A Norwegian–Estonian–Finnish Evening of Music

Text Timo Raussi
Photo NCO / Mona Odegaard

This Saturday, 18 April, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, sometimes described as an all-star ensemble of Norwegian musicians and celebrating its 50th anniversary next year, arrives in Tallinn to perform. Known worldwide for its virtuoso and innovative classical musicians, the collective will present a programme of five works at the Estonia Concert Hall, three of which are by Estonian composers: Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres”, Erkki-Sven Tüür’s “Lighthouse”, and Veiko Tubin’s “Suite of Estonian Dance Tunes”. The evening will also feature music by Edvard Grieg and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Since 2021, the orchestra’s artistic director has been the Finnish violinist, conductor and composer Pekka Kuusisto. In Estonia, the concert evening has indeed been promoted primarily under Kuusisto’s name and merits. His appeal is easy to understand: the world-renowned violinist and performer collaborates with European orchestras in Berlin, Gothenburg and Helsinki alike, and in two years’ time Kuusisto will take up the position of chief conductor with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

Estonian audiences can also be expected to appreciate the Finnish violinist because a journalist from the local music magazine Aplaus previously wrote that Kuusisto is not only aware of but also enthusiastic about Estonia’s TV programme “Klassikatähed”, a grandly produced and widely popular competition for young musicians that has been running since 2013. In Kuusisto’s view, a similar classical music competition should be part of the programming of all European public broadcasters.

Pekka Kuusisto is an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music and improvisation, as well as a warm and humorous lover of folk music—despite performing on a highly valuable Antonio Stradivarius violin. A fine example of Kuusisto’s humour and his ability to charm audiences is his encore performance in a BBC Proms concert recording video.

Some tickets for the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Pekka Kuusisto’s Saturday concert in Tallinn are still available here. The concert begins at 19:00 and lasts approximately two hours, including an interval.

To learn more about this and similar topics
Arvo Pärt Classical Music events music Pekka Kuusisto Tallinn