Bo Carpelan 100: Carte blanche in Helsinki

Bo Carpelan 100: Carte blanche brings the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) to Helsinki with a programme planned in honour of the 100th anniversary of the author's birth. Violinist Antti Tikkanen, FiBO's artistic director from 2014 to 2017, is the leader and soloist of the concert, and Irma Niskanen handled programme planning. The programme includes Johann Sebastian Bach's violin concerto in A minor (BWV 1041), symphonies from the year 1764 by Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Jean Sibelius's later suite for violin and string orchestra (op.

117, 1929). Mozart's Symphony No 1 was written in London by the then eight-year-old composer. In Haydn's Symphony No 22, nicknamed The Philosopher, two English horns are used instead of oboes.

The Sibelius suite was written for the North American market in a Neo-classical style, detached from late Romanticism and Expressionism, but the composer eventually forbade its publication. The concert continues FiBO's period instrument performances of works by Sibelius. Bo Carpelan (1926--2011) was a prominent figure in Finnish literature for whom music was a beloved hobby, and his bestselling novel Axel (1986) explores the inner world of Axel Carpelan (1858--1919), a friend, supporter and interlocutor of Sibelius.

"The more you listen to Mozart, the more you appreciate Haydn", Bo Carpelan is said to have told Claes Andersson. The duration is 1 h 45 min including intermission. The House of Nobility is not fully accessible: there are steps at the entrance, and access from the lobby to the assembly hall, which serves as a concert venue on the second floor, is via stairs.

The accessible entrance is located at Hallituskatu 2 B, and the doorman will open the door upon request. An accessible restroom is available on the second floor, next to the concert café area.