Happy Anniversary, Crusell Music Festival!
This year we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Crusell Music Festival! During this respectable journey we have seen and heard a wide array of gorgeous concerts, international competitions and wonderful master classes. Each year the concert goers, course students, competitioners and artists have gotten unforgettable memories and experenices from the festival. You can count me among these people as well, since Crusell Music Festival has a very special place in my heart.
Besides the 40 year long journey of the festival we also have other reasons to celebrate this summer. Firstly, we can finally enjoy live music again! Last summer, as we well remember, the situation was very different and regrettably the festival had to be cancelled due to the corona virus pandemic. Secondly, during the Crusell Music Festival we also celebrate the Treaty of Nystad that was signed 300 years ago. We will dive into the year 1721 when Farinelli was the brightest star in entertainment. The acclaimed countertenor Valer Sabadus will perform legendary arias from Vivaldi and Handel alongside The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and Malin Broman.
This summer we are truly giving you our best! The performers in our festival are absolutely astonishing and we have chosen the most loved classic pieces to the concerts. Monica Groop sings Grieg, the pianist Paavali Jumppanen performs in the opening concert and the fantastic Ricardo Morales plays in the Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. The violinist Elina Vähälä plays in the Beethoven’s Septet and among the many other great artists are the masterful Iiro Rantala and Marzi Nyman. The multi-talented Jaakko Kuusisto appears in Crusell Music Festival both as a violinist and a conductor.
We also organize our eighth international Crusell competition which this time involves B.H. Crusell’s own instrument, the clarinet. The international jury is composed of the top experts of their field and we are expecting a very high-level competition.
After these dark times we want to remind you again of all the positive and bright sides of the world. Looking at the clarinet competition and the festival program we can happily say that equality is arriving at concert halls. We will hear music from both female and male composers daily, and pieces of music from composers of different ethnical backgrounds are also included in the program. The Crusell Music Festival wants to be a part of this positive change. Composing and performing music or simply having music as a hobby belongs to all people regardless of sex and ethnical background.
We ask you to come celebrate with us – now there are plenty of good reasons for it!
The Artistic Director, Olli Leppäniemi
VII International Crusell Competition 2021: CLARINET
The competition instructions and program have been published! READ MORE
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