10th Annual Sibelius Academy Music Festival
Tuesday, July 29 to Saturday, August 2, 2008

Gifted professional-level musicians from the Sibelius Academy of Helsinki, Finland, travel annually to Finlandia University to present these one-of-a-kind North American performances.

In addition to three full-length concert performances, this year’s Sibelius Festival includes several other community events, including a series of student seminars, pre-concert performances by local musicians, and informal opportunities to hear and meet the Sibelius Academy musicians.

The 10th Annual Finlandia University Sibelius Academy Music Festival full-length concerts will take place July 30 to August 1, 2008, as follows:

Wednesday, July 30, 7:30 p.m. – Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock, Mich.
Melis Jaatinen, mezzosoprano, and Maija Väisänen, piano

Thursday, July 31, 7:30 p.m. – Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock, Mich.
Joonas Ahonen, piano

Friday, August 1, 7:30 p.m. – St. Peter’s by the Sea Church, Eagle Harbor, Mich.
Kaisa Koivula, clarinet, and Jukka Ojala, accordion

Concert tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students. Finlandia University students and children age 12 and under are admitted at no cost. For advance tickets, please call Finlandia’s North Wind Books at 888-285-8363 or 906-487-7217. Tickets may also be purchased prior to each performance.

For additional information, please contact Karen Johnson at 906-487-7348 or SibeliusFest@finlandia.edu.

The internationally known Sibelius Academy was founded in 1882. The Academy is named for the much loved late 19th century Finnish composer Jean Sibelius who was both a student and professor at the Academy. The Sibelius Academy is the only university of music in Finland, and the largest in Scandinavia. It is an integral part of the system of higher education in Finland. In addition to providing music education the Sibelius Academy engages in performance and creative art and research, and is committed to the fostering of Finland's musical culture and cultural heritage.

In the arts, Finland is known as a musical superpower with opera singers like Karita Mattila, Soile Isokoski, Jorma Hynninen and Martti Talvela; conductors like Esa-Pekka Salonen, Osmo Vänskä and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and composer Jean Sibelius. All of them were trained at the Sibelius Music Academy of Helsinki, Finland.

Read an article about this year's Sibelius Festival from the spring 2008 edition of the Bridge.

Download this year’s Sibelius Festival poster.

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