Kanun virtuoso Hakan Güngör will perform the world premiere of "Dao of Water" by Enjott Schneider, commissioned by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, with Yangqin virtuoso Lee Meng-hsueh

Hakan Güngör is celebrated as a virtuoso of the kanun (qanun), renowned for his melodic artistry, vibrant sonority, and the exquisite tenderness with which he plays. His journey in music began in Ankara in 1973, where he first learned from his father, the esteemed oud player Ali Osman Güngör. Hakan's passion for the kanun blossomed under the tutelage of Özhan Kayhan, setting the stage for a remarkable career.

He studied musical theory, composition, harmony, and counterpoint at Gazi University and ITU Turkish Music Conservatory. His musical journey has been enriched by renowned musicians and educators, including Yavuz Özüstün, Nail Yavuzoğlu, Emin Sabitoğlu, Mutlu Torun, Selahattin İçli, Ruhi Ayangil, and Erol Deran. His studies encompassed solfege, kanun techniques, and both European and Turkish classical music traditions.

Since 1993, Hakan has collaborated with an array of internationally acclaimed artists, such as Jordi Savall, Yo-Yo Ma, Renaud Garcia-Fons, Fazıl Say, Okay Temiz, and Kudsi Erguner. His work with Erguner’s ensemble included projects with directors like Robert Wilson and Carolyn Carlson. Hakan has toured extensively, performing with various ensembles and contributing to recordings in both Türkiye and Europe. He is a lecturer at Haliç University and a prominent kanun player at Istanbul Radio House.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra

Conductor: Chew Hee Chiat

Vocal: Gong Linna
Kanun: Hakan Güngör
Yangqin: Lee Meng-hsueh
Eco-Erhu: Xu Hui
Eco-Gaohu: Wong Sum Ho
Soprano Sheng: Chen Yi-wei

Enjott Schneider: Dao of Water Double Concerto for Yangqin, Kanun and Chinese Orchestra (Commissioned by the HKCO / World Premiere)

Kanun: Hakan Güngör

Yangqin: Lee Meng-hsueh

Eighteen Variations on a Hu Pipe Melody Ng Tai-kong Lyrics by Cai Wenji

Whence Chen Si’ang (Commissioned by the HKCO / World Premiere)

8 June 2024

The third Horizon concert, organized in June, will focus on Indian music as HPO welcomes a distinguished veena virtuoso to collaborate with orchestra musicians.

The upcoming concert of the Horizon series will feature a mesmerizing collaboration between Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh, a distinguished sixth-generation veena virtuoso, and tabla maestro Pramath Kiran, alongside musicians from the Helsinki Philharmonic. Together, they will present a program that harmoniously merges two musical traditions.

The Saraswathi veena is India's revered national instrument with deep roots in the southern regions, and tabla is celebrated across the northern landscapes, symbolizing the essence of Indian classical music. These iconic instruments will blend their melodies with an HPO ensemble including flute, oboe, bassoon, viola and cello.

Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh

Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh, a sixth-generation Veena virtuoso, started playing the National Instrument of India, the Saraswathi veena at the age 3 and is a ten-time recipient of the "Award for Veena" bestowed by The Music Academy, Chennai, India. In the 37 years of her concert career, Jayanthi has placed the Saraswathi Veena on the world map through her trailblazing performances.

Jayanthi has performed at many international festivals, including the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Darbar Festival London, Celtic Connections in Scotland, Queensland Music Festival, Darwin Music Festival, and Adelaide Music Festival, BBC Proms London and at prestigious venues such as United Nations in New York, the Palladium, Indiana, Théatre de la Ville, Paris, and Northwest Folklife Festival, Seattle.

Apart from her collaborations with several star musicians of Indian Classical Music, her concerts with Ustad Zakir Hussain, Indian National Orchestra, the British Philharmonia makes her an ambassador of the rich musical heritage of India.

She has taken the internet by storm through her innovative web series, Cup O’ Carnatic, which demystifies Indian Classical music to the world audience and has more than 2.5 million views on social media. With a doctorate in the art of Veena playing, her online Jayanthi Kumaresh Academy for Veena has students from over 15 countries with over 1500 individual registrations in the age group spanning 10-75 years.

She has been honored with innumerable awards including “Kalaimamani” by the Government of Tamil Nadu, “Sangeet Shikar Samman” by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to name a few.

Pramath Kiran

Vidwan Sri. S.G. Pramath Kiran is the most sought after percussionist, music producer and a world class sound engineer from south of India. His musical career took off at a very young age, getting trained in Indian Classical music. Pramath learned Tabla (Hindustani Classical Music) under the great table maestro Pt.Udayraj Karpur. Later he was trained by Vidwan Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma who blessed him with the art of playing Morching (Jaws Harp) in the traditional Carnatic style.

PAAVO HALL, Musiikkitalo

6 PM

Jayanthi Kumaresh, veena

Pramath Kiran, tabla & morching

Elina Raijas, flute

Hannu Perttilä, oboe

Noora Van Dok, bassoon

Mariette Reefman, viola

Aslıhan Gençgönül, cello

Join us for a post-concert talk with Jayanthi Kumaresha and Pramath Kiran, followed by a Q&A session with the artists.

The Horizon concert series is a collaboration between HPO and MiklagardArts, and the programme is curated by Ceyda Berk-Söderblom.

2-20 ApriL 2024

"They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming" 

- Poet Hermann Hesse

We are delighted to team up with Nordic Culture Point and Between Music whose creative work involves an international multidisciplinary network of musicians, physicist, engineers, instrument makers, neuroscientists and others, and established sound artists Petri Kuljuntausta (Finland), Laila Skovmand (Denmark), and Jens L. Thomsen (Faroe Islands)for Sound's Hidden Journey - Under Nordic Waters project.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Sound’s Hidden Journey Under Nordic Waters is a pioneering exploration of sounds underwater from an artistic point of view.

It introduces the sensation of sounds travelling four times faster than they do in the air, of being completely surrounded by sound and elevates the feeling of being one with nature in a new sound art installation that includes soundscapes that have never been played to an audience before.

The project is created by sound artists Petri Kuljuntausta (Finland), Laila Skovmand (Denmark), and Jens L. Thomsen (Faroe Islands) who joined forces with scientists and sound engineer Roma Komar to create unique recordings of underwater reverb - from deep caves in the Atlantic to silent fjords in Greenland and the shallow waters of the beautiful lake Saanajärvi (Sánajávri).

Nordic Culture Point B28 on Suomenlinna, FINLAnd

📷 courtesy of Between Music

The result of the recordings is presented as a collaborative artwork and a sound art exhibition at the Nordic Culture Point's premises B28 on Suomenlinna in April 2024. The project explores humanity's connection to water and raises questions about how we are influenced by our relationship with nature.

