An orchestra is told all its concerts will be televised

Restricted to 400 ticket holders in its concert hall, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra has persuaded the national broadcaster YLE to run all of its concerts live on television.

Why couldn’t the BBC think of that?

Press release below.

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra begins its autumn season on 4 September under somewhat exceptional circumstances. Audiences are now permitted in the hall again, but to ensure sufficient distancing, only around 400 tickets will be sold.
In order to serve other would-be listeners, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) is broadcasting FRSO concerts live on its Areena and Radio 1 channels and will be showing them on Yle Teema throughout the autumn season.

The concert repertoire has been modified to ensure the safety of the musicians on the platform. The concerts beginning at 8 pm will have no interval and will last about one hour.

“The orchestra is keen to get back on the Helsinki Music Centre platform,” says Chief Conductor Hannu Lintu. “Being face to face with a live audience is of primary importance to us. Modifying the repertoire to suit the prevailing conditions has been not only challenging but extremely interesting. The musician friends from abroad who were originally booked to visit us have all been incredibly understanding and flexible. It’s a great honour to have them with us.”

Karita Mattila, Elim Chan and Kent Nagano among the stars of the autumn concerts
The FRSO is keeping a close watch on the official directions concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and is prepared to adjust its concert repertoire accordingly. For this reason, it is first announcing the programmes only for the September and October concerts.

The theme of the opening concert on 4 September is the inspiring and diverse effect of cultural history on orchestral music. Hannu Lintu will conduct FOG, a new orchestral work by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella suite, and Britten’s Nocturno with Tuomas Katajala (tenor) as the soloist.

Karita Mattila will sing Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder on 9 & 10 September, and Elim Chan – one of the most exciting new-generation conductors – will conduct works by Anna Clyne and Kaija Saariaho on 23 September….

conductor Hannu Lintu