I Maestri Present: Northern Temperaments

To celebrate the 150th birthday of two great composers; Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius, the orchestra and conductors of I Maestri present: Northern Temperaments, an evening that will transport you through Northern Europe from Finland, to Norway, and crossing the waters of the Baltic to Denmark.

The musical journey begins with Jean Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen in Tunoela (from Molto Lento); a tone poem based on Rumos (Elk, Horse and Swan and “Resurrection”). Lemminkäinen is in Tuonela, the land of the dead, to shoot the swan of Tuonela to be able to claim the daughter of Louhi, mistress of Northland, in marriage. However, the blind man of the Northland Kills Lemminkäinen, whose body is then tossed in the river and then dismembered. Lemminkäinen’s mother learns of the death, travels to Tuonela, recovers his body parts, reassembles him and restores him to life.

This piece will be bridged together with Sibelius’s Luonnotar, based on the same Finnish text from Kalevala. Luonnotar is the Spirit of Nature and Mother of the Seas, the words coming from the first part of Kalevala that deals with the creation of the World.

In Norway there is a celebration with, Edvard Grieg’s Wedding Day at Troldhaugen that congratulates the best wishes to young newlyweds. From his Lyric pieces for piano, Book VIII,Op. 65, this along with the Cradle Song is an orchestration from this score.
From Story telling we travel onwards where the journey becomes more of a musical conversation with Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra. Neoclassical in style and consisting of only two movements it resembles a different landscape altogether, less mystical and more real, cosmopolitan and visual, with its busy dialogue between solo flute and the different instruments of the orchestra.

Nielsen’s Symphony No. 2, ‘The Four Temperaments’ is a musical sketch of humour, titled; ‘The Choleric,’ The Sanguine,’ ‘The Melancholic,’ and ‘The Phlegmatic.’ Influenced by painting of the same titles, Nielsen characterises a Young Man who believes the whole world belongs to him and tells the tale of his naïve journey.
The music in this evenings programme will take your senses and imagination to illustrious places and we hope you can join the orchestra on this enigmatic journey.


Concert begins at 6:30pm


Evening Concert Programme:

Jean Sibelius – Lemminkäinen in Tuonela (from Molto Lento), and Luonnotar

Edvard Grieg – Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, (from the Lyric Pieces, Op. 65, No. 6)

Carl Nielsen – Flute Concerto

Carl Nielsen – Symphony No. 2 (The Four Temperaments)

Edvard Grieg – At the Cradle, (from the Lyric Pieces, Op 68. No 5)

Soloists: Mia Huhta – Soprano and Caroline Welsh – Flute

Conductors: Cathal Garvey, Ian Helen and George Hlawiczka

Please note: tickets will not be posted out and must be collected from the box office on the day of the performance.

Box Office and Doors open at 6pm