Next to the sound art installation, each artist offers their own perspective on water - hovering between philosophy and science, myth, ethics, and aesthetics. These are presented by documentary filmmakers Karin Pennanen, Benjamin Hesselholdt and Peter Sørensen who have produced films that can be viewed as part of the exhibition from April 13th to 20th, 2024.

Sound’s Hidden Journey Under Nordic Waters project is supported by Nordisk Kulturfond, Danish Arts Foundation, Nordic Institute in Greenland, City of Aarhus, KODA kultur, William Demant Foundation, Dansk Komponist Forening, MiklagardArts and Nordic Culture Point Finland.

28 October 2023

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra invites top musicians in their own fields to enter into a musical and cultural dialogue in an intimate, chamber music concert setting.

The Gülistan Ensemble with Helsinki Philharmonic musicians will present works by women composers of Classical Ottoman Music who lived in Istanbul from the XVII.th century onwards. Among the most famous female composers of the palace, Reftar Kalfa, whose death is estimated in 1700, played the Tanbur (long-necked lute) and composed many instrumental works. Dilhayat Kalfa (born 1737), also a Tanbur player, whose hundreds of compositions have survived to the present day. She lived during the so-called Tulip Era in Ottoman history, this period could be described as the Ottoman Renaissance during which the Ottoman society became interested in Western culture. This period is symbolized by the musical gatherings around the palace and in the mansions of Istanbul, as well as by the curiosity to grow tulips, that is why called the "Tulip Era".  

The works of women composers of the later years are also examples of the development of classical Ottoman music, as the court was keen on Western music and the palace ladies took piano and oriental music lessons, dressed and lived in the style of European courts. Leylâ Hanım, who lived between 1850 and 1936, was the maid of honour of Münire Hanım, the daughter of Sultan Abdülhamid, for seven years. She took piano lessons from Mademoiselle Romano, the palace piano teacher, but also Makam lessons from the master musicians of the time, Nikoğos Ağa and Asdik Ağa. A female composer of the same period, Mrs Kevser played the piano and violin and became famous for her well-known Nihavend longa, a symbol of the Eastern influence of Western music.

More recent examples of women composers include Faize Ergin, a pupil of Tanburi Cemil Bey who died in 1954, Neveser Kökdeş who lived between 1904 and 1962, Gevheri Osmanoğlu, the granddaughter of Sultan Abdül Aziz, who died in 1980.

PAAVO HALL, Musiikkitalo

6 PM
📷 Emre BaSak, Hasan Hüseyin Gunes, Ege Köprek

Gül Yazıcı, vocal

Neva Özgen, kemenche

Safinaz Rizeli, kanun

Kudsi Erguner, ney

Liam Mansfield, violin

Mariette Reefman, viola

Beata Antikainen, cello,

Tuomo Matero, double bass

Join us after the concert for a post-concert talk with the musicians moderated by postdoctoral researcher Nuppu Koivisto-Kaasik from Uniarts Research Institute.

The Horizon concert series is a collaboration between HPO and MiklagardArts, and the programme is curated by Ceyda Berk-Söderblom.

12 june 2023

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra invites top musicians in their own fields to enter into a musical and cultural dialogue in an intimate, chamber music concert setting.

Clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh, ney flute player Kudsi Erguner and veena artist Jayanthi Kumaresh blend their own musical dialect and culture with that of musicians of Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Fused together, these performances will create a first of its kind musical experience that will be shared with the audience in three concerts, followed by discussion forums. The Horizon-series is curated by Ceyda Berk-Söderblom.

Join the first concert of Horizon-series on Helsinki Day 12.6. free of charge and enjoy the Helsinki debut of an incomparable clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh. In his concert, Azmeh will be joined by his close collaborator, percussionist John Hadfield.

The Horisontti series was produced in cooperation between HKO and MiklagardArts.   

Free tickets for the Helsinki Day concert can be picked up at the Musiikkitalo ticket office on June 2. from 9 o'clock.

PAAVO HALL, Musiikkitalo

6 PM
📷 Liudmila Jeremies

"The segregation in our societies is deepening; social isolation and loneliness have become widespread problems. This is why we currently cannot think of a more appropriate time to listen to each other, maintain a strong sense of curiosity and strive for diversity in all aspects of our lives. I believe what we need is an up-close, personal experience of a deep dialogue of compelling musical minds coming from different cultural backgrounds”. “We will be mesmerised by the distinctive sound of the clarinetist Kinan Azmeh”, says Ceyda Berk-Söderblom, the curator of the Horizon-series. 

“Music brings people together in a way that transcends the boundaries of everyday interaction. In our Horizon concerts, Ceyda Berk-Söderblom has assembled a series of encounters with unique international musical personalities. I believe that these concerts will be enriching, powerful moments for our audiences in the form of a shared human experience,” says Aleksi Malmberg, General Manager of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

4-6-8-11-19-21 July 2023

As a tribute to his teacher for opera directing, August Everding, our in-house artistic partner, Erik Söderblom will take on the revival and upgrading of Mr Everding’s legendary production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

The original production was premiered in 1973 - 50 years ago! Erik, then a curious teenager, followed the rehearsals and the work of the director with great admiration; this very performance was crucial for Erik’s later choice of profession. Another reason for Erik’s curiosity was that it was conducted by his father, Ulf Söderblom.

The premiere of the revival will take place on July 4 2023 with a top cast conducted by Sakari Oramo.

"𝐀 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠," says Erik, "𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟓𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤: 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐖𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 - 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦."

Savonlinna Opera Festival

📷 courtesy of Savonlinna Opera Festival

"Mozart has remained, but the world has changed. We are creating a fresh Magic Flute in our own time, just like the creators of the previous version did 50 years ago." Erik Söderblom

5 May 2023

“My search is increasingly urgent as more people become strangers to one another, isolated in anonymous cities by their specialisation, their education and their private obsessions, ever hungry to be better understood, appreciated, loved and encouraged. The world cannot be changed by laws and force, the world can be changed by mentalities and intimate personal relationships”

Theodore Zeldin

We are honoured to team up with Theodore Zeldin, the renowned Oxford University philosopher, historian and author & the Oxford Muse to present The Feast of Strangers at Tieteentekijäpäivä, organized by The Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers (FUURT).

Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

The Muse Conversations bring total strangers or mere acquaintances together, in pairs, for a conversation that transcends small talk. Both are given a Menu of Conversation with specific questions that guide and structure their discussion. By working through a menu of different questions, they will both reflect on the details of their lives, speculate on their personal experiences and gain a deeper understanding of one another. The encounter will be captivating and memorable; it will change their world, even if just for a short while.

in collaboration with

FUURT

Tieteentekijäpäivä, Helsinki

📷 Petri Summanen

Theodore Zeldin, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), is an Oxford University historian and philosopher. He has been a pioneer in revealing how relationships; and emotions such as love, fear, loneliness, friendship and ambition; have evolved in different civilisations over the centuries; and most importantly, how they can be changed again today through a new kind of conversation that builds trust between strangers, new ways of working that avoid boredom, and new attitudes towards rebellious youth and forsaken old age. He has been an adviser to the President of France, was made a Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur and awarded The Wolfson Prize.

Over the last 30 years, Theodore Zeldin has been experimenting and developing a new form of conversing that enables people to exchange their experiences and aspirations in order to improve mutual understanding and trust. In twenty countries worldwide, more than 12,000 participants from the Olympics, and The World Economic Forum; to schools and homeless shelters, have taken part in Muse Conversations.

15-19 may 2023

We're excited to team up with the community of expert organisations and concerned souls committed to bringing change and promoting diversity, social justice, and inclusion in their work!

The week includes keynotes, lectures, workshops, discussions, and artistic outcomes. Anyone can enjoy the remarkable programme, as most of the events will be held online via Zoom and the events are also streamed on the #StopHatredNow website: https://www.stophatrednow.fi/.

#StopHatredNow is completely free of charge. Check out the entire programme here: https://www.stophatrednow.fi/program-2023 

HELSINKI & Online

Visuals: Mire Mroué

#StopHatredNow 2023 is produced in collaboration with Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Catalysti, City of Helsinki, Cultural Centre Kaisa, Culture for All Service, Finnish Cultural Institute for Benelux, The Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute, Globe Art Point, Goethe-Institut Finnland, Kiila ry, MiklagårdArts, Ministry of Education and Culture, University of Arts Helsinki, and Zodiak – Center for New Dance.

10-12 October & 13-16 December 2022

Roman Grygoriv (b.1984) and Illia Razumeiko (b.1989) are the founders of Opera Aperta, a new music theater laboratory that has attracted great international attention. They are also the founders and directors of the international PORTO FRANKO -festival. Chornobyldorf (premiered in 2020) was selected among the six best opera and musical theatre performances in the Music Theater Now competition.

In October 2022, a new version of Lullaby for Mariupol by Opera Aperta will be created in collaboration with students from the Global Music Department of the Sibelius Academy, University of the Art Helsinki, in cooperation with the Espoo City Theatre and MiklagardArts.

Dedicated to all victims of Russian aggression

On February 24, Russia openly invaded Ukraine, continuing its war against the Ukrainian people. Mariupol, which since 2014 has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, has become a brutal example of a tragedy and humanitarian catastrophe. On February 22, back then in peaceful Kyiv, Ukrainian composers Roman Grygoriv and Illia Razumeiko composed a piece for microtonal bandura called “Mariupol”. On the 21st day of the invasion and inhuman destruction of Ukraine, they performed “Mariupol” in the form of a 7-hour composition installation on March 16. The broadcast was streamed from VEZHA TV and Radio Company studio in Ivano-Frankivsk, where composers relocated.

In May 2022, with the artists of Opera Aperta, the piece was transformed into a concert video-vocal-instrumental performance, “Lullaby for Mariupol” (composers: Roman Grygoriv, Illia Razumeiko and ethnomusicologist Marichka Styrbulova), that combines microtonal string instruments with traditional Ukrainian Lullabies from different regions of the country.

HELSINKI

Photo 1: Opera Aperta

Photo 2-4:Darina Rodionova

Photos of the concert: Uupi Tirronen

In October 2022, a new version of Lullaby for Mariupol by Opera Aperta will be created in collaboration with students from the Global Music Department of the Sibelius Academy. The artistic outcome of this collaborative work will be presented at Global Fest, on the 16th of December 2022, with an intercultural ensemble consisting of students from the Global Music Department and musicians from Ukraine. The performance in December will be dedicated to all victims of Russian aggression.

This project aims to strengthen intercultural artistic dialogue and collaboration and engages with questions such as: what is the role of the arts in a situation like this, and what is our role in times of war and suffering?

Global Fest Programme

Roman Grygoriv and Illia Razumeiko (homepage)

Watch the Live stream on Youtube

1–5 & 9-10 SEPTEMBER 2022

The “Karvalakkiooppera/ The Fur Hat Opera” by composer Tapio Tuomela tells the stories of the people who lost their livelihood with the damming of the Kemi river in the 1950s and following the subsequent political uproar.

Our in-house artistic partner Erik Söderblom directed the world premiere and a series of performances of Karvalakkiooppera.

𝔸 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕝𝕠𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕕

"The Fur Hat Opera lays bare the workings of the state and power and the fate of the little people and nature in it all. Setting the underlying tone of the work is the tragic decimation of the age-old salmon-fishing culture on the River Kemijoki.

Driving the narrative are absurd turns in a political thriller and a tale of exploitation in post-war Lapland that rivals a Greek tragedy. The opera brings to light a range of societal tensions: salmon-fishing farmers v. the state, urban v. rural, old ways v. blind belief in development, and nature v. economics."

Synopsis

After the Second World War, the Finnish state and the politicians in power made a special project of buying up and harnessing the rapids on the Kemijoki, replacing those lost with Karelia.

The story opens with a look at the fishing communities on the River Kemijoki that have spent decades trying to get compensation for the salmon lost to the dams. Finally, the men get together and decide to set out for Helsinki en masse to demand justice. Reino, a former salmon fisher, is too depressed to join the delegation. His wife, Eevi, peeved at her husband’s apathy, tells him he is so useless he should just walk out into the rapids. And this is what he does. But in the river Reino meets a water spirit – the last salmon, perhaps? – who appears to him in the shape of a young woman, Piija.

Full synopsis: https://karvalakkiooppera.fi/the-fur-hat-opera/

ROVANIEMI & HELSINKI

Photo: The Fur Hat Delegation from Lapland on the way to the Ministry of Justice in autumn 1979.

by Heikki Rissanen, courtesy of the archives of Lapin Kansa

In The Fur Hat Opera, the demise of the salmon-fishing culture along the River Kemijoki develops into an insightful, universal account of what might happen when an individual runs up against the state machine.  Politics in post-war Finland witnessed events whose nature no one wanted to see – and maybe still don’t – and which no one has ever acknowledged. The compensation claims of those who lost their livelihood – salmon – languished in the courts for 30 years, claims which welled up from the profound injustice and humiliation they suffered. When they had had enough, a ‘fur hat delegation’ gathered and headed for Helsinki to demand justice and moral rehabilitation. The opera’s solid basis in historical fact and its political timeliness make this unique theatrical production exceptionally interesting.

Erik Söderblom, director

Music: Tapio Tuomela

Libretto: Sami Parkkinen

Director: Erik Söderblom

Conductor: John Storgårds

Orchestra: Lapland Chamber Orchestra

16-21 May 2022

We are delighted to team up with our colleagues and contribute to the #StopHatredNow2022

#StopHatredNow is an intercultural and anti-racist platform organised in collaboration with several art and intercultural organisations. The platform strives to create discourse on diversity, inclusivity, power structures, otherness, and intersectionally feminist strategies. The event is is aimed at individual artists, cultural influencers, and institutions of art and culture, but anyone interested in the topics is welcome.

This year’s #StopHatredNow strives to find ways of coming together and to actively practice coexistence. How does one continue to work towards equity and diversity in the middle of multiple crises? How can the state of crisis become a chance for change, a chance to re-negotiate old and tired structures?

**

Online

Tools for inclusive, anti-racist, and feminist action

This year the event focuses on community, collaboration, action, sustainability, and questions regarding accountability. The goal is to empower others (and one another) so that even in the midst of crisis, we would continue to have the strength to actively dream and practice coexistence.

**

The event is initiated by UrbanApa and co-produced in collaboration with Caisa, City of Helsinki, Culture for All, Frame, Globe Art Point, Goethe-Institut Finnland, Interkult ry, Kiila ry, MiklagardArts, Punos, Uniarts Helsinki, and Zodiak – Center for New Dance amongst others.

**

The event will be held in English and Finnish, and it will take place virtually on Zoom. It will also be streamed on Facebook and our website at www.stophatrednow.fi.

2021- 2022

Change occurs because we wish it so, yet it also occurs against our wishes.  When it comes to changing ourselves - what role do we actually play during the process? Are we the actors or mere reactors? These eternal questions seem to have re-gained urgency lately.

Breaking Through the Sugar Glass team wants to experiment with personal change. We will play with imagination, asking if we can radically re-imagine ourselves and follow a straight road towards the set goal or if the reality of personal change is rather messy. The framework is the global urgency around the topics, which the UNTITLED Festival and Agenda 2030 wants to address. Therefore, we will reflect on the personal change in relation to society at large.

Concept: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom, Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen

We consider this experiment both as a toolkit and an exercise menu. The metaphor of Breaking Through the Sugar Glass is obviously borrowed from movies. The play between reality, imagination and projection; the adrenaline rush from excitement and joy; and feelings of courage or fear against challenges will be present in the project. We hope to create a non-judgemental and thought-provoking space for individual growth and experimentation; and a generous atmosphere of sharing.

The ability to change is essential for our creativity, for our humanity, and our survival; with Breaking Through the Sugar Glass, we are looking forward to diving into the question “how”.

The first intervention, Dr Untitled – An Confessional Online Performance will take place on the 24th of September with talented improvisers Max Bremer and Åsa Nybo as part of the UNTITLED 2021 festival. Dr Untitled is the first part of a series of events consisting of online performances, one-on-one sessions with members of the Untitled Alliance and a grand offline finale at Untitled Festival 2022.

UNTITLED 2021-2022

📷 Reishabh Kailey

Dr Untitled – An Confessional Online Performance

In our experiment, we want to understand how individuals – who are part of the Untitled Alliance – manage to translate the goals and ideals of their daily work into their private life. Do you advocate a basic universal income but don’t know how to deal with your kids’ pocket money? Do you implement national citizens assemblies but cannot decide on the family vacation?  Are you a vegan eating meat in your dreams? Do you have occasionally brief moments of feeling like a hypocrite? Then this is the right session for you. In full anonymity, we share cases about such dissonances. 

The presented cases – your cases – will be discussed by our peer-to-peer support network. At the same time, each case will be fed into an immature human-AI system called “Åsa and Max” that is particularly responsive to so-called intention-behaviour discrepancies. Our system – while still in its infancy – will unapologetically try to produce recommendations for each case. It nevertheless needs to be trained by providing feedback on the presented recommendations. 

This session is intended for professional “re-imagineers” who work day in and out on the transformation of society. 

Join us in trying to apply big picture ideas on a very small scale.

Disclaimer: This session requires no imagination.

2021- 2024

"They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming" 

- Poet Hermann Hesse

We are delighted to team up with Between Music whose creative work involves an international multidisciplinary network of musicians, physicist, engineers, instrument makers, neuroscientists and others,  and established Finnish sound artist Petri Kuljuntausta for Sound's Hidden Journey - Under Nordic Waters project.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

SOUND’S HIDDEN JOURNEY UNDER NORDIC WATERS is a sound art exhibition that explores our connection with water and raises questions about the impact of our relationship with nature. The work is based on unique underwater reverb recordings - from the deep caves of the Atlantic Ocean to the quiet fjords of Greenland and the shallow waters of the North Sea. In the underwater realm, sound travels four times faster than in the air. It plays with our sense of direction, and as the sound flows, not through our ears, but directly through the tissue of the body, the line between the self and the surroundings becomes increasingly blurred. A liminal state of disorientation, ambiguity, perpetual flow - and potential new insight. What if we brought this state of mind to the surface?  

Four Nordic artists, each deeply inspired by water in their artistic practice, dive into these distinctive recordings and make each their own artistic interpretation - fluctuating between philosophy and science, myth, ethics and aesthetics. It’s designed to stimulate encounters between artists from the Nordic countries.

Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland.

📷 Charlotta de Miranda (AquaSonic)

📷 courtesy of Petri Kuljuntausta

Petri Kuljuntausta (Finland), Laila Skovmand (Denmark), Jens L. Thomsen (The Faroe Islands) and Inuk Silis Høegh (Greenland). The artists will be portrayed by a local film crew in each country. The project aims to create a multidisciplinary narrative meeting between music, sound art, film, visual arts, technology and research. The recordings of the artists and video documentation of their work will be exhibited with a sound and film installation. 

Petri Kuljuntausta (Finland) is a composer, sound artist, musician and author. He has given underwater concerts to underwater audiences, played with exotic and ordinary birds, and made works on the sounds of northern lights and space. Kuljuntausta performs as an improvising musician and composes electronic music that is performed and has been released on records of more than 130 works around the world. In addition to soundscape works, he builds sound installations for galleries and museums and has composed music for many films and video works.

25 january 2021-…

The idea for 𝗿𝗲;𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 stems from a fantasy of justice. It is a co-created experiment and initiated by Ceyda Berk Söderblom and Reishabh Kailey, to challenge the institutionalised art funding systems by questioning the agency of unused/unproduced thinking.

By welcoming artists, art makers, cultural professionals, academics, autodidacts, doers and makers, space was set up with the intention to challenge non-transparent expert hierarchies within grant application systems. 𝗿𝗲;𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 is open to all, regardless of the author’s experience, background, age or qualification. The 𝗿𝗲;𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲(d) poetry is shaped by everyone who takes part in it.

