Tampere Filharmonia opens autumn season with Sibelius's Kullervo

Tampere Filharmonia will open its autumn season with a performance of Sibelius's Kullervo, the City of Tampere said.

A Kalevala-based work, Kullervo is a landmark of Finnish orchestral music. Written in 1892, it is a large-scale piece for orchestra, male choir and soloists that tells the tragic fate of the Kalevala hero and marked Sibelius's breakthrough as a composer of major orchestral works.

Soprano Johanna Rusanen-Kartano and baritone Ville Rusa will sing the solo parts, supported by a combined male choir drawn from the Tampere Philharmonic Choir, the Tampere Opera Choir and the boys' choir Pirkanpojat, all led by chief conductor Matthew Halls. A video published by the city features Halls explaining how he found Kullervo and why he wants to present it to Tampere audiences.

On 11 September the orchestra plays a Sibelius programme featuring the composer's Fifth Symphony, conducted by Kristian Sallinen. Sallinen was appointed the orchestra's next chief conductor and artistic director in June 2026 and will succeed Halls in autumn 2027. Violinist Otto Antikainen performs Kaija Saariaho's concerto Graal théâtre, and the evening opens with Väinö Raitio's tone poem Moonlight on Jupiter. The season also includes a chamber music strand titled Fauns' Afternoon.

The announcement follows the City’s May programme release that outlined Tampere Filharmonia’s full 2026–27 season, which highlighted choral works, star soloists and special events.