Sydney Dance Company, Mephisto by the Estonian Drama Theatre ja Luz Casal to feature at the Helsinki Festival

The multi-art festival Helsinki Festival, held across Helsinki in August, will bring Sydney Dance Company and Mephisto by the Estonian Drama Theatre to Finland in August. The Huvila program will feature Luz Casal, one of the most renowned singers in the Spanish-speaking world, as well as Finnish star guests Olavi Uusivirta and Auri.

The first international guests and Finnish performers in next year’s Helsinki Festival programme have been confirmed. Johanna Freundlich, the Festival’s new Artistic Director, will be in charge of the programme in 2025–2029.

“This announcement gives us a glimpse of the 2025 Festival programme. These acts are a sample of the programme as a whole: there will be world-class guests from as far as Sydney as well as neighbouring Tallinn, all with their original, thoroughly thought-out and well-prepared performances. The Festival brings multiple art forms together, which is reflected not only in the diversity of genres present in the programme but also in the way that various genres are intermeshed in works. The artists are masters in their fields. They convey both their own inner worlds and humankind in general as part of the external reality,” says Freundlich.

Sydney Dance Company’s performance combines two completely different works

The Festival’s international guest dance event will feature a double bill, Impermanence | Forever & Ever, by Sydney Dance Company, the ensemble that has established itself at the top of contemporary dance. The company, known for its dynamic and emotional interpretations, is led by Spanish-born Rafael Bonachela, who has worked with stars such as Kylie Minogue and Tina Turner. Dance House Helsinki will host three performances of the two works of contemporary dance by top choreographers that challenge the dancers in very different ways on 28–30 August. Based on the composition by Bryce Dessner, known as the guitarist of rock band The National, and the choreography by Bonachela, Impermanence is an abstract and athletic study of the opposing forces of beauty and destruction through a fusion of modern ballet, yoga and contemporary movement. Dessner’s composition will be performed by the Australian String Quartet, which won the Libera Award for Best Classical Record for their recording of this piece. After the interval, the 17-strong dance ensemble will perform Forever & Ever by Antony Hamilton, choreographer and Artistic Director of the Chunky Move dance company. The work explores the themes of order, chaos, popular culture and human experience. The soundscape by Julian Hamilton will accompany the audience to the world of techno raves with basses and synthesizers.

Mephisto by the Estonian Drama Theatre on a Finnish stage for the first time

Helsinki Festival will bring the Estonian Drama Theatre’s stunning interpretation of Klaus Mann’s novel Mephisto to the main stage of the Finnish National Theatre on 15–16 August. Mann’s novel, an intense look into the maelstrom of power, morality, politics and art, is still topical. Kertu Moppel received the Estonian State Cultural Award in 2022 for directing Mephisto and was nominated for the Estonian Theatre Union’s Director Award. Juhan Ulfsak received the Estonian State Cultural Award for playing the lead in the play. The play, which was praised by the critics and performed more than 70 times, will also feature the Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir.

Fleur Barron and Ville Rusanen to guest perform with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

The festival’s classical music programme will feature a US-themed set of acts, ‘The Unseen and the Seen’, of less frequently performed works and two premieres. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Susanna Mälkki, will welcome two acclaimed opera singers as its soloists. The concert at Musiikkitalo on 16 August will include the Finnish premiere of Andrew Norman’s Unstuck, Thomas Adès’s America: A Prophecy with the Singaporean-British mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron as soloist, John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser, to be premiered here in Finnish as Lääkintämies with baritone Ville Rusanen, and the concert will conclude with Charles Ives’s Symphony No. 2.

Luz Casal, Olavi Uusivirta and Auri will star in the Huvila programme

The Festival’s iconic concert tent, Huvila, will be tuned to the fiery melancholic Latin rhythms painted with love and life experience as the Spanish star Luz Casal takes the stage on 18 August. Casal, who has found wider fame with Pedro Almodóvar’s films, has received several awards during her career expanding almost 40 years, including a nomination for a Latin Grammy Award.

Olavi Uusivirta, known for his energetic and audience-engaging performances, will make a welcome return to Huvila with an intermission concert on Saturday 16 August. Auri, the band weaving magical atmospheres with the music of Nightwish members Tuomas Holopainen and Troy Donockley, along with Johanna Kurkela, will take the stage for the first time in front of a live audience following the release of their third album next year.

Auri, playing in Huvila on 23 August, are known for their wistful songs inspired by Celtic folk music and Kurkela’s delicate voice. The evening will open with Johanna Kurkela’s other interesting project, Eye of Melian.

Tickets for the concerts and performances at Dance House Helsinki, the Finnish National Theatre and Huvila are available at lippu.fi and for the Musiikkitalo events at musiikkitalo.fi.

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