We are very excited to invite you to view the 𝗿𝗲;𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 and If you to contribute to our poetic venture if you happen to have any rejected ideas lying around.

#reversetherejection

helsınkı, fınland

After acknowledging our privilege of being artists and art-makers who have access to potential funding, we decided to design space for empathy and healing as a critical practice.

Art professionals who continually create and re-create proposals of ideas, invest a fair amount of creative labour in proposal-making. When a proposal gets rejected, the idea is suspended, abandoned, or reconfigured.

Through 𝗿𝗲;𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 we are experimenting with new reconfigurations of discarded ideas that have been rejected by the establishment. By doing so, we want to critically analyse the contemporary art funding systems while creating a safe space for unproduced thinking.

We are engaging with the concept of ownership and creative labour in the algorithmic world. Ideas as objects which are owned can easily be ripped apart by Artificial Intelligence and new ideas can be formed, requiring no additional ‘originality’ from us - still the ideas are new so who owns them now?

© Team Rejection, Helsinki, 2021

17-18 SEPTEMBER 2020

An urge to reimagine everything in the form of a 10-year long festival, was inaugurated in Helsinki as an intense two-day marathon on September 17-18.

A successful hybrid between on- and offline!

MiklagårdArts is an alliance of #UNTITLED. We are  so happy, proud and excited to be teaming up with Demos Helsinki in collectively reimagining the society.

We are delighted to have been invited there as being one of the #alliances and to contribute to the pool of experts, non-experts, makers, doers. It has been a very enlightening experience.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

UNTITLED culminates annually in a festival that enables reimagination, forming of unlikely alliances and initiation of real-world experiments.

The first festival is held as on- and offline in Helsinki, Finland. An idea of a journey of transformation a year ago has turned into a reality for 400 people from over 30 countries.

UNTITLED’s purpose is to collectively reimagine the society, set the agenda for the most important experiments and execute them together. It is founded by an alliance of activists across sectors.

helsınkı, fınland

UNTITLED is a decade-long process of social imagination and experimentation to bring out the next era.

We came together for the first time in a festival in Helsinki in 2020 to reimagine, form unlikely alliances and initiate real-world experiments.

The festival is co-created. There are different ways you can join and build it:

• Shape the agenda and propose participants

• Create transformative experiences through arts and showcases

• Set up a workshop to design for transformative and empowering experiments

• Bring in resources to scale the impact

21 February 2020 (cancelled)

Kanun virtuoso Hakan Güngör will perform the world premiere of "Dao of Water" by Enjott Schneider, commissioned by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, with Yangqin virtuoso Lee.

Hakan Güngör is considered a virtuoso on the Kanun (qanun) with his melodic style, vibrant and clear sonority, and tenderness of his mezrab (plectrum). He works as a lecturer for his instrument at the Haliç University, and at the Istanbul Radio House as a kanun player. He has been collaborating with world-known musicians such as Jordi Savall, Yo-Yo Ma, Renaud Garcia-Fons, Fazıl Say, Okay Temiz and Kudsi Erguner. With Kudsi Erguner’s ensemble, he worked with Robert Wilson and Carolyn Carlson for two different projects. Güngör has toured many countries with various ensembles and took part in the recording of CDs both in Turkey and Europe.

48th Hong Kong Arts Festival

Hong Kong City Hall

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Chan Ming-chi t’s the East Wind Again from Tale of the Mahjong Heroes　

Enjott Schneider Double Concerto for Yangqin, Kanun and Chinese Orchestra Dao of Water

Kanun: Hakan Güngör

Yangqin: Lee Meng-hsueh

Plus new works by Leon Ko, Anthony Paul De Ritis and Marcel Wengler

All programmes are commissioned by the HKCO / World Premiere

13-16 September 2019

“Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts, they transform them. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards, and it involves being willing to emerge a slightly different person.” - Theodore Zeldin

We are honoured to team up with Theodore Zeldin, the renowned Oxford University philosopher, historian and author & the Oxford Muse to present The Muse Conversations in Helsinki.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

During the events we invite you to experience an unconventional culture of dialogue, developed by Theodore Zeldin around exhilarating, thought-provoking topics.

The Muse Conversations bring total strangers or mere acquaintances together, in pairs, for a conversation that transcends small talk. Both are given a Menu of Conversation with specific questions that guide and structure their discussion. By working through a menu of different questions, they will both reflect on the details of their lives, speculate on their personal experiences and gain a deeper understanding of one another. The encounter will be captivating and memorable; it will change their world, even if just for a short while.

in collaboration with

Amos Rex Museum &

Stina Krook Foundation

Johanna Grönqvist from Svenska Yle wrote about her experience of having a conversation with a stranger. The full story (in Swedish).

Amos Rex Museum, Helsinki

📷 Johannes Romppanen (The Feast of Strangers)

📷 Iia Palovaara / Amos Rex

Theodore Zeldin, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), is an Oxford University historian and philosopher. He has been a pioneer in revealing how relationships; and emotions such as love, fear, loneliness, friendship and ambition; have evolved in different civilisations over the centuries; and most importantly, how they can be changed again today through a new kind of conversation that builds trust between strangers, new ways of working that avoid boredom, and new attitudes towards rebellious youth and forsaken old age. He has been an adviser to the President of France, was made a Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur and awarded The Wolfson Prize.

Over the last 30 years, Theodore Zeldin has been experimenting and developing a new form of conversing that enables people to exchange their experiences and aspirations in order to improve mutual understanding and trust. In twenty countries worldwide, more than 12,000 participants from the Olympics, and The World Economic Forum; to schools and homeless shelters, have taken part in Muse Conversations.

February 9, 2019 Musica Nova Helsinki

Helsinki Music Centre, Finland

Flash Flash is a crazy piece of work, not so much ‘about’ Andy Warhol as it is set around the idea of him. Juhani Nuorvala´s opera, if that’s what it really is, has a bit of a history, and it took scandalously long to make it to the stage in any form – now the world premiere will take place, at last, in February 2019. It’s written in just intonation, with a highly rhythmic musical score, and with a pitch perfect pop English text by Juha Siltanen, and makes heavy use of stage projections and lights. It could be defined as ‘populist high art’. It is manic and meditative, tasteless and touching, superficial and probing, all at once. Although rooted in pop idioms, one never loses the sense that it is all being guided by a highly-trained, intelligent hand, much like Warhol’s art. Above all, though, it is human, and grounded in a heartfelt emotion.

