Theater, music, dance, art exhibitions, circus, movies, and various forms of culture. The festival is also called Finland's biggest cultural event in terms of visitors.
The Helsinki Festival is the largest multi-arts festival in Finland. It is also called Finland's biggest cultural event in terms of visitors. In 2009, around 288,000 people visited the Helsinki Festival
The performances consist of theater, music, dance, art exhibitions, circus, movies, children's programs and various forms of other culture. Numerous renown international artists have also been performing at the Helsinki Festival. Many of the performances are free. One of the main events is called "Night of the Arts" (Taiteiden yö), when all the city is open for anyone to perform outdoors in the parks and streets of Helsinki
Director’s Statement: The Tree Booms
Boom 1: Changing ChinaErik Söderblom (c) Sasa Tkalcan
Circus, dance, design, rock, symphony, cartoons, kites and street food. As part of the 2015 Helsinki Festival, we present Focus: China, one of the most comprehensive looks at Chinese culture seen in Europe over the past years. We are not interested in how different or exotic the Chinese are as such, but rather how similar we humans ultimately are.
The world has changed China. Now China is changing the world at a pace. If you dig deep enough in Finland, you get to China, they say. The 2015 Helsinki Festival provides you with shovels for the exploration.
Boom 2: Changing musical theatre
Theatre changes, music changes, dance changes. Perhaps musical theatre is the art form which, in embracing the world, ultimately best describes our multifaceted modern reality. This has been understood by the modern generation of composers – more than 20 of them are currently working on an opera or musical theatre project. Finland is experiencing a well-hidden musical theatre boom! The 2015 Helsinki Festival programme contains a small part thereof: three premieres of Finnish musical theatre works.
Boom 3: Continuing agent of change
The Huvila Festival Tent, the agent of change in the city’s music scene, celebrates its 20th anniversary! Over the years, this Tokoinranta landmark has fed the fires of passion, introduced new artists of all sorts and launched one star after another into the musical sky of Helsinki. And it will do so this summer as well. The agent of change continues!
In this landscape of change, after six festivals, I bid farewell to the wonderful audience of the Helsinki Festival with this year’s programme and welcome my successor, Topi Lehtipuu.
The world is changing – art makes the transition easier.
Erik Söderblom
Festival Director
Press Officer:
Sini Koskimies +358 50 3582440 koskimies@helsinkifestival.fi
14- 30 August
Helsinki Finlandia