Susanna Mälkki begins the 2019/20 season conducting the vocal ensemble EXAUDI, one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles for new music, and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert featuring works by Gesualdo, Stravinsky, Sibelius, and Berio. On September 6, the concert season begins with Gesualdo’s Asciugate i begli occhi for vocal ensemble, a staple of Italian vocal polyphony which evokes sorrow and loneliness with its vibrant and chromatic harmonic clashes.
Continuing on is Stravinsky’s Monumentum pro Gesualdo di Venosa, a free arrangement for orchestral instruments much in the style of Anton Webern’s transcriptions of Bach, and it is based on three of Gesualdo’s madrigals, one of them being Asciugate i begli occhi. Ms. Mälkki conducts Sibelius’ Symphony No. 6, which nods to the composer’s affection for church music and polyphonic vocal music of the 16th–17th centuries, and concluding is Berio’s Sinfonia for Eight Solo Voices and Orchestra, a modern work constantly in search for balance, with themes built on water and death. Watch the live stream of the performance on September 6 at 18:15 via Helsinki-kanava. To learn more about the concert program, click here.