MAY 7-8-10-11 2019 Espoo City Theatre

Revontuli Hall

As Juha Siltanen says Flash Flash describes a person and a culture that are forced by their own history to flirt with destruction and death, substituting personal experience and self-knowledge with consuming people, time, sexuality. At its core lies a simple and coherent story of a lonely man surrounded by people but interwoven in it and surrounding it there is a portrait of American culture, placed, through the opera form, in one frame with European tradition. Thus, it is a double portrait picturing both an opera and its ‘hero’.

Executive Producer: MiklagårdArts

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts &

Curator of The Branded Self (Side-event): Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Official partners: Musica nova Helsinki and the Espoo City Theatre, the University of the Arts Helsinki, and the Aalto University.

February 2019

"A country is born out of passionate love and passionate hatred. Six years that changed everything," - Erik Söderblom

episode 1

episode 2

episode 3

YLE - The fınnısh National Broadcasting Company

The television series the Activists, based on the script written by Erik Söderblom that are shown by YLE (The Finnish National Broadcasting Company). The series, directed by Lauri Maijala, is a co-production between Helsinki-filmi, YLE (The National Broadcasting Company) and MiklagårdArts.

22 February 2019

An exceptional musical encounter between the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (HKCO) and ney master, UNESCO Artist for Peace Kudsi Erguner with his Ensemble of virtuosos; Neva Özgen, Hakan Güngör, Murat Aydemir, Giannis Koutis, Michalis Cholevas, Fahrettin Yarkın, initiated by MiklagardArts. The concert featured Guyue and Double Guan master Liu Zhengguo and Sheng master Wu Wei as well. HKCO was conducted by Maestro Yan Huichang and offered three world premieres at the 47th Hong Kong Arts Festival:

"Central Plains Connections" by Kudsi Erguner and Chew Hee Chiat

"Silk Road - The Travels of Marco Polo" by Enjott Schneider

"Chance Encounter" by Chan Ming-chi

47th Hong Kong Arts Festival

Hong Kong City Hall

With music as our guide, we arrive in Turkey, the hub connecting Eastern and Western civilizations. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra is joined by the highly esteemed Turkish conductor Kudsi Erguner alongside Liu Zhengguo of ancient guyue (bone pipe) fame and internationally renowned sheng player Wu Wei in traversing nine millennia of music.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

8-12 December 2018

Experience the third movement of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony like never before: through virtual reality headsets and headphones.

The City of Hämeenlinna invites you into the heart of the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Find out what it feels like to be inside one of the world’s greatest orchestras. As you turn your head, the 3D audio and video allow you to fully experience the nuances of each instrumental section, with sound so detailed you will even hear the score pages turning! Be transported onto the platform in the centre of the orchestra as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, conducts a performance of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony. The Virtual Orchestra is produced by the Philharmonia Orchestra in collaboration with Inition and Southbank Centre and was conceived by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Verkatehdas Cultural Centre, Hämeenlinna

Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony was premiered in Helsinki to great acclaim by Sibelius himself on 8 December 1915, his 50th birthday.  On December 8, 2018, The Virtual Orchestra: Sibelius 360 installation will be opened to the public as part of birthday celebration events of the great composer in Hämeenlinna, where he spent his childhood and youth.

Official partners: The City of Hämeenlinna and MiklagårdArts

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

30 Aug/13 Sep/11 Oct/8 Nov 2018

Aren't you bored of traditional panel discussions? Would you like to get a hold of the mic and just jump into the debate yourself?

Talk Kallio! Do You Have A Say? is a series of monthly unconference happenings designed to encourage people to talk about the issues that matter to them. As the title suggests, everybody who has something to say is welcome to take the floor any time. The discussions will be set off by invited guests who will act as provocateurs. Soon you will find yourself at the edge of your seat and before you know it everyone is involved.

Cultural Center Caisa, Helsinki

The Cultural Centre Caisa has arrived at the eastern part of central Helsinki and reopens its doors at the Leipätehdas building in Kallio. Talk Kallio! Do You Have A Say? is designed to use this opportunity to celebrate the new community. Let’s get together, meet old and new neighbours and start conversations and have fun!

Concept design and facilitation:  Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Visual Identity: Reishabh Kailey 

16-29 August 2018

16-21-23 August 2018

Experience the third movement of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony like never before: through virtual reality headsets and headphones.

Helsinki Art Museum HAM invites you into the heart of the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Find out what it feels like to be inside one of the world’s greatest orchestras. As you turn your head, the 3D audio and video allow you to fully experience the nuances of each instrumental section, with sound so detailed you will even hear the score pages turning! Be transported onto the platform in the centre of the orchestra as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, conducts a performance of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony. The Virtual Orchestra is produced by the Philharmonia Orchestra in collaboration with Inition and Southbank Centre and was conceived by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

The Virtual Orchestra: SIBELIUS 360

installation at HAM - Helsinki Art Museum

A Rendezvous with Immersive Technology

A RENDEZVOUS WITH IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGY

During the time period of The Virtual Orchestra: Sibelius 360 installation, the Helsinki Art Museum HAM organises a series of participatory side events curated by MiklagårdArts to link cutting-edge Finnish technology developers with the arts and cultural institutions, to inspire divergent thinking and map out new scenarios for the future.

Increasing numbers of high-profile arts institutions and ensembles all over the world are using AR/VR (augmented and virtual reality) to attract younger audiences in the digital age. Finland is host to a vibrant start-up ecosystem and innovative companies specializing in immersive technology. While Finnish developers are keen to connect with the content creators of the cultural sector, arts institutions seek to explore the new possibilities uncovered by immersive technology.

Executive Producer & Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts & Curator of A Rendezvous with Immersive Technology : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Collaborators: The City of Helsinki, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Aalto University Experience Platform, Aalto University Digi Platform, Demos Helsinki, Finnish Virtual Reality Association, University of the Arts, Sibelius Academy and LYFTA.

20 August 2018

THE ROOTS AND DREAMS MANIFESTO is a call to re-imagine the concept of  TOGETHERNESS in light of the abundance of individual identities.

We want to engage in an OPEN, organic and COLLECTIVE WRITING process with each and every respondent. To create a STORY that truly BELONGS TO US ALL, we need to write not within a restricted group, but with ANYONE who shares our VALUES and cherishes HUMAN DIGNITY and DIVERSITY.

No matter how DIFFERENT our ROOTS, it is from them that we grow our DREAM of togetherness. Let’s our stories come together, our roots intertwine, and from this entanglement make a whole new garden full of wonder and POSSIBILITIES.

The FUTURE is OURS.

The choices we make today will shape the WORLD of tomorrow – the time has come to develop our thoughts and actions in a way that is truly collective.

JOIN US!

We INVITE you to take part, PLANT YOUR SEED by adding YOUR VOICE to the Roots and Dreams Manifesto.

Allthoughts, IDEAS, VISIONS and DREAMS are  WELCOME!*

Amos REx Museum, helsınkı

PARTICIPATION

Your contribution can be a short piece of writing, a recording, a drawing, a photograph or whatever format you choose. Written contributions should be no longer than 50 words at max, recordings no longer than 1 minute.

Submit your text by sending an email to rootsanddreams (at) globeartpoint.fi or by filling out this form.

All contributions will be published on our website on 20th August 2018 as well as through our social media channels.

The co-written #rootsanddreams manifesto will be also presented on 20th August 2018, 16-23h, as part of the 1968 @ BIOREX event at the AMOS REX MUSEUM at the Helsinki Festival.

*We will not tolerate hate speech.

Concept and facilitation: 

Ceyda Berk-Söderblom & Kemê Pellicer

in collaboration with the Globe Art Point

21 April 2018

“Liturgical Songs of Istanbul”

Kudsi ERGUNER, ney

Serkan Mesut HALİLİ, kanun

Hasan KİRİŞ, tanbur

Mehmet BİTMEZ, ud

Fahrettin Şükrü YARKIN, percussion

Bora UYMAZ, vocal

İlhan YAZICI, vocal

Mehmet Hamdi DEMİRCİOĞLU, vocal

Safa KORKMAZ, vocal

Burak SAVAŞ, vocal

Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Singapore

With a long history of invasions and conquests by Greek colonists, the crusaders and Osmanlı conquerors, the city we now know as Istanbul has witnessed the rise and fall of many empires, all of which have added to the cultural diversity that it is known for today. Once the capital of the Byzantine Empire and the prime centre of Christianity alongside Rome, it was also the capital of the Ottoman Empire, during which the Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Armenians, Jews and Turks co-existed and contributed to the richness of the city. Consequently, the songs of the Hebrew Maftirim (Jewish mystic music), Sufi ceremonial music and Eastern Orthodox hymns became part of the musical fabric of the people.

In tribute to the multi-faith history of Istanbul, the Kudsi Erguner Ensemble presents a repertoire of traditional sacred music from the various communities in the ancient city.

5-17 AUGUST 2017
5-6 August 2017
10-17 AUGUST 2017

Studio Aleppo [Helsinki] has been awarded the “Production of the Year-2017” by the TAKU ry (Art and Cultural Professionals’ Trade Union)

Studio Aleppo [Helsinki] is a pop-up photography studio and portrait exhibition to give visibility and voice to the different residents of Finland. The project aimed to change the image of refugees and migrant people among the society in a positive way by using the transformative power of arts. MiklagårdArts presented Studio Aleppo [Helsinki] at the National Museum of Finland and curated a series of participatory side events that took place during the pop-up exhibition that took place between 10 and 17 of August 2017.

Creation: Paradox

Author: Issa Touma

Executive Producer in Finland: MiklagårdArts

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts & Curator of Side-Events: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

photos: Soile Tirilä & Johannes Romppanen

The National Museum of Finland
Pop-up photo studio WITH Juuso Westerlund
Exhibition & Side-events

Studio Aleppo is a European project of pop-up photo studios and exhibition, that travels in various cities in Europe and invites old and new residents to have their portrait taken by a local prominent photographer. As an act of solidarity and hospitality, local citizens also pay for the portrait of a newcomer and/or his/her family. For both parties, the portraits are a gesture of recognition and acknowledgment. The portraits are displayed side by side in an exhibition, after which they will also be added to an online gallery. Each portrait is a symbolic gesture, a declaration of intent for creating a new, equal future for all. Each participant is shortly interviewed about their background and future expectations. Through photographing newcomers and including them in a collection of portraits, the project aims to stimulate a feeling of recognition and inclusion.

Studio Aleppo [Helsinki] Side-Events

Curator: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

A series of participatory events that all in their way deal with stories and the sharing of stories. What are the circumstances that determine who we are, what are our values, our beliefs, and what are the experiences that, in the end, form the story of our lives?

Thursday 10.8.2017 |18.00 | Kassandra Choir sings @ Studio Aleppo [Helsinki]

Saturday 12.8.2017 | 11.00-18.00 | Pop-up Café Damascus

Saturday 12.8.2017 | 11.00-13.00 and 13.30-15.30 | Sirkus Magenta's Open Circus Workshop

Saturday 12.8.2017 | 11.30 - 17.30 Temporary Pavilion for Permanent Negotiations" by Kalleinen & Kochta-Kalleinen

New conflict story for each session: 11.30 | 12.30 | 13.30 | 15.30 | 16.30 | 17.30

Saturday 12.8.2017 | 12.00-15.00 | My Living Heritage Workshop by the National Board of Antiquities (Museovirasto)

Saturday 12.8.2017 | 18.30-21.00 | Story Sharing Café @ Studio Aleppo [Helsinki]

Tuesday 15.8.2017 | 18.00| Newcomers - Reframing the future of Finland @ Studio Aleppo [Helsinki]

Think tank Demos Helsinki organized Newcomers - Reframing the future of Finland as part of the exhibition Studio Aleppo [Helsinki].

Wednesday 16.8.2017 | 11.00-13.00 and 15.00-17.00 | Privilege walk – drama workshop by Laurea University of Applied Sciences

The students of Laurea University of Applied Sciences run the workshop. The life stories of the people portrayed in the Studio Aleppo [Helsinki] are utilised in the roles.

Studio Aleppo [Helsinki] is supported by the Mondriaan Fund

Studio Aleppo [Helsinki] is part of the Finland 100 programme

AUGUST 2016-december 2018

MiklagårdArts kicked off a collaborative project Circus Bridge with three distinguished partners operating in the field of contemporary circus and performing arts: Cirko, Maracat Caravan and FeverChina. These four partners join forces aiming to build a bridge between the innovative Finnish contemporary circus and the ancient traditions of Chinese circus and acrobatics.

Circus Bridge launched at the EARS Helsinki seminar in August 2016. Over the next three years, we will take Finnish circus companies, performances and creative know-how to China, arrange meeting points for Finnish and Chinese circus artists and create the first Finnish-Chinese circus performance.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts: Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Circus Bridge is part of the Centenary of Finlands Independence - Finland100 - programme.

Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland - initial funder of the Circus Bridge

fınland-chına

The partners join forces in a bridge-building project between the ancient traditions of Chinese acrobatics and Finnish contemporary circus. The unique collaboration aim to contribute to the development of creative and innovative capabilities of the performing art field, and to merge the characteristics of Finnish contemporary circus and Chinese acrobatics into a fresh form of contemporary circus to engage younger audience.

Our Vision

Circus Bridge aims to enable Finnish and Chinese artists to utilize the transformational power of collaboration.

Our Mission

Circus Bridge designs an innovative, transformative learning methods of Finnish experts, artists, and educators to combine it with the ancient tradition of Chinese acrobatics - to introduce Finnish know-how in China.

Our Values

Circus Bridge seeks to facilitate new ways of achieving:

#Convergence #Creation #Change

14 April 2017

Choreographer, circus artist: Ilona Jäntti

Composer, musician: Aino Venna

Double bass: Erik Michelsen

Light designer: Kauri Klemelä

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

@ JAZZAHEAD! FESTIVAL

Yablochkov Candle is a concert and an aerial acrobatic performance put together. The sounds of Singer-Songwriter Aino Venna, richly influenced by French chansons and old school rock 'n' roll, blends effortlessly with Jäntti’s beautiful aerial choreography.

19 March 2017

Kudsi Erguner, ney

Serkan Halili, kanun

Hamdi Akatay, percussion

Son of the head of a troupe of whirling dervishes, Kudsi Erguner was named UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2016. For many years, he has researched and documented nearly forgotten middle eastern music traditions and brought them to the attention of a new audience, in the course of which he has released more than 100 CDs. He is a world authority on Sufi music - a spiritual dimension of Islam, and the Turkish, Arabic and Jewish influenced music of the former Ottoman Empire. Kudsi Erguner Trio performs colourful social music, drawing on centuries of music tradition from the rich culture of the Ottoman Empire.

45th HONG KONG ARTS

FESTIVAL

The HKJC Amphitheatre, HKAPA

GARDEN OF LOVE: SUFI INVOCATIONS

The Ney flûte; the privileged instrument of the classical Ottoman and Sufi music, praised in the verses of Jallal ad-Din Rûmi. The Ney represents for Sufis a symbol of the soul separated from the Divine and yearning for the Union. Kanun (cithara) is one of the main instruments of the classical ottoman court. The trio offers a large repertoire on the instrumental court music and the pieces issued from the ceremonies of the Whirling Dervishes.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

12-19 February 2017

#CircusBridge’s first residency in China

The team of Circus Bridge traveled to China to meet and network with local professionals. During the visit Petteri Jakobsson & Erik Söderblom hosted an introduction lecture to Finnish and European contemporary circus. The book about European contemporary circus produced by Circus Bridge was introduced at the lectures.

Modern Art Museum, Shanghai

#Crossing Boundaries ! European Contemporary Circus

Presented during the first residency of Circus Bridge in China, this visual book includes the best examples of the circus in its contemporary narrative! We are very proud and happy to be part of Circus Bridge with Cirko, feverchina and Maracat Caravan.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts & Editor : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

9 November 2016

Verneri Pohjola, trumpet, electronics

Aki Rissanen, piano, electronics

Akbank Sanat, İstanbul

Verneri Pohjola is a renowned trumpet player and Aki Rissanen a reputable jazz pianist. They have played in several ensembles together and separately for over ten years, and now they have joined their forces in a duo project. Together they combine acoustic and electronic soundscapes, and play their original distinctive compositions. Both musicians are creating an international career and releasing new albums abroad - both for the British Edition Records label. The duo's own album is also in preparation.

20 October 2016

Kudsi Erguner, ney

Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano

Antti Tikkanen, violin

Mikko Perkola, viola da gamba

Anna-Maaria Oramo, harpsichord

Solmund Nystabakk, lute

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

G LiveLab, Helsinki

It is a brilliant new collaboration between Kudsi Erguner and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra. Kudsi Erguner, Tuuli Lindeberg, Antti Tikkanen, Mikko Perkola, Anna-Maaria Oramo, Solmund Nystabakk offered a magical journey towards the same historical period of two separate worlds' music; the Eastern Ottoman and Western Baroque.

21 September 2016

Bora Uymaz, vocal

Aron Saltıel, vocal

Safa Korkmaz, vocal

Kudsi Erguner, ney

Giannis Koutis, ud & vocal

Hakan Güngör, kanun

Michalis Cholevas, yaylı tanbur

Yinon Muallem, percussions

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival

Kudsi Erguner, the master of Turkish Sufi music, is coming to Mekudeshet with a new and exciting project: ancient maftirim sung in Hebrew from the heart of Islamic Turkey. The tradition is based on the writings of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī and was performed by learned Jews who combined holy Hebrew texts with classical Turkish melodies. The maftirim choirs first appeared in the 18th century in Edirne, known historically as Adrianople and later and today as Istanbul. The repertoire, which was sung on the Sabbath, was arranged according to Turkish Maqams with the music and the style of singing based on classical Turkish and Sufi music.

17 September 2016

Bora Uymaz, vocals, bendir

Şirin Pancaroğlu, lever harp

Mehmet Yalgın, kemençe

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

Handelsbeurs, Gent

GENT FESTIVAL VAN VLAANDEREN

The Şimdi ensemble (Şimdi means “now” in Turkish) is inspired by the Sufism of Asia Minor. They embrace Turkey’s music heritage and its amazing traditional repertoire, supplementing it with their own compositions and improvisations. The harp of Şirin Pancaroglu, who is considered a star in Turkey, combined with vocalisation and the unique sounds of the kemençe will transport, taking you on a journey from the past to the future, while mainly spending time in the “here and now”.

13-15 May 2016

The City of Helsinki will create a weekend of Finnish culture on the Xidan-square in Beijing. The Moi Helsinki event will bring together some extraordinary interesting Finnish artists for a three-day performance and installation marathon on May 13-15 2016.

We are a member of the curating team and responsible for the dramaturgy of the event.

Xidan-square in Beijing

The accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen, the dancers Minna Tervamäki, Tero Saarinen and Ima Iduozee, the singer Ronya, the Humppavanti Orchestra, the Finnish-Chinese Beijing opera company Wusheng, the Club for Five ensemble, the installation artist Kaisa Salmi and much more will come together for this extraordinary outdoor festival in the centre of Beijing.

A collaboration between Kudsi Erguner and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO)

The word baroque has usually been used to refer to irregular, asymmetric, or -according to Jean-Jacques Rousseau - to mixed harmonies, too many modulations or even dissonance. In the light of these definitions, for the Western world, not only the music of the 17th and 18th century but even the Ottoman music could have been considered “baroque”.

Concept, Direction of behalf of MiklagårdArts : Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

2016

The ney flute master, one of the most inspiring musicians of the Sufi tradition Kudsi Erguner will meet soloists of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra. A musical journey towards a repertoire that will consist of compositions from the same historical period of two separate worlds, the Sufi tradition, and Baroque. The musicians will juxtapose the different musical languages of the East and the West and explore similarities and differences of harmonies and maqams and blends the singing techniques of the two cultures.