This month, Susanna Mälkki tours with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra to Dortmund, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Poland. Before they embark on the tour, Ms. Mälkki leads the HPO at the Helsinki Music Centre on April 3 & 4, featuring violinist Akiko Suwanai. Ms. Suwanai performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto that earned her fame in 1990 as the youngest ever winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Also on the program is Lotta Wennäkoski’s Flounce and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto will join the HPO on tour, performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Completing the tour program is Wennäkoski’s Flounce, a brisk and lightweight piece that Mälkki conducted with the Swedish Radio Symphony last fall, and Sibelius’ magnificent Symphony No. 2. Performance dates include April 7 at the Konzerthaus Dortmund; April 8 at the Het Concertgebouw; April 10 at the Wiener Konzerthaus, and concluding on April 11 at the Concert Hall in Katowice, Poland, part of the 23rd Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival.
Ms. Mälkki returns to the Helsinki Music Centre on April 18, to conduct a new program with the HPO, featuring soprano Camilla Tilling. The program includes Wagner’s Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Songs from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and his Symphony No. 4, Das himmlische Leben. More information and tickets are available via the HPO’s website.