Looking back on Nordic Soundscapes
What an epic start to the season! Our Nordic Soundscapes series came to a thrilling conclusion last night, with Sibelius’s Symphony No.1, conducted by our Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen, together with the UK premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Viola Concerto (pictured, below).
Nordic Soundscapes in numbers
Over the course of the series, a project which has been close to the heart of our Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, we’ve welcomed over 11,000 ticket holders, enjoying events that have ranged from our VR Orchestra to talks and debates, workshops and of course 8 concerts at the Royal Festival Hall and at our residencies Bedford and Canterbury.
Those concerts have included no less than 6 UK premieres, with 3 of them being accompanied by films by Joakim Odelberg and Andrea Östlund, as well as music that deserves a wider hearing, including Nielsen’s Symphony No.5 which hadn’t been heard at the Royal Festival Hall for a decade.
In addition, our ‘Notes of Nature’ series welcomed a diverse array of panellists, which included marine researchers, farmers, musicians, and sustainability experts. Unfortunately however we lost count of the number of cinnamon rolls consumed at these events…
Notes on Nature event
Beyond the stage
The series has gone far beyond the concert hall however. In preparation for the series, members of our team travelled to Finland to interview many of the conductors and composers involved in it and we’ve been releasing the resulting 25 films throughout the series (with one up our sleeve to follow). They’ve included interviews with the likes of conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Emilia Hoving, composer Outi Tarkiainen and violist Lawrence Power as well as some very special footage of our Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali enjoying time away from the concert hall in his home in rural Finland.
Santtu-Matias Rouvali preparing fish he caught earlier in the day.
Those films have now been viewed:
- over 23,000 times on YouTube alone
- with a further 245,000 views of Nordic Soundscapes content on Instagram
- one video alone on TikTok getting over 70,000 views
Our digital output has made Nordic Soundscapes a series that’s reached far beyond London and our residencies. That’s been helped by our new partnership with Apple Music, which has featured playlists including one specially curated for the series by Nordic Soundscapes’s Editorial Consultant Andrew Mellor:
Beyond Digital: Virtual Reality
The digital side of the series also included our VR experience, which allowed audiences to experience the soaring melodies of Sibelius’s Symphony 5 from right inside the orchestra and also as they ‘flew’ over the majestic Finnish landscapes which inspired the symphony.
Audience members enjoying our VR Experience. Photo by Mark Allan
We particularly enjoyed hearing the occasional ‘wow!’ from participants as they were taken on these incredible musical and visual journeys. Almost 1000 people experienced our VR, with 20% of them never having attended a classical concert before:
“A thrilling experience! The mix of landscape and orchestra has made me want to attend a live performance soon.”
“It was fantastic! Brought tears into my eyes and gave me chills”
With thanks:
The deepening of existing partnerships and the forging of new ones has also been a hallmark of the series. We’ve enjoyed welcoming back artists such as conductor Emilia Hoving and pianist Stephen Hough, but have also worked with an array of artists for the very first time, including violinist María Dueñas. Away from the concert platform the series saw us working closely with embassies, cultural institutes and other organisations and individuals including the Swedish Embassy, Editorial Consultant Andrew Mellor, the Finnish Embassy, Finnish Cultural Centre, and the Swedish Church (for making the previously mentioned buns) – we’d like to thank all of these and many other partners and supporters whose contribution made the series so successful.
While the Nordic Soundscapes series may now sadly be over, of course all films remain available on our Youtube channel for you to enjoy – and remember to join our almost 150,000 subscribers there so you never miss out on our latest videos.
