The Score | Swimming with Finns

Jean Sibelius was born December 8, 1865, and the sesquicentennial of Finland’s most famous composer was observed by orchestras far and wide last fall—from concerts by the San Francisco Symphony (the Violin Concerto and Swan of Tuonela) to a “Rhythm of Sibelius” celebration at the Orchestra of Southern Utah (Finlandia, Symphony No. 6, Valse Triste) to an ambitious undertaking of the Symphony No. 5 and selections from The Tempest at California’s El Camino Youth Symphony. In Buffalo, New York, the 75th anniversary of Kleinhans Music Hall, designed by the Finnish architects Eliel and Eero Saarinen, prompted a wider celebration involving both the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the city’s major art museums. As part of FinnFest USA, the BPO not only performed Sibelius’s first and fifth symphonies and Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Symphony No. 1, but hosted composer residencies by Jaakko Kuusisto, Sebastian Fagerlund, and Kaija Saariaho. Heard in their U.S. premieres were Kuusisto’s Violin Concerto (with soloist Elina Vahala) and Fagerlund’s Isola.