Kaustinen Chamber Music Week, 23rd – 31st of January 2026
Tickets will be available from the 5th of December 2025 at NetTicket.fi
PROGRAM
Friday 23/1
18:00 Kalliosali, Folk Arts Center
BIRCH PORTRAITS
Opening night of the art exhibition by Aki Koskinen, Artist of the YearFree entry
19:00 Kaustinen Hall, The Folk Arts Center
TRANCE
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
Kasmir Uusitupa, conductor
Iikka Huntus, violin (Young Artist of the Year)
Alma Stupak, cello (Young Artist of the Year)
Erkki Virkkala, violin (Young Artist of the Year)
The opening evening will showcase all three of this year’s Young Artists of the Year as soloists, as well the next artistic director of OCO, Kasmir Uusitupa as conductor, featuring some of the orchestra’s most renowned repertoire.
It will be 45 years since the premiere of Pekka Jalkanen’s minimalist masterpiece, which was once the winner of the Kaustinen Chamber Music Week’s composition competition. In addition, it will be 40 years since P.H. Nordgren’s key string orchestral work Trance-Choral was composed.
Wiljami Niittykoski: Adagio
Pekka Jalkanen: Viron orja
Arvo Pärt: Silouan’s Song
Pēteris Vasks: Cello Concerto no. 2, III ‘Adagio’
****
Jean Sibelius: Rakastava
Pehr Henrik Nordgren: Trance-Choral op. 67 (1985)
Duration ~ 2 hours
TICKETS: 29/25/14 EUR
Saturday 24/1
14:00 Pelimannitalo
CHILDREN MAKING MUSIC
Local young players alongside their teachers, cellist Alma Stupak, and conductor Kasmir Uusitupa.
Duration ~ 45 minutes
Free entry
18:00 Pelimannitalo
STRING PROWESS!
String players show off their talent in different ensembles and styles in the soft acoustic of Pelimannitalo’s living room.
Iikka Huntus, violin (Young Artist of the Year)
Tiila Kangas, viola
Alma Stupak, cello (Young Artist of the Year)
Kasmir Uusitupa, violin and viola
Erkki Virkkala, violin (Young Artist of the Year)
e.g.
Caroline Shaw: Limestone & Felt
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: on the threshold (2020)
Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello
Duration ~ 1 hour
TICKETS: 20 EUR
20:00 Restaurant Pelimanni
FOLK MUSIC JAM SESSION
Free entry, cloakroom fee
Sunday 25/1
10:00 Kaustinen Church
MASS
16:00 Kaustinen Church
SOMETHING ELSE TO THINK ABOUT FOR A MOMENT
The keystone interpreter of Pehr Henrik Nordgren’s music, the Kokkola Quartet, will continue their series presenting the quartets of the founder of the Chamber Music Week and premiere two meditative miniatures by Aki Yli-Salomäki. Felix Mendelssohn’s music will also take its rightful place in the world’s best acoustics for a string quartet.
Pehr Henrik Nordgren: String Quartet no. 3, op. 27 (1976)
Aki Yli-Salomäki: Hetkeksi muuta ajateltavaa (2023) (Something else to think about for a moment)
Pehr Henrik Nordgren: String Quartet no. 7, op.85 (1992)
***
Aki Yli-Salomäki: Pohjaton (2023) (Baseless)
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet op. 44 no. 2 in E minor
Shinobu Nordgren in memoriam
Duration ~ 1 hour and 45 minutes
TICKETS: 29/25/14 EUR
Tuesday 27/1
19:00 Kaustinen Hall, The Folk Arts Center
TAIVO – acrobatic concert
The vibration of play and the hum of life resound in Bach’s suites and knots of aerial acrobatics, with violist and aerial acrobat shaping the convergence of sound and movement, contrasting tension and tenderness.
Heini Koskinen, aerial acrobatics
Hanna Pakkala, viola
H.I.F.Biber – J.S.Bach
Duration ~ 45 minutes
TICKETS: 20/14 EUR
20:00 Café Fiuli
MEET THE EVENING’S ARTISTS!
Wednesday 28/1
18:00 Vintturin kylätalo
IN THE YEAR 1906
Algot Untola and a world of upheavals
Juha Hurme explains the colourful life of Algot Untola, also known as Maiju Lassila, and his activities as a teacher at the Vintturi school during the years of upheaval. At the same time, the music choices will take listeners back 120 years.
Hanna Hujanen, clarinet
Iikka Huntus, violin (Young Artist of the Year)
Tiila Kangas, viola
Kaisa Kortelainen, flute
Maaria Pulakka, hara
Alma Stupak, cello (Young Artist of the Year)
Erkki Virkkala, violin (Young Artist of the Year)
Juha Hurme, presenter
Théodore Dubois – Lilly Kajanus-Blenner – Henriette Renié – Toivo Kuula – Claude Debussy – Virkkala&Huntus
TICKETS: 20 EUR
Duration ~ 2 hours
Thursday 29/1
19:00 Kaustinen Hall, The Folk Arts Center
FOLK SONGS
“…fremd zieh’ ich wieder aus…”
Travelling in music and the world: inspiration, interpretations, quotes, and arrangements. Aili Järvelä will make her debut as Berio’s interpreter and BFP will crown the two-genre super concert with their Emma Award-winning folk versions of Berio.
Franz Schubert: Gute Nacht (from the song cycle Winterreise, op. 89), arr. for viola and harp
Hanna Pakkala, viola
Maaria Pulakka, harp
Onutė Narbutaitė: Winterserenade (1997)
Kaisa Kortelainen, flute
Kasmir Uusitupa, violin
Hanna Pakkala, viola
Luciano Berio: Lied (1983)
Hanna Hujanen, clarinet
Luciano Berio: Folk Songs (1964)
Aili Järvelä, mezzosoprano
Kasmir Uusitupa, conductor
Hanna Hujanen, clarinet
Kaisa Kortelainen, flute
Jerry Piipponen, percussion
Hanna Pakkala, viola
Maaria Pulakka, harp
Alma Stupak, cello (Young Artist of the Year)
Walter Witick, percussion
***
BFP presents: Bergå Folk Project
Aili Järvelä – singer, violin, harmoniumi
Esko Grundström – contrabass, accordian, kantele, harmonium, singer
Iida Savolainen – viola, singer, jouhikko, villin
Topi Korhonen – guitar, mandolin, harmonium, singer
Duration ~ 2 hours and 15 minutes
LIPUT 29/25/14 EUR
Friday 30/1
10:30 Kaustinen Library
MORNING CONCERT FOR ALL AGES
A moment of music in the library, open for all.
Kaisa Kortelainen, flute
Hanna Hujanen, bass clarinet
Tiila Kangas, viola
Jerry Piipponen, percussion
Duration ~ 30 minutes
Free entry
18:00 Kaustinen Hall, The Folk Arts Center
EVENING WITH THE KAUSTINEN COLLEGE OF MUSIC
The entire spectrum of musical styles gets taken for a spin by the students and teachers of the music upper secondary school!
Duration ~ 3 hours
TICKETS: 20 EUR
Saturday 31/1
18:00 Kaustinen Hall, The Folk Arts Center
CHAMBER MUSIC VARIETY GALA
The culmination of the week brings together local musicians and guest artists of the festival on stage to enjoy some of the most beautiful works in the history of chamber music – with, of course, some surprises!
Brought together by Reijo Tunkkari and Tiila Kangas
Presented by Marjukka Puutio
e.g. Brahms – Schumann – Janacek
Duration ~ 3 hours
TICKETS 29/25/14 EUR