Tampere Filharmonia to premiere Kouyoumdjian’s Keep Your Eyes Open, record MacMillan’s A European Requiem

This autumn Tampere Filharmonia will give the world premiere of Mary Kouyoumdjian’s new orchestral work Keep Your Eyes Open at Tampere Hall on Friday 25 September 2026 and will record James MacMillan’s choral A European Requiem in a public session on 2 October, according to the City of Tampere.

Set for 25 September in Tampere Hall’s Main Hall, the concert is a co-commission with the Milwaukee Symphony and Naples Philharmonic and will be conducted by Stephanie Childress. The programme pairs Kouyoumdjian’s premiere with Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations, sung by soprano Marjukka Tepponen, and Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird suite. It offers a mix of contemporary work and 20th-century favourites.

The October session will produce the first commercial recording of MacMillan’s roughly 43-minute piece, which premiered in 2016. Matthew Halls, who conducted the U.S. premiere, will lead Tampere Filharmonia, joined by countertenor Reginald Mobley, bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. These projects reflect the orchestra’s approach of commissioning, premiering and recording new works to build future repertoire and reach wider audiences.

Both projects fit the orchestra’s 2026–27 season, which highlights choral works and special events the orchestra's season announcement, and follow the season-opening performance of Sibelius’s Kullervo at the end of August the season-opener.