Helsinki Festival kicks off tomorrow, Night of the Arts is on Thursday

Helsinki Festival kicks off tomorrow with Rufus Wainwright’s Dream Requiem at Musiikkitalo. The Night of the Arts, featuring hundreds of free cultural experiences, is on Thursday, 20 August. Its main work will be a magical giraffe parade taking over the streets of the city centre. The festival’s own venue, the iconic Huvila, will host performances for the last time this year before a two-year break.

Rufus Wainwright’s impressive masterpiece Dream Requiem can be heard at Musiikkitalo tomorrow 18th and Wednesday, 19th August. At Helsinki Festival, the work will be interpreted by Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra with soprano Anna Prohaska, conductor Dalia Stasevska, actress Laura Birn in the role of narrator, as well as the Key Ensemble choir and young singers from Helsinki Conservatory of Music.

The start of the Festival will be marked on Tuesday, 18 August, with festive flags flying in front of the City Hall and on the roof of Sanomatalo. EGS, the artist responsible for the visual look of the Helsinki Festival, has designed six flags based on Helsinki residents’ memories associated with the city. These memories were collected on social media in collaboration with Helsingin Sanomat. The flags will fly throughout the festival.

The festival programme on the Night of the Arts, Thursday August 20, features two interesting concerts. Northern Irish composer, librettist and theatre-maker Conor Mitchell’s monumental work Riot Symphony, which celebrates social resistance, will be performed by the Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera at Musiikkitalo.

The radiant Rufus Wainwright will open an 18-evening series of concerts at Huvila with a rare solo performance. Opening for Wainwright will be Ville Aho.

Alia Ali’s first solo exhibition in the Nordic countries opens at Kunsthalle Helsinki. The colourful “In Light of…” is an immersive exhibition featuring works rooted in Yemeni and Bosnian cultural heritage, and a life shaped by constant movement, combining textiles, photography, sculptures, murals and sound installations. 

At the heart of the Night of the Arts are hundreds of free art events organised by city residents for one another. This one-night city festival spreads across Helsinki—to the market squares, streets, parks, libraries, museums and galleries. During the evening, visitors can experience, for example, the singing of lamentations in Kallio, a tribute by Sami Kuoppamäki and 99 other drummers to park drummer Jarmo at the National Opera amphitheatre, short films and live pop music at Teurastamo, a community singalong of Christmas carols at the Kamppi Chapel, and performing arts in sign language in Malmi. With children, it’s worth taking them to try out circus equipment and arts at Circus Magenta, experiment with different musical instruments at the Eira Institute of Music, create collaborative art projects and enjoy puppet theatre at Puppetry House, or attend a storytime session at Roihuvuori Library. Almost all art museums, the Olympic Stadium, the Finnish National Opera and Temppeliaukio Church, among other venues will have open doors.

Search for the programme using different search criteria at: https://helsinkifestival.fi/taiteidenyo/en/programme/

The main event of the Night of the Arts is the animal operetta Les Girafes by the French theatre group Compagnie Off. In the street performance, which is built in the form of a parade, giant magenta-coloured giraffes whisk the audience into a fairytale world that combines circus, burlesque and opera. The performance, which is suitable for all ages, will set off from the intersection of Keskuskatu and Pohjoisesplanadi at around 7pm and proceed along Pohjoisesplanadi, turning from Unioninkatu onto Senate Square, where the performance will culminate in a grand finale.

Huvila, Helsinki Festival’s own venue, will take a break after this year due to the renovation of Tokoinranta Park. However, visitors can still enjoy the darkening August evenings in the company of an impressive group of international and Finnish artists. The two-and-a-half-week concert series at Huvila includes concerts by Carminho, a top Portuguese fado performer, Katie Melua, a wistful pop master, Angélique Kidjo, a fixed star in West African music, and Swedish indie artists Amanda Bergman and Hannes.

Gigs by Finnish artists tailored especially for the Helsinki Festival will be performed by Anssi Kela, A.W. Yrjänä, Mikko Kuustonen, Arja Koriseva and the Ricky-Tick Big Band & Julkinen Sana ensemble. This year’s classical music concert at Huvila is Legends of the North in Helsinki, where the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland conducted by John Storgårds will feature yoik experts Katarina Barruk and Niillas Holmberg as soloists.