This day marks the beginning of Sibelius’ 150th anniversary celebrations
On the 8th of December Finland celebrates the birthday of composer Jean Sibelius and the Day of Finnish music. This day also marks the beginning of Sibelius’ 150th anniversary celebrations.
During the jubilee year Sibelius’ compositions will be played around the world and some special activities are also planned, including the first International Jean Sibelius Composition Competition and The XI International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition. Finnish national broadcast company (YLE) has a special website dedicated for the life and works of Sibelius and Finland's largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, has just released a beautiful iPad publication that features insightful articles and videos and concert recordings of Sibelius. And this is just the beginning.
Jean Sibelius Aus Finnland
Music Finland with the Finnish music industry is gearing up for the launch of the biggest Finnish music export project ever, called “Aus Finnland”. The two-year initiative will bring a surge of Finnish music to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, aiming to increase the number of new openings, projects and contracts as well as the number of shows and performances of Finnish music in the market. We have already listed more than 100 concerts in the area featuring Sibelius’ music. The website with the listing will be announced in the beginning of 2015.
Jean Sibelius (8.12.1865–20.9.1957) is far more than the composer of seven symphonies, a violin concerto, Finlandia and Valse triste – he also wrote a wealth of chamber music suitable for musicians both young and old, songs, and music for different types of choirs. His tone poems and music for the stage add variety to the concert programmes of symphony orchestras. Sibelius’s long life was a great adventure we would like to tell you about as his 150th anniversary approaches.