, or come across relevant literature about it. Well, if you were in the Helsinki Music Center’s Concert Hall at 5pm last Saturday, you’d be sure that attending the previous week’s rehearsals would have saved you the need for leadership books and conferences.