Sibbe Live!: Natural Phenomena
17.09.2025 19:00 – 20:00
Standard price 15€ + order fee (from 1,50 € + 0,65 % of the order)
Students/pensioners/children 12€ + order fee (from 1,50 € + 0,65 % of the order)
Fantasiakvintetti:
Fantasiakvintetti: Okko Kivikataja, clarinet; Laura Kemppainen, oboe; Päivi Väisänen, flute; Sari Seppelin, bassoon; Joonas Seppelin, French horn
Programme:
Outi Tarkiainen: Siimes
I In the Water
II Flash
III In the Ashes
Peter Vasks: Musik for fleeting birds
Jean Sibelius: “Tree Suite”, Cinq Morceaux op. 75, arr. Anni Tolvanen
I When the Roan Tree Flowers
II The Solitary Fir Tree
III The Aspen
IV The Birch Tree
V The Spruce
Carl Nielsen: Wind Quintet op.43
1. Allegro ben moderato
2. Menuet
3. Prelude – Tema con variazioni
Fantasiakvintetti began its journey together over twenty years ago as young students in Helsinki. During its early years, the young chamber music ensemble participated in numerous masterclasses, concerts, tours, and competitions both in Finland and abroad. Fantasiakvintetti has performed in the chamber music series of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish National Opera, at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, the Crusell Week in Uusikaupunki, the Kajaani Poetry Week, Helsinki Festival, and in cities such as Vaasa, Porvoo, Lohja, Imatra, and Oulu. The group has also appeared as a soloist with the Kuopio and Mikkeli city orchestras. Outside of Finland, the quintet has performed in France, Germany, Singapore, and South Korea.
A wind quintet is a colorful, challenging, and highly intriguing ensemble. The combination of five completely different timbres is like a treasure chest, always offering something new to discover. Fantasiakvintetti’s repertoire includes both traditional and highly experimental chamber music, and the ensemble has always been open to exploring contemporary compositions as well. Tackling these works, however, requires familiarity with the traditional wind instrument repertoire, and at its best, a concert program is a blend of both. Working with this ensemble is an essential part of each member’s musicianship – a shared, long, and rewarding journey of discovery in the world of chamber music.
This program is a delightful combination of the brilliant colors of the wind quintet – featuring works by Finnish composers from two different eras, the debut wind quintet of a Latvian composer from the 1970s, and one of the greatest classical pieces written for this ensemble from Denmark, over a century ago.
Outi Tarkiainen (b. 1985) is one of the most fascinating composers of her generation. Themes central to her work include the balance and uniqueness of northern nature, the human voice, and the roots connecting Western classical music and jazz traditions. Siimes is Tarkiainen’s second wind quintet, composed in 2017. The title refers to a hidden place in the forest, ideal for quietly observing the surrounding reality. The first movement flows and swirls like water, sometimes changing direction but always bubbling with joy. The ethereal shimmer of the middle movement culminates in the grandiose final movement, where chordal pillars stack atop one another like a cloud of ash.
Pēteris Vasks (b. 1946) is a Latvian composer whose work was initially influenced by the aleatoric style of Polish composer Witold Lutosławski, and later by Latvian folk music. Of Vasks’ two wind quintets, the first, Music for Fleeting Birds, dates from 1977. The piece alternates between freely notated and improvised sections, which transition into rhythmic harmonic progressions. Especially in the freer passages, the sounds of birds and nature are clearly audible. The challenge of the quintet does not lie in the technical difficulty of individual parts, but in the unique atmosphere created through collective harmony. Vasks gives nature the form of music.
Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) gave voice to trees in his suite of five piano pieces, Op. 75. Anni Tolvanen’s transcription for wind quintet vividly captures the composer’s colors and intentions. When the Roan Tree Flowers opens up after a lingering introduction to reveal a delicate theme. The Solitary Fir Tree exudes a masculinity full of symbolism, while the impressionistic “The Aspen”, with its trembling leaves, portrays the composer’s yearning for nature at its most beautiful. “So white it rises”, Sibelius described The Birch Tree, which is full of bright, airy atmosphere. The final piece, The Spruce, is the best known of these miniatures – its dark harmonies, melancholic waltz melody, and storm of broken chords have made it one of Sibelius’s most frequently performed works.
Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) wanted to showcase the unique character of each instrument in his nature-themed wind quintet. Nielsen also dreamed of composing a concerto for each of the five wind instruments but only completed concertos for flute and clarinet. Through the quintet, we can imagine what the other three concertos might have sounded like. Nielsen’s wind quintet from 1922 blends neoclassical and modernist elements and consists of three movements: Allegro, Minuet, and Theme and Variations. Complexity and simplicity are delightfully combined in the treatment of themes and accompaniment. The music is full of surprises and idyllic moods, and this quintet is one of the most beloved and frequently performed Nordic wind chamber works.
Okko Kivikataja is a clarinetist, conductor and music pedagogue, whose career spans both performing arts and teaching. Kivikataja has graduated as Master of Music from Sibelius Academy in both clarinet and conducting. He also has a Music Pedagogy degree from Helsinki University of Applied Sciences. Currently Kivikataja works as a lecturer in Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, where he teaches classical winds, chamber music and orchestral education.
Laura Kemppainen began playing the oboe at age 8 in Kuopio Conservatory. After music-oriented elementary school and upper secondary school, she studied in Stadia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Sibelius Academy and Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Since 2010 she has been a member of Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra, and since 2012 the Finnish National Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
Päivi Väisänen (MMus) is an orchestral and chamber musician and a flute pedagogue from Kuopio. Päivi has acted as the Principal Flute in the Kuopio City Orchestra since 2008. In addition to her day job, Päivi teaches flute in Savonia University of Applied Sciences and performs chamber music in different project in Finland and abroad. During summers, Päivi can be found teaching masterclasses in Raudaskylä.
Sari Seppelin is a freelance bassoonist. She studied in Sibelius Academy and UMdK, Vienna. In addition to regular chamber music performances, she has worked as an assistant and substitute in several Finnish Symphony Orchestras.
Joonas Seppelin studied in Sibelius Academy and Frankfurt. Since 2011, Joonas has played the French horn in Helsinki City Orchestra.