BBC Philharmonic in Finland

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra will be the main guest at the Luosto Classic Festival in Finland in August, the orchestra's first visit to Finland. Conducted by John Storgards, their open-air concert will perform the Finnish premier of Kalevi Aho's percussion concerto Sieidi, with percussionist Colin Currie. It is a joint concert with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra and also on the programme is Aho's Luosto Symphony.

Sieidi was premiered in April in London with Colin Currie and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vanska. The title, Sieidi, is a Lappish word for holy sacrificial rock). In May, Aho's Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra was given its UK premiere with Jorgen van Rijen and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Vedernikov; a work described as absurdly demanding and calling on the soloist to sing whilst playing.

So far, Aho has written 19 solo concertos, including recent ones for trumpet and chamber orchestra, trumpet and symphonic wind orchestra. In October 2012 he has a new concerto for theremin being premiered.  Other interesting timbres include the concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra.