Composers / Witold Lutosławski / Places catalog

Helsinki

In 1955, Witold Lutosławski travelled to Helsinki for the Sibelius Festival. Later, in October 1973, he came to receive the Sibelius Prize from the Wihuri Foundation. The ceremony was accompanied by a performance of Livre pour orchestre under the composer’s baton.

Lutosławski visited the Finnish capital many times, for various reasons. In 1965, it was here that he met the LaSalle Quartet just before the premiere of the String Quartet in Stockholm, and – as he later related – he experienced a moment of remarkably pleasant surprise, when the musicians presented him with an excellent interpretation of the score, despite it being written in a highly unconventional way.

He was invited to give lectures at the Sibelius Academy, where a group of young Finnish composers regarded Lutosławski’s music as an alternative to what was being proposed by the West German avant-garde, on one hand, and by John Cage, on the other.

‘Around the mid seventies, Lutosławski came to Helsinki to give a lecture at our Academy, which I obviously attended – relates Esa-Pekka Salonen. – At that time, we were extremely curious about contemporary music from Poland… I knew many of Lutosławski’s works very well while still a teenager… We young Finnish composers, towards the end of the seventies and at the start of the eighties, felt a bond with composers from Poland. Perhaps it was our relations with Russia – after all, the history of Poland and Finland is similar in many respects. Both countries were ruled by a Swedish king, both countries are “something” lying between Germany and Russia’.

Place Category
Aix-en-Provence Appearances
Aldeburgh Appearances
Amsterdam Appearances
Århus Education
Aspen Appearances
Austin Other
Baranów Sandomierski Other
Basel Other
Basztowa Street Performance spaces
Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts Other
BBC Orchestra and other ensembles Appearances
Belfast Other
Berea Performance spaces
Berlin Appearances
Białystok Education
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Brisbane Other
Budapest Other
Calgary Education, Other
Cambridge Other
Celle Publishers / Bookshops
Chicago Appearances
Cincinnati Other
Cleveland Appearances
Cologne Other
Copenhagen Appearances
Cracow Philharmonic Performance spaces
Dartington Education
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Dresden Other
Drozdowo Flats
Düsseldorf Appearances
Edinburgh Other
Evian Appearances
Filmography Radio / TV
Florence Appearances
Geneva Appearances
Glasgow Other
Graz Other
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Hagen Other, Performance spaces
Hamburg Other
Hanover (New Hampshire) Other
Helsinki Education
Herkulessaal Appearances, Performance spaces
Houston Other
Huddersfield Appearances
Indianapolis Other
Jagiellonian University Education
Katowice Other
Kazimierz nad Wisłą Other
Komorów Flats
Łagów Other
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La Rochelle Appearances
Leeds Appearances
Leipzig Education, Performance spaces, Publishers / Bookshops
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Lucerne Other
Madrid Appearances
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Mikołajki Other
Milan Appearances
Montreal Appearances
Moscow Appearances
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Odense Education, Performance spaces
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Opio (near Grasse) Flats
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Prague Appearances
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Saint Paul (Minnesota) Other
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Stawisko
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Szczecin Other
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Wzdów Other
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Zurich Performance spaces