The highlight of Lumo Company’s Capital of Culture year will take place on August 22, when two tightrope walkers cross the Oulujoki River at the Alakanava channel toward Tuira. Right the following week, Lumo Company’s artists will be part of the Delta Life show, which culminates the entire summer. The Capital of Culture year has also taken the artists to villages across the region.
The Oulu-based contemporary circus association Lumo Company is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. A lot has happened in these ten years, and above all, the association’s founder and artistic director, Hanna Moisala, notes that the association has been extremely productive.
“We have created over 15 works, which is more than one per year, plus all the collaborations with different partners,” Moisala says. “Now, fortunately, we have also become cultural partners with the City of Oulu. It feels like a stronger commitment to the local area and grounds us to want to operate more locally.”
For the second year now, Lumo Company has been conducting a unique village tour as part of a project named Taidematka. In this project, they bring outdoor contemporary circus performances to 44 different villages in the Oulu region.
“Villages have had the opportunity to book our performances as part of their own events. Doing this tour is very different compared to, say, making a theater piece. The encounters with the locals have been absolute highlights.”
People’s experiences are carried across the rapids
On August 22, Lumo Company will present a free tightrope walking performance, YLITYS (The Crossing). The piece is the finale and highlight of the association’s three-year project, coming to a climax during the European Capital of Culture year. In the performance, two tightrope walkers will cross the flowing Merikoski rapids simultaneously below them. Nothing like this has ever been seen in Finland before.
YLITYS does not focus solely on physical action; it delves into deeper metaphorical thinking. For the piece, personal experiences have been collected from people all around the world about what they have overcome in their lives.
“People’s experiences can be heard in the performance's soundscape, and we have also planned to print them as part of the costumes. We are literally carrying people’s thoughts and emotions across the rapids,” Moisala explains.
At the end of August, four circus artists from Lumo Company will perform in the Delta Life show.
“The entire evening is so spectacular that all I can say is there will be surprises at every twist and turn. I encourage everyone to come and see it,” Moisala urges.
Now at its midpoint, Oulu’s year as the European Capital of Culture has already proven to be extremely positive according to Moisala.
“This is pure glory—in a way, there couldn’t be a better year in Oulu. Everything related to being a capital of culture and what it has already brought has been sheer brilliance right from the start.”
YLITYS Crew:
Performers: Hanna Moisala and Sanja Kosonen
Composition and Sound Design: Terhi Pippuri and Touko Kemppainen
Fashion Designer: Mert Otsamo
Rigging: Oliver Zimmerman
Location Manager: Juha Toppi
Producers: Hanna Moisala, Naida Valencia, and Heli Kallio
Production: Lumo Company
Marzi Nyman has various approaches to composing. In his own guitar music, ideas come to life together with the musicians. Orchestral and chamber music is created privately using notation software. And then there are collaborative projects, like Delta Life, where demos and ideas bounce back and forth between the creators.
"When I write orchestral music, it's an intimate process of reaching into my own core. Writing in isolation is rewarding, but sometimes you need an outlet, and that outlet is another person. Working with others means making compromises, but that's also when you discover things you never would have thought of on your own," Nyman explains.
Encounters in the Creative Process
Marzi Nyman has composed the music for Delta Life, a multidisciplinary work to be performed on the water during the last weekend of August. Words are used sparingly, but they carry all the more weight. The lyrical wizard of the music is Petri Sirviö, leader of the Screaming Men’s Choir.
“Petri has a fascinating relationship with texts and with everything this work is about. We didn't know each other before, but even our first remote meeting was great fun, and there was an immediate connection,” Nyman says.
At the beginning of the collaboration, Petri Sirviö felt that the artists had a deep mutual respect for one another.
“Marzi has an effortless virtuosity that comes not only from his instrument, the guitar, but from somewhere within him; his music seems to originate deep inside.”
Sirviö compares his work to musicians jamming together.
“For me, instruments are pieces of language, words, rhythm, and intonation, different qualities and flavours of sounds, the way they resonate.”
Created from Scratch
The creation of the music for Delta Life began from a very open-ended starting point.
“I can’t think of another work quite like this. The possibilities were endless. We’ve used a lot of storyboards and Miro boards to make sure everyone shares the same audiovisual vision which may not necessarily match reality,” Nyman laughs.
In Huutajat’s large-scale stage productions, such as Carmen, there are typically clear dramaturgical elements that Sirviö condenses from five pages down to five lines.
“With Delta Life, however, the whole world is involved. The story prompts we received from Jukka (Takalo) were abstract and multifaceted,” Sirviö explains.
Artistic director Jukka Takalo provided an initial framework that was timeless, spiritual, and even sacred in nature. The idea for the work simmered in Nyman’s mind for nearly a year before taking shape. Through dialogue beginning in October 2025 between Nyman and Sirviö, choreographer Mikko Makkonen, Takalo, and other members of the creative team, the music was completed in May 2026.
“This has been a fun process of iteration. It’s been exciting to figure out how Huutajat’s way of breaking traditional rhythms can work together with music that otherwise suits the spectacle. We’ve found a good balance in the dialogue,” Sirviö says.
“It’s been great to see videos from the dance rehearsals and recordings by Huutajat. That’s when it all starts to come together,” Nyman says, referring to the concrete merging of music with the other art forms involved in the production.
Behind the Words: Incantations, Potency and Power
In the story of Delta Life, the air-guitar forces led by Marzi Nyman face off in battle against Huutajat. Sirviö found himself considering what words should be hurled at the guitarist army in opposition to the riffs of popular music.
“Finding the raw material felt meaningful. It comes from the headwaters of the Oulujoki River and represents ancient wisdom. At the same time, this is a contest in which the opponent should be provoked, mocked, and even suitably intimidated.”
In the end, the verbal elements that fit the spectacle were found largely in Karelian incantations from Viena Karelia, associated with different life situations and ailments. Their source was the widow Anni Lehtonen who was interviewed more than a century ago by Samuli Paulaharju.
“Those words had potency and power. In the performance itself, however, very little of them remains directly. What remains is more the framework and spirit behind them.”
The work is only truly complete when it is performed.
“Form is important. In a traditional orchestral concert setting, the encounter is very music-centered. Here, everything has to be expressed on a larger scale and fit into the overall spectacle.”
For Nyman, artistic communication through live performance or improvisation is something magical.
“If you find another person who has a similar relationship with music, it becomes very personal. When you come off stage, you feel as though you've had a great conversation and now know that person really well,” Nyman says.
Even this intimate exchange requires an audience.
“The audience has to be part of it; it raises the stakes!”
On Choosing the Music Creators
“Marzi Nyman seemed like the kind of artist who could unite the lyrical musical language of the spirits of nature and the national-romantic landscape with the popular, global exuberance of air guitar performance. Huutajat, meanwhile, is the most internationally recognised cultural phenomenon to emerge from Oulu, alongside the Air Guitar World Championships. And who else would defend The Chalice of Poetry with the sword of words against invisible guitars, if not Huutajat?” says artistic director Jukka Takalo.
Photographs: Mikko Törmänen and Aki-Pekka Sinikoski
Singing will once again fill the streets and cafés of Oulu on the last Friday of August. Choir Day showcases high-quality choral and ensemble singing from the Oulu region while bringing joy and vibrancy to the city.
This year, Choir Day is connected to Oulu August Festivals' Delta Life event, taking place around Pokkisenväylä from August 27 to 29. The event is surrounded by pre- and after-parties in Oulu’s restaurants and cafés. Choir Day is part of the pre-events on Friday, August 28.
All kinds and sizes of choirs and vocal groups from the Oulu region, nearby municipalities, or even farther away are welcome to participate. The event begins in the afternoon and continues into the evening. Performances will take place in venues such as cafés, restaurants, bars, and terraces around the city. Groups may request between one and four performances of approximately 20 minutes each. You can register by filling out a Google Forms registration form by 7 May (the form is in Finnish).
The event is part of the Oulu2026 cultural programme.
For more information:
Kristian Heberg, kristian.heberg(at)gmail.com
Laura Siitonen, laura(at)oulunjuhlaviikot.fi, p. 041 313 5341
Five-year-old Mikko Makkonen had decided he wanted to take ballet classes. The mystery is where a small boy from Eastern Finland got the idea. In a working-class family in a small town of Varkaus, there were hardly any role models for the disciplined art of dance. Fortunately, there happened to be a ballet school in his hometown, and that is where Makkonen’s first dance steps began.
Now 37, Makkonen’s role as choreographic director of the Delta Life show is to transform a script by Jukka Takalo into a multidisciplinary experience. The 45-minute production features music, circus arts and air guitar performance, as well as Makkonen’s own art form, dance. The piece includes seven professional dancers and a group of dance students.
For Makkonen, dance is a channel of expression that transcends language barriers and is fundamentally equal. However, dance is not usually regarded as a simple art form. He encourages audiences to watch and experience dance without the traditional expectation of a plot or narrative.
“Physicality connects people. We all have our own embodied experience through which we can approach watching or performing dance.”
Everyday actions – the movement of thumbs on a game controller or mobile phone, or the flow of crowds along pavements – can, for example, become dance. For Makkonen, embodiment and opening up the world of senses are essential.
“What dance is, is highly subjective – something each person defines for themselves. In the digital age, I want to restore embodied experience. We are not just floating heads on a screen.”
Delta Life engages all the senses
According to Makkonen, Delta Life offers, in addition to physicality and movement, a range of elements for audiences to enjoy.
“One person might reflect on the overall whole, another might listen as if at a concert and enjoy a new composition and its music, while someone else marvels at the visuality or appreciates the dance and circus. Delta Life is something that has never been experienced before. At the birthplace of Oulu, we celebrate the environment and culture.”
Makkonen was invited to join the project as director-choreographer in early 2025. In February 2026, six months before the event, the atmosphere is both excited and tense. A great deal is happening. Solutions are being sought in the stage structures, for example regarding the rigging of circus equipment in exceptional conditions. After the planning phase, concrete work with the performers can properly begin. The soundscape is taking shape, musicians are recording in studios, and the dancers will soon move into rehearsal spaces.
“Art is collaboration – creative, human work between people. You have to allow the process to take its turns. Ultimately, during production week on site, it all materialises.”
A unique project that fosters growth
In such a multifaceted project, there have inevitably been surprises and complexities, but Makkonen knew what he was committing to.
“From the moment I was invited, the scale and site-specific nature of Delta Life were clear – and they have proven true. The details have emerged gradually. This is a unique whole that requires extremely precise production and technical work, as well as aligning the artistic content with the conditions. The stage is multi-layered and has its own particularities.”
Makkonen also recognises a personal growth curve within the project, as well as a new, stronger connection to Oulu.
The project brings together professionals from different fields, each with their own area of responsibility: artistic direction, music, lighting, video, set design, costume design, stage construction and production processes, in addition to the performers themselves. Makkonen sees his own role as enabling the work of others, although decisions must sometimes be made.
“Based on the script, we have moved forward through dialogue and exchange. A positive surprise has been the good energy and healthy working culture within this multidisciplinary and cross-regional collaboration.”
Mikko Makkonen
- Master of Dance, dance teacher
- Performer, teacher and choreographer; also active in positions of trust within the dance sector
- Passionate fly fisher, basketball enthusiast and outdoor explorer
- Background in breakdance and street dance styles
- 2020–2024: Co-artistic and production director of Dance Theatre Minimi in Kuopio
- Guest dancer with the Finnish National Ballet, Tero Saarinen Company, Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth, contemporary dance company Kinetic Orchestra and Pori Dance Company
- Choreographic work, among others, at Kuopio City Theatre, Dance Theatre Minimi and Zodiak – Centre for New Dance
Come with us to the bottom of the river, inside a power plant that roars loudly. In this four-part podcast, audio describer Anu Aaltonen guides you through the concrete halls of the Pyhäkoski hydroelectric power plant, where creatures glowing in the dark sing through their saxophones. Pyhäkoski immerses you in a world of art and industrialism that you cannot otherwise see or experience. Put on your helmet and descend into the darkness.
Pyhäkoski is based on the Northern Opera Company’s Pyhäkoski – an experimental opera with saxophone quartet and electronics – which will be performed in August 2026 at the Pyhäkoski hydroelectric power plant in Muhos. The performance is part of the Delta Life project and Oulu2026 cultural program. Because the physical performance environment