The Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra
The Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra is in principal as old as the Sibelius Academy itself (founded 1882), but it did not become fully organised until 1916. The orchestra has been in its present form from the 1960's and it has been conducted during the years by many distinguished conductors like Jussi Jalas, Jorma Panula, Arvid Jansons, Paavo Berglund, Sir Colin Davis, Eri Klas, Leif Segerstam and Atso Almila. The orchestra has also been conducted by the most talented students of the Conducting Class at the Sibelius Academy, among others Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Sakari Oramo and Mikko Franck. One of its greatest achievements in the early years was winning second place in the Herbert von Karajan competition in Berlin 1972. The musicians of the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra are between 18 and 26 years old and they study towards the Master of Music Degree mainly at the Degree Programme in Performing Arts and at the Department of Orchestral Instruments.The orchestra does from three to five productions every academic year with different programs and conductors. The repertoire includes not only symphonic repertoire but also opera and music theatre. The Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra gives regural concerts in Helsinki and has in recent years been appearing more and more in other parts of Finland too. It operates in coordination with, among others, the leading Finnish orchestras, The Finnish National Opera and the various art academies (for example West Side Story 1992 and Aulis Sallinen's Hobitti-ballet 2001-02). The orchestra has done succesfull tours (Europe, China, Japan and the U.S.A. ) and it has given concerts for example in Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Athens, London, Birmingham, Berlin, Vienna, Tokyo, Beijing, Los Angeles and New York's Carnegie Hall.