Mon 7 August 2023 • 1 p.m. event stage of Lahti Market
A singing event for the public and the opening of the Lahti Organ Festival
The opening of the Lahti Organ Festival is traditionally a large public singing event, which takes place in the Kauppatori event area in Lahti. The general theme of the festival this year is WATER. Between the songs, the festival will be opened by Pauli Pietiläinen, director of Lahti Organ Festival and Heikki Mäkinen of the Vesijärvi Foundation will also give a speech.
After the public singing event, the second part of the Organ Whistle Precision Throwing World Championships will be organized!
Participation in the competition takes place on site. Welcome to the competition!
Free entry
Mon 7 August 2023 • 7 p.m. The Church of the Cross, Lahti
“Growing from small streams to a mighty river”
Organist Liisa Aaltola, specializing in Bach, is turning her focus to Handel this time. The concert begins with a medley of orchestral music composed by Handel, the king of the rivers, arranged for the organ. As part of the organ arrangements, we will also hear the journey of the Moldau River, from two small springs to a mighty stream, in Bedřich Smetana’s symphonic poem “Vltava” from the cycle “Má vlast” – My Homeland.
There will also be some Bach (which means “stream” in Finnish) in store: the final fugue from J.S. Bach’s “The Art of Fugue,” in which the counter-subject features the notes B-A-C-H, followed by Liszt’s Prelude and Fugue on the same theme to complete the musical journey.
Tickets 20€
+ subscription fees (from 1.50 € / order www.lippu.fi) and an hour before the door.
Tue 8 August 2023 • 7 p.m. The Church of the Cross, Lahti
Bach in Swedish
Lisa Rydberg, fiddle
Gunnar Idenstam, organ
With our classical training as a base and our feet firmly in the Swedish folk music tradition, we invite Father Bach to dance his own dances side by side with the Swedish polska dances. There is much common ground – melody lines, harmony sequences, accentuations, ornamentations and rhythmic inclinations – all giving a common shape or feeling to both kinds of music. During the Baroque period the distinction between ‘classical’ music and ‘folk’ music was not as clear as it is today.
There was a living tradition of dances, only sometimes written down. During the 18th century it was an accepted part of a church organist’s work in Sweden to play dance music with local folk musicians at weddings and other celebrations. It’s a tantalizing thought that these musicians, often of foreign heritage, who could play notated music, maybe – just maybe – could have taught a Swedish folk musician a minuet, a bourrée or a courante from their homeland. Maybe even something from the hands of Johann Sebastian… And in what way, one wonders, would a Swedish fiddler have played Bach?
Tickets 20€
+ subscription fees (from 1.50 € / order www.lippu.fi) and an hour before the door.
Wed 9 August 2023 • 2 p.m. The Church of the Cross, Lahti
The summer meeting of the Finnish cantor-organ association
Wed 9 August 2023 • 7 p.m. The Church of the Cross, Lahti
Water Music!
The concert by the Lahti-based baroque orchestra Galantina will feature works by four Middle Baroque composers: Handel, Vivaldi, Fasch and Telemann. The opening number of the concert will be Georg Philipp Telemann’s orchestral suite “Water Music”, the overture of which will be played as the audience arrives in the church hall. In between the works, we hear stories about the lives and musical collaborations of these composers influential in the early 1700s.
Timo Kiiskinen, conductor
Tickets 25€
+ subscription fees (from 1.50 € / order www.lippu.fi) and an hour before the door.
Thu 10 August 2023 • 7 p.m. Sibelius Hall, Lahti
Night at the Opera
”The Elements of Water”
From Richard Wagner’s opera ”Flying Dutchman” to the musical ”Singin’ in the Rain” – Night at the Opera 2023 is the highlight of Lahti Organ Festival. It takes us on a journey through water-themed operas and musical melodies, as well as the most beloved gems of lied music.
We hear wonderful performances by opera singers who present the different forms of water. Erkki Korhonen, the former CEO of the National Opera, hosts and accompanies the concert on the piano. The organ is played by the young super talent Arttu Selonen.
On stage we will see: Mari Karjalainen, soprano; Pilvi-Annukka Äikäs, mezzo-soprano; Jere Hölttä, tenor; Jussi Vänttinen, baritone; Henri Uusitalo, bass; Arttu Selonen, organ; and Erkki Korhonen, presenter and piano player.
Tickets 30€
+ subscription fees (from 1.50 € / order www.lippu.fi) and an hour before the door.
Fri 11 August 2023 • 7 p.m. The Church of the Cross, Lahti
Concert by young top organists
Two young Finnish organists on the verge of international careers, Hanna Koljonen and Aleksanteri Wallius, show us how to really play the organ! The host of the event is the director of Lahti Organ Week Pauli Pietiläinen. Let’s hit the pedal and go!
Tickets 10€
+ subscription fees (from 1.50 € / order www.lippu.fi) and an hour before the door.
Sat 12 August 2023 • 1 p.m. Pikku-Vesijärvi park
Lahti water organ with digital accompaniment
Miikka Kallio organ
Jakke Saarinen drums
Markus Karekallas water organ
In cooperation Lahden Seurakuntayhtymä
Free entry
Sun 13 August 2023 • 10 a.m. The Church of the Cross, Lahti
Closing service of the Lahti organ festival
The organist of the closing service is church music instructor and doctoral student Anna Pulli-Huomo, who has built all the music, including the liturgical music, accompaniments of the hymns and soloistic works of the service to support each other. The liturgist of the service will be the director of the Lahti Organ Festival, pastor Pauli Pietiläinen, and the main role will be played by the entire congregation, i.e. You!
In cooperation Keski-Lahden seurakunta
Free entry
Su 13.8.2023 • 18.00 Ristinkirkko, Lahti
Closing concert of the Lahti Organ Festival
TriAngel’s singers, Aurora Ikävalko, Kaisa Näreranta and Tuula Saarensola, are classical music professionals. Vähän ennen yötä (Just Before the Night) is a chamber music piece by composer Olli Kortekangas and poet Pia Perkiö for organ and three soloists. The work is meditative in nature, and its text boldly delves into the fundamental questions of our existence while being inclusive and non-confessional.
The world premiere of Vähän ennen yötä will take place in the Organo Hall of the Helsinki Music Centre on August 12th, 2023, and the very next day it will be performed at Lahti Organ Festival, in the Church of the Cross. Together with TriAngel, the work will be performed by one of Finland’s foremost organists, Jan Lehtola.
Tickets 20€
+ subscription fees (from 1.50 € / order www.lippu.fi) and an hour before the door.
