Naantali Music Festival, 4–15 June 2024, will feature appearances by violinist Inmo Yang, bassoonist Bram van Sambeek, conductor Dalia Stasevska, soprano Marjukka Tepponen, singer Johanna Försti, and more. This summer’s festival will consist of twenty or so concerts in idyllic milieus in and around Naantali, now for the first time also in the park of Louhisaari Manor in Askainen.

Succesful start to Elina Vähälä’s term as artistic director

The first term in 2023 of the new artistic director of the Naantali Music Festival, violinist Elina Vähälä, received an enthusiastic welcome from the audience: according to a visitor survey, up to 98% felt that the concert pieces and performers were either excellent or outstanding.

The festival has once again put together a high-quality, varied programme for this upcoming summer, showcasing a series of brilliant artists.

– I’m so happy to be able to announce that this summer we will be welcoming some top names in their fields to Naantali, such as the Dutch bassoonist Bram van Sambeek and the Danish flautist Janne Thomsen, who are both visiting Naantali for the first time. In addition, many audience-favourites, such as soprano Marjukka Tepponen, pianist Paavali Jumppanen, the string quartet Meta4 and winner of the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition Inmo Yang will be returning to the line-up of performers,” says Elina Vähälä.

Inmo Yang will be performing in several concerts this upcoming summer. For example, she will accompany Elina Vähälä as a soloist with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday, 7 June, to perform one of the most beloved works of Arvo Pärt, Tabula Rasa, a concerto for two violins. The concert under conductor Olari Elts will also feature Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, nicknamed Romantic.

Sibelius, Schubert And Kuusisto

Building an international career for herself in roles such as the principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Dalia Stasevska will lead Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Naantali on Wednesday, 5 June. She is also the principal conductor of the orchestra. In addition to Lemminkäinen, a thrilling work by Jean Sibelius, the programme will feature Jaakko Kuusisto’s bassoon concerto with soloist Bram van Sambeek.

An active collaborator of the Naantali Music Festival, violinist and composer Jaakko Kuusisto passed away in spring 2022. He would have turned 50 years old next year, and in honour of this anniversary, his works will also be heard on 13 June in the traditional In honorem maris concert. The same concert will allow listeners to enjoy an all-time favourite by Franz Schubert, Trout Quintet, performed by cellist Arto Noras, pianist Ralf Gothóni, and others. The concert will also feature performances by Elina Vähälä, Paavali Jumppanen, cellist Senja Rummukainen and violinist Ioana Cristina Goicea, who was appointed Vähälä’s professor colleague at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in 2020 when she was only 27 years old.

A celebration of cellos and stories from around the world

Composed of six top Finnish cellists, Total Cello Ensemble will be celebrating its 30-year journey on 9 June with a special concert featuring cello arrangements of some of the all-time favourite pieces of classical music. The ensemble will be accompanied by guest soprano Marjukka Tepponen, known from the Finnish National Opera and international stages. Stories from Around the World on 6 June will showcase works that draw inspiration from folk music in different cultures, from Osvaldo Golijov to Béla Bartók’s virtuosic violin sonata and Georges Enescu’s dazzling Romanian Rhapsody. The multi-talented South African singer Gareth Lubbe will be making his Naantali debut at the concert both as an overtone singer and a violist.

From the history of the string quartet to a landmark of finnish music

On 14 June, Meta4, one of the most internationally successful Finnish string quartets, will lead the concert audience on a journey through the story of the leading form of chamber music, from Luigi Boccherini to Robert Schumann and the compositions of Kaija Saariaho in a concert named History of the String Quartet in One Evening.

The first opera composed by a Finn, Bernhard Henrik Crusell’s The Little Slave Girl will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of its premiere next year. The work will be performed as a chamber opera by Opera BOX on Saturday, 15 June. Not only is this a landmark piece of music, but also an entertaining work that is based on the story of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. The place where the piece will be performed is also historical, the beautiful park of the Louhisaari Manor in Askainen, Masku, now hosting one of the concerts of the Naantali Music Festival for the first time.

– For decades, Naantali Music Festival has had the privilege of organising park concerts regularly at Kultaranta. Now that Kultaranta is under renovation for several years, we were given the opportunity to move from the president’s summer residence to the birthplace of one of our former presidents, Mannerheim. Hopefully Louhisaari will become a permanent concert milieu for us, alongside Kultaranta, says Managing Director of the Music Festival Suvi Innilä.

The concert will offer the audience a chance to experience and enjoy the unique cultural and historical environment of Louhisaari in new ways.

– We are excited about this collaboration with the Naantali Music Festival and the fact that this allows us to make the unique, public manor park available for concerts, says Keeper Jouni Marjamäki from the National Museum of Finland.

Motown vibes and greatest jazz and rhythm & blues hits

The Music Festival will also offer some lighter music. The first evening club of the festival on 7 June in Paviljonki at Naantali Spa will present Flok, an ensemble of six singers and a strong newcomer in what is already an impressive a cappella scene in Finland. The concert of the ensemble, who recently won the Tampere Vocal Music Festival, is entitled Flok: Let’s Grow and includes both original pieces by Flok and new arrangements of familiar long-standing classics.

The popular Dinner Concert on 13 June at Naantalin Kaivohuone will feature gems from 50s jazz and rhythm & blues. Formed in 2013 by talented musicians from bands such as Ricky-Tick Big Band, Whistle Bait, Dalindeo and the Jimi Tenor Band, Screaming Jay & The Bones will be performing in Naantali with guest singer Siiri Nordin, known for her band Killer and the hit song Sydämeni osuman sain. In the following evening on 14 June the second evening club of the Music Festival invites listeners to Kaivohuone to enjoy the vibes of the legendary record label Motown with singer Johanna Försti, known for her soulful voice.

Tickets for the announced concerts go on sale on at 9 am on Saturday, 2 December at Lippupiste. The full festival programme will be announced on 9 January.