Pannon Philharmonic

Four years ago, I made a decision, and I moved to Lappeenranta with my family. Note that this is a small, seventy-thousand-inhabitant town with a size of Kaposvár, in south-eastern Finland. It is closer to St. Petersburg than Helsinki. There live five thousand Russian people, including the Minister of Culture and the Mayor of Petersburg; also they have cottages there. Because it is a fantastic resort, a home of Europe's third largest lake system, the Saima, on which you can sail hundreds of kilometres in one voyage. In its environment, the nature is untouched; one is dropped into a real tourist paradise, which is the hottest part of the country in summers, and the coldest one in winters. One hundred years ago, a symphony orchestra was founded here too, which is making continued progress. It does not play badly, and the only shortcoming is its size; it has 25 members. It is rather chamber-like, but it meets the city's musical expectations. The Lappeeranta City Orchestra comes to Pécs with a Scandinavian programme, you can hear Sibelius, and Kalevi Aho as well.  Kalevi Aho is one of the greatest figures of the contemporary Finnish music, a good friend of mine, who will be here in person at the Pécs concert. The fifty-year-old gentleman is extremely popular in Germany, America, Austria, and Finland. This time, you can hear Lapland shaman rituals, one of his works, in which special Scandinavian instruments play, as well. That the concert shall have some relation also to Pécs, you can hear a Danish composer, Nielsen’s Flute Concerto, in which the soloist is going to be Béla Drahos.