Jyväskylä Sinfonia

Since the beginning of the 21th century, Jyväskylä Sinfonia has filled its concert halls over and over again, making an unforeseen record in the autumn of the 60^thyear of celebration in 2015: the concerts were sold out 100%. Orchestra’s chief conductor Ville Matvejeff began his period in the beginning of 2014 and will continue until the year of 2022. Matvejeff is one of the most interesting Finnish musical talents. Successful as a composer, conductor, pianist, and singer, he has established himself as an exceptionally wide-ranging musician. The orchestra’s 38 full-time musicians give concerts annually to almost 30000 listeners. Jyväskylä Sinfonia organizes each year over 100 music events ranging from classical symphony concerts to chamber music concerts, open-minded entertaining evenings, and audience development events.

Jyväskylä Sinfonia has published nearly 40 recordings, of which the most successful one is the recording together with the luminous opera star Karita Mattila; the CD that includes music by Lasse Mårtenson has sold over 80.000 pieces after the publication in 1998. In 2015, Jyväskylä Sinfonia published a double CD to celebrate Aulis Sallinen’s 80^th jubilee year. The recording contains the whole Chamber Music Suite together with pianist Ralf Gothóni, cellist Arto Noras, and string quartet Meta4. The two CDs together with Finnish top baritone Waltteri Torikka contain entertaining classics with fresh arrangements. The first one, Heart, has already sold platinum. The last CDs are Romer’s Gap which is made with Olli Virtaperko (b. 1973) and it contains three concertos: one for amplified cello with Perttu Kivilaakso, one for knifonium with Jonte Knif, and one for baritone saxophone with Joonatan Rautiola and Pekka Kostiainen’s Requiem, recorded together with St Michel Strings.

Versatile audience development projects and contacting the audience actively have a high importance in Jyväskylä Sinfonia’s life. Pupil concerts and instrumental workshops reach thousands of school children yearly and bring classical music and symphony orchestra’s activities familiar to schools. The orchestra visits regularly retirement homes, hospitals, and organizes open general rehearsals for seniors and other groups, whereas the audience has a great opportunity to meet the performers in the artist meetings just before the concert. By these methods, Jyväskylä Sinfonia strives for meeting its listeners better and ever more versatile.