CRUSELL MUSIC FESTIVAL,

UUSIKAUPUNKI 21—28 July 2012

Since 1982 Crusell Week has been held at the turn of July and August in the beautiful coastal town of Uusikaupunki, Finland. Crusell Week is an internationally acclaimed music festival dedicated to woodwind music and is combined with advanced master classes held by leading international artists. It has its own strong standing among summer events in Finland as a unique combination of musical performances with a strong purpose. This year Crusell Week will be held for the 31st time on 21. - 28.7.2012 with clarinettist Harri Mäki making his debut as the festival's new artistic director.

The theme of the 2012 Crusell Week is " Birds". Plenty of captivating bird-themed material will be heard in the woodwind chamber music concerts and the festival will culminate with Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony performed by the Tapiola Sinfonietta with Hannu Lintu conducting. In this concert we will also get a chance to hear a wonderful soloist from the international world of opera, the legendary Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski.

Other composers besides Beethoven include familiar names such as Mozart, Vivaldi, Brahms, Ravel, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, and of course Crusell. An exciting new addition to the concerts this year is a series of very short aphoristic pieces relating to birds that have been commissioned by Crusell Music Festival from five composers; Veli-Matti Puumala, Juan Antonio Muro, Asko Hyvärinen, Minna Leinonen and Charles Neidich.

Besides the Bird theme, another focus of Crusell Week 2012 will be on the German style of woodwind performance which successfully combines intensity of expression with a solid concept of ensemble playing. The best professors from leading German orchestras and universities will be bringing their talent to Uusikaupunki. Our oboist this year will be Washington Barella, who teaches in Berlin and is the solo oboist for the SWR orchestra. The clarinet will be taught by Ralph Manno, clarinet professor at the Cologne University of Music and Celibidache's trusted clarinettist in the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Eberhard Marschall, the Bavarian radio’s solo bassoonist and professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, will reveal the secrets of bassoon playing. Markus Maskuniitty will bring an interesting mix of Finnish and German music traditions as professor of French Horn at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media and also as the solo French horn of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Joining them will be Dutch virtuoso Jacques Zoon who is performing as both a flutist and conductor during this year's festival as well as teaching the flute master class. Trio Kandinsky (Corrado Bolsi, Amparo Lacruz, Emili Brugalla) from Barcelona, cellist Iseut Chuat and the young virtuoso Theo Plath, winner of last year’s International Crusell Bassoon Competition, are among other international stars of the festival. Representing Finnish excellence in woodwind performance will be Petri Alanko and Christoffer Sundqvist, who are also teaching their own courses during Crusell Week. Other world class Finns include the singers Tuuli Lindeberg, Essi Luttinen and Jussi Lehtipuu.

The first concert of Crusell Week 2012 will be an exploration of the roots of woodwind performance by multi-instrumentalist Kristiina Ilmonen. Christoffer Sundqvist, the phenomenal solo clarinettist of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, will be appearing in several concerts, and harpsichordist Elina Mustonen's expressive playing will help us discover the emotional beauty of birds in her solo evening concert. Guitarist Ismo Eskelinen will be offering us a harmonious blend of woodwind and guitar pieces in his concert at the Pyhäranta Church.  Some other exciting twists to this year's Bird theme include saxophonist Jukka Perko's new take on Finnish hymns, Kirmo Lintinen's Trio with jazz vocalist Aili Ikonen and the delightful harmonica ensemble Sväng.

And last, but certainly not least, the perennial favourite which takes place on the hillside of Vallinmäki, the Night of the Lanterns, will be returning again this year. We'll also be continuing the popular tradition of daily free concerts by the participants of Crusell Week master classes on the town square at noon. We hope to see you there!

Rauhankatu 10, FI-23500 Uusikaupunki
Tel. +358 (0)2 8451 5302
kulttuuritoimisto(at)uusikaupunki.fi

www.crusell.fi