The Oulu Music Festival will be held for the 34th time from March 12th to 27th, 2024. Once again, there will be wonderful classical music orchestral concerts, chamber music, jazz, folk music, and blues at the festival.
The Oulu Music Festival has been filling the wintry March of Oulu with classical and rhythmic music concerts since 1991. Starting as Madetoja Weeks, the festival's journey has been full of various experiences, from orchestral concerts to jazz clubs, circus acts, and dance performances. The festival has also collaborated with many local actors over the years.
The year 2024 continues the tradition: the monumental Matthäus-Passion is a co-production with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra and the Diocese of Oulu. The JoJo - Dance Center-produced work Chiaroscuro combines choral music and aerial acrobatics; Oulu's own big band, OASBB, will also be heard at the festival alongside guitarist Kalle Kalima in a concert inspired by Tarantino's movies.
The festival's rhythmic music program has been planned by Oulu Music Festival's other artistic director, pianist-composer Kari Ikonen, who started as the artistic director of the festival in the spring of 2023. The 2024 festival is Ikonen's first time designing the festival program for the Oulu Music Festival. Ikonen just celebrated his 50th birthday, and the celebrations continue with the pianist's anniversary concert as part of the festival program.
The festival's artistic director for classical music, soprano Mari Palo, will be seen performing in the chamber concert Terra Memoria.
The festival opens on March 12th with the Opening Concert, combining both classical music and jazz. The concert opens with Vivaldi's beloved Four Seasons combined with a multimedia work that brings visual poetry to the performance. The concert will feature the Dutch virtuoso recorder player Erik Bosgraaf, known as one of the world's most virtuosic recorder players, along with the Oulu Baroque Orchestra ensemble.
The second half of the Opening Concert dives into the world of international jazz. In the album release concert, jazz musicians Jukka Eskola and Timo Lassy bring the Nordic Stew album release tour to the festival, along with jazz musicians from the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans.
Oulu Music Festival 2024 Program
Tue 12.3.2024 Opening Concert
Wed 13.3.2024 Die schöne Müllerin
Thu 14.3.2024 Chamber Music Master Class Final Concert
Thu 14.3.2024 Tangos Nobles et Sentimentales
Fri 15.3.2024 Art goes Afterwork
Fri 15.3.2024 OASBB feat. Kalle Kalima: Pulp Friction (Tarantino Suite)
Sat 16.3.2024 Whims of the Sun King
Sat 16.3.2024 From Shadow to Light
Sat 16.3.2024 Littorina Saxophone Quartet
Sun 17.3.2024 Terra Memoria
Tue 19.3.2024 Kari Ikonen Solo - Mehrnoosh Zolfaghari
Wed 20.3.2024 Rhythmic Music Master Class Final Concert
Wed 20.3.2024 Flute Summit
Thu 21.3.2024 Tuomo Uusitalo Trio
Thu 21.3.2024 At the Edge of Sanctity
Fri 22.3.2024 Art goes Afterwork
Fri 22.3.2024 Airspace: Chiaroscuro
Fri 22.3.2024 Marjo Leinonen & Bublicans
Sat 23.3.2024 Airspace: Chiaroscuro
Sat 23.3.2024 Airspace: Chiaroscuro
Sat 23.3.2024 Lajunen & Grundström - Verneri Pohjola Solo
Sun 24.3.2024 Matthäus-Passion
Tue 26.3.2024 Matthäus-Passion (Luleå)
Wed 27.3.2024 Matthäus-Passion
For more information, visit the Oulu Music Festival website at www.omj.fi.