The Sibelius Academy Choir & Tellu Turkka: Väinämöinen and Skeleton Woman
Stories and moods, the expression power of human voice!
Skeleton Woman is an old Icelandic fairy tale, which Turkka wrote in Kalevala metre. At the same time, the landscape of the story changed to Finnish nature and the leading man to Väinämöinen. The fishing trip of young Väinämöinen gets a rather extraordinary turn, as a woman’s skeleton grabs the hook instead of the fish. Väinämöinen rows to the shore in a hurry and runs home, but the rattling skeleton follows him. After surviving the scare, Väinämöinen starts to sort out the line from the bones, and wonders who this woman was and how did she end up at the bottom of the sea. At night, Väinämöinen has a wonderful dream of lovers dancing like fire and weeps in his dreams. But what does the Skeleton Woman do?
Composer Tellu Turkka has collected and studied a large number of fairy tales during his life and composed several choir works based on them. In this concert, you will hear the whole story of the Skeleton Woman, and also get tastes of a few other compositions. In addition, new, unprecedented vocal music, as well as soundscapes and improvisations created by the choir, will be heard.
Performers
- The Sibelius Academy Choir
- Tellu Turkka, choral conducting
Additional information: Susanna Brandt, susanna.brandt@uniarts.fi
Skeleton Woman is an old Icelandic fairy tale, which Turkka wrote in Kalevala metre. At the same time, the landscape of the story changed to Finnish nature and the leading man to Väinämöinen. The fishing trip of young Väinämöinen gets a rather extraordinary turn, as a woman’s skeleton grabs the hook instead of the fish. Väinämöinen rows to the shore in a hurry and runs home, but the rattling skeleton follows him. After surviving the scare, Väinämöinen starts to sort out the line from the bones, and wonders who this woman was and how did she end up at the bottom of the sea. At night, Väinämöinen has a wonderful dream of lovers dancing like fire and weeps in his dreams. But what does the Skeleton Woman do?
Composer Tellu Turkka has collected and studied a large number of fairy tales during his life and composed several choir works based on them. In this concert, you will hear the whole story of the Skeleton Woman, and also get tastes of a few other compositions. In addition, new, unprecedented vocal music, as well as soundscapes and improvisations created by the choir, will be heard.
Performers
- The Sibelius Academy Choir
- Tellu Turkka, choral conducting
Additional information: Susanna Brandt, susanna.brandt@uniarts.fi