Photo: Jaska Poikonen
A new dimension opens on the arts landscape in Turku as the Turku Music Festival, the Turku Philharmonic, Turku Concert Hall and the Ballet exhibition join forces to create an overarching arts experience from August 2024 to the end of December. The venture brings together classical music, photography and the harmony of dance in an unprecedented genre-busting collaboration.
The main event of the Turku Music Festival this year is held from 8 to 31 August. The concerts with the highest expected attendance are at Turku Concert Hall and feature performers such as the Orchestra della Toscana from Florence, which is twinned with Turku, and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, baritone Waltteri Torikka, mezzosopranos Fleur Barron and Joyce DiDonato along with Aliisa Neige Barrière, Aleksi Barrière, actor Akseli Kouki and the Choirs of the Puolala School Music Classes. Additionally, from the opening concert up to the end of the year, audiences are treated to a special exhibition created by Turku-based dance instructor Teija Huusko and photographer Jaska Poikonen.
“The strategy of the Turku Music Festival includes high-quality collaborations and partners, and this project is an excellent example. Now, with the Turku Music Festival and the Turku Philharmonic coming on board the Ballet exhibition project, we gain potential for examining the symbiosis of music and dance in much more depth. Not only does this expand the potential audience base for both art forms; it also improves our understanding of how inextricably they are linked,” says Eveliina Salminen, Sales and Marketing Manager of the Turku Music Festival.
The groundwork for the exhibition began in 2022 when Poikonen and Huusko began to create photos focusing on the aesthetics of ballet. They soon found that the images began to shape themselves into a powerful, stylistically coherent and original collection.
“My original idea was to take ballet-themed photos in interesting and unexpected settings, but Teija at once brought her creative input to the table, and the artistic core of the project began to emerge from our collaboration,” says Poikonen.
The exhibition could be described as a choreography of instants. The images evoke moods arising from the combination of dance and photography in interesting environments.
“We shot in a studio and in many highly inspiring settings, such as on the roof of the Concert Hall where the exhibition is now on display, at the Paimio Sanatorium and on the rocky shore of Ruissalo as the ice was breaking in spring. I feel that every shoot resulted in unique images that each have their own particular feel but nevertheless fit into the big picture,” says Poikonen.
The corporeal experience of ballet and the resulting emotions and expression are also important components in the exhibition.
“Transposing the familiar, traditional world of ballet to unusual settings and situations prompted exciting emotional associations, memories, bodily experiences and new inspiration. Jaska captured this admirably in his photos,” says Huusko.
The Ballet exhibition was first displayed at the Sibelius Museum in Turku in spring 2023 and attracted a huge number of visitors. It was subsequently displayed on the Arena Tour of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet and at the Kuopio Dance and Music Festival in summer 2023.
“It’s wonderful that the exhibition is now being hosted jointly by the Turku Music Festival and Turku Concert Hall,” say Huusko and Poikonen.
The exhibition is augmented with extracts from the poetry collection Grand plié by Raisa Jäntti.
Further information and interview requests:
Eveliina Salminen, Sales and Marketing manager, Turku Music Festival
eveliina.salminen@tmj.fi / 040 524 5531
Jaska Poikonen, photographer, graphic designer
jaska.poikonen@gmail.com / 045 676 3268
