Classical music at Enontekiö

The Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta will open the Hetta Music Days on Friday, April 11, 2025. 

Part of the program comes from a workshop that the orchestra organized in collaboration with Hetta Music Days in Bodö last October. The vocal soloist Tonje Eero Hove will perform an orchestral song in Finnish-related Kven language, and Veli Kujala will premiere a concerto for ¼-tone accordion, commissioned by Sampo Haapamäki. 

On Palm Sunday, two Sámi musicians will meet a classically trained contemporary composer at the Luohti evening: the Sámi Grand Prix winner, yoiker Ingá-Máret Gaup-Juuso from Enontekiö, will be paired with the accordeon pioneer Veli Kujala, and the Norwegian John André Eira will perform his yoiks with guitarist-composer Lauri Marjakangas. 

During Easter week, our event will return to its roots along with baroque music. Piano virtuoso Risto-Matti Marin will perform Bach arrangements by traditional Finnish composers from his latest album in his recital on Wednesday. On Maundy Thursday, the constantly renewing Seitakuoro – which started our event more than 50 years ago – will return to Hetta with a program that ranges from Madrigals of the Renaissance master Gesualdo to new Baltic choral music. Rheinberger’s Stabat Mater will be accompanied by organist Kalle Ristolainen. 

On Good Friday, the program will be framed by Bach’s cantata Jesu meine Freude and the final chorus of Bach’s St. John Passion. The instrumental part will be played by the ensemble of the year, the Oulu Sinfonia Chamber Musicians, who will also perform audience-friendly music by Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov and American Caroline Shaw in between the choral music.

Their Saturday evening concert consists of  core repertoire of German-Austrian classics: Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. On Easter Sunday they will start with two Gesualdo Madrigal string arrangements – together with the Aakko family duo –  and finish with melodious music from the beginning of the 20th century: Sergei Prokofiev’s Flute and Piano Sonata and Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet. 

The Seita Choir will also perform on Easter Saturday at the Pyhäkero Lodge outdoor event and at the night service of the Hetta Church. 

At our traditional matinee at the Juhls Gallery in Kautokeino on Easter Saturday, John André Eira will perform  his yoiks with guitarist Lauri Marjakangas, and AakkoSet will be jamming Nordic fiddle music. The Oulu Symphony Chamber Musicians will take care of the classical instrumental music of the matinee. 

The Hetta Music Days will end at Hetta Church on Saturday, in the afternoon of April 26, 2025, with a matinee by the Lapland Military Band’s septet, entitled ”80 years since the end of the Lapland War”.