Headlining choirs
Suomen Mieskuoroliiton edustuskuoro Liiton Miehet
The Finnish Men’s Choir Association’s representative choir Liiton Miehet started their activities in the summer of 2017. The choir currently has 38 singers residing all over Finland. From Helsinki to Oulu and Pori to Joensuu.
The purpose of the periodically functioning choir is to offer skilled male choir singers and male choir leaders a professional working environment, without however interfering with the activities of its members’ other active choirs. Auditions are organized a few times a year in different locations.
The artistic director of the Finnish Men’s Choir Association, Paavo Hyökki, leads the choir.
Peltomiehen rukous – concert, conductor Jorma Panula
Seinäjoki city orchestra’s string quartet and women’s choir Tuulivoima
In the piece, composed by Jorma Panula and written by Pekka Santala, a farmer encounters a haunting memory in the silence of the church, where his grandfather’s father drove three hungry and ragged child auctioned boys away from his door without giving them food. The farmer comes to terms with himself and his past and realizes the meaning of his own work to plow, sow, mow and repair. With a renewed mind, he bursts into a chorus of praise, to which the church people join. The important message about justice is still relevant after 37 years.
The story of the work began in the old cemetery of Ilmajoki, whose tombstones remind of the devastating famine years of the 19th century. “We found a subject, a small burial ground, where kids were buried in the 19th century,” says Jorma Panula, the lead composer-maestro of the piece. “Read the libretto, imagine it, there’s so much atmosphere and matter in it that it just makes you sing”, Panula describes the composition process in his own Panula-like concise style.
The work premiered in Kurikka church in 1984 and has since the premiere been performed abroad and all over Finland.
Tuulivoima
The singers of the Tuulivoima women’s choir, founded in 2013, gather regularly in Seinäjoki to practice. In recent years, the choir has performed large works, including the musical play Lakeuden naiset: guts and heart (2017, Seinäjoki) and the stage version of Peltomiehen rukous.
Childrens concert: Sininen pallo – Tuomo Rannankari
The concert aimed for children considers how to take care of the common playground, i.e. the earth. The songs of Tuomo Rannankari, known from children’s TV programs and awarded as the 2019 children’s music composer, talk about the importance of play, friendship, emotional skills, manners, nutrition, health, exercise and nature.
The Sininen Pallo concert is conducted by Jaakko Jauhianen.
Kampin laulu
Chamber Choir Kampin Laulu is an ambitious chamber choir of around 40 singers that seeks new paths to choral music, but at the same time maintains the traditions of chamber choral singing.
Kampin laulu has been involved in commissioning a new choral work from the Swedish Jacob Mühlrad. The choirs who commissioned the work will premiere the work on four different continents in May 2023. Vaasa XXIX Choir Festival will be the European premiere of Mühlrad’s choral work Pi.
Saara Aittakumpu is the conductor of Kampin Laulu.
TAMK Choral Company
TAMK Choral Company is a sparkling show choir whose work emphasizes collaborative creation through song, movement and strong storytelling. The choir’s singers are Tampere University of Applied Sciences students, mainly in the fields of musical theater and music pedagogy. TAMK Choral Company’s repertoire covers everything from musicals to folk music and from pop to table songs. Markus Yli-Jokipii, TAMK’s choir direction lecturer, coaches the choir.