35th Night of the Arts to host hundreds of free events in Helsinki

Hundreds of free art events will mark the 35th anniversary of the Night of the Arts on Thursday, said the city of Helsinki in a press release.

The headline events to kick off the Helsinki Festival include Lauri Porra’s new composition BASSO, performed by 130 bass voices and the opening of Kevin Abosch’s photographic exhibition AI Helsinki in Esplanade Park.

The Festival will run until 1 September, with Marko Ahtisaari serving as Artistic Director for the last time this year.

More than a hundred bass voices will gather in Senate Square, inviting everyone to celebrate the anniversary of the Night of the Arts and the launch of the largest multi-arts festival in the Nordic countries, the Helsinki Festival.

Composer and bass virtuoso Lauri Porra’s BASSO was commissioned for the Festival and will feature a choir of the finest low-voice artists in Finland, a line of low-frequency wind instruments and a rhythmic legion of electric bass players and percussionists.

The line-up will consist of professional musicians and performers selected through an open call. Joining Porra on stage will be Awake Percussion and the YL Male Voice Choir.

The work’s visual artist is Joonas Tikkanen. BASSO will be performed only once, during the Night of the Arts on 15 August at 22:00.

A live stream of the event will be available on the Helsinki Festival website. Before the performance, Senate Square will be filled with a multi-channel sound work created by Porra.

Esplanade Park, meanwhile, will host AI Helsinki, an exhibition of Kevin Abosch’s synthetic photographs.

The Irish conceptual artist and portrait photographer took hundreds of thousands of photos of people and landscapes in Helsinki in spring 2024, then created the images in the exhibition using supervised artificial intelligence.

Even if the people and places in the images look familiar, they do not really exist. The exhibition opens to the audience at 18:00 on the Night of the Arts and will remain open for the duration of the Helsinki Festival.

The Night of the Arts celebrations will spread across Helsinki with hundreds of other free events.

The programme will include open rehearsals at various theatres, dance, circus performances, literary events and discussions and open doors to museums, as well as a great variety of live music.

In addition to BASSO, the large number of gigs and concerts on the Night of the Arts will include performances such as Etno-Espa and Savoy Theatre’s Night of the Arts on Espa Stage, Helsinki goes EDM in Kaisaniemi Park, opera highlights at the Alexander Theatre, forgotten works of 19th- and 20th-century female composers in the courtyard of the Burgher’s House and a world music event for the whole family at Vuotalo.

Children can also enjoy the Night of the Arts. The programme includes: Rapuooppera, which will be full of animals and nature, at Annantalo, an immersive circus at Cirko – Centre for the New Circus – and Pikku Papun Orkesteri and UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra at the Elojuhla event at Stoa.

Film lovers will also be covered: the world premiere of Am I? by Kevin Abosch at Bio Rex, the documentary film about choreographer Akram Khan at the Dance House Helsinki, as well as short films at Kino K13, the Cultural Centre Caisa, the Helsinki City Museum and Teurastamo.

The Helsinki Festival will fill the city with cultural experiences until 1 September. The main festival venues are Huvila, Musiikkitalo and Dance House Helsinki.

The Festival’s cavalcade of classical music begins on the Night of the Arts at Musiikkitalo, with the Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera, conductor Hannu Lintu and soloist Karita Mattila.

One of the festival highlights will be the grand production by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra of Khovanshchina. The concert will feature a group of nearly two hundred musicians and dozens of soloists, including the world-renowned bass Mika Kares.

Other classical music highlights to feature at the Festival include the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Wish Concert, featuring pieces requested by President Alexander Stubb, with bassist Victor Wooten as a soloist, Latvian organ virtuoso Iveta Apkalna’s solo recital and a joint concert by the Royal College of Music and the University of the Arts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, conducted by Sakari Oramo, which will close the Festival.

The Huvila concert series kicks off on the opening day with Helsinki Noir Suite – Searching for Tapio, a gig that summarises the essence of Finnish jazz music according to Valtteri Laurell’s vision, interpreted by the 17-member Ricky-Tick Big Band and soul artist Emilia Sisco.

International guests on the Huvila stage will include Cat Power, who will recreate Bob Dylan’s legendary gig at the Royal Albert Hall; Carla Bruni, one of the most celebrated artists in France; American jazz harpist Brandee Younger, performing with the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra; Hismanos Gutiérrez, two brothers who draw on traditional Latin American music; the British indie legends Ride; Angélique Kidjo, who will be celebrating her 40-year long career, and Markus Krunegård, the Swedish-Finnish artist beloved in both Sweden and Finland.

Top Finnish artists to feature in Huvila include Samuli Putro and Kimmo Pohjonen; Aku Raski and Giant Robot, who will get the electronic music party going alongside Business City and BÄMÄ; Maustetytöt, playing at the screening of Fallen Leaves, as well as Anna Puu, Samuli Edelmann and Antti Autio.

The Dance House Helsinki will host the Festival’s international guest dance performance, top choreographer Akram Khan’s reinterpretation of Rudyard Kipling’s much-loved classic, The Jungle Book. A topical, contemporary dance work, Jungle Book reimagined describes the human need to belong and bond with other people and nature from the perspective of a climate refugee.

A diverse programme will also be offered by Helsinki Festival’s friendship festivals.

Alakulttuuripäivä, GÁTT Nordic Arts Festival, Helsinki Contemporary Opera Festival, Outsider Art Festival, Runokuu/Poetry Moon, SAMPO Festival, Teatteri Sirkus Suosalo and Viapori Jazz.