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Mänttä Music Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary – This year’s artists include Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Yeol Eum Son and many other international piano stars

Mänttä Music Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary – This year’s artists include Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Yeol Eum Son and many other international piano stars

Photo: South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son will perform at the Mänttä Music Festival on Wednesday 31 July 2024. Photographer: Marco Borggreve

The festival will take place 30 July - 3 August 2024 at Serlachius in Mänttä. Ticket sales open at 12.00 on 11 March.

Famous for its world-class piano recitals, the Mänttä Music Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The festival will take place from 30 July to 3 August 2024 in Mänttä-Vilppula, in the Serlachius Manor's Kivijärvi Hall, surrounded by art and nature. 

The anniversary festival programme includes nine concerts and, in addition, concerts free of charge. The artist line-up includes internationally renowned piano stars such as Argentinian Ingrid Fliter, South Korean Yeol Eum Son, Finnish Laura Mikkola, German Severin von Eckardstein, Spanish Javier Perianes and French Pierre-Laurent Aimard

The festival will also feature emerging young piano artists such as German Elisabeth Brauß and Finnish Anton Mejias

In keeping with the core idea of the Mänttä Music Festival, the programme includes both cornerstones of the piano literature and a wide range of rarely heard gems of piano music.

Tickets for the concerts go on sale on Monday 11 March 2024 at 12.00.

The Mänttä Music Festival has become an irreplaceable part of Finnish piano culture over the past quarter of a century

For 25 years, the Mänttä Music Festival has been a significant promoter and patron of Finnish piano culture. Intimate and close to nature, the festival has become an annual meeting place for friends of piano music, amateurs, and professionals. 

Over the years, Mänttä Music Festival has invested significantly in young pianists, for example by presenting fresh talent, hosting the summer master class of the Young Piano Academy for more than ten years and, in recent years, also organising the Nordic Piano Academy. 

The festival has also played a major role in the creation of new piano works. Over the last quarter of a century, more than 40 piano works have been premiered at the Mänttä Music Festival, the most famous of which are Kalevi Aho's Piano Concerto No. 2, Piano Sonata No. 2 and Matthew Whittall's Leaves of Grass. In addition, Mänttä has premiered historical discoveries by Sibelius and Saint-Saens, among others. This year's premiere has been commissioned from Cecilia Damström.

The Mänttä Music Festival has been under the artistic direction of pianist Niklas Pokki since its foundation in 1999.

"Mänttä Music Festival's goal for the next 25 years is to be among the internationally renowned jewels of piano festivals, famous for its top-class piano recitals and unique setting," summarises Niklas Pokki.

Read more about the 2024 festival programme

 

Photo: South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son will perform at the Mänttä Music Festival on Wednesday 31 July 2024. Photographer: Marco Borggreve.
 

12.2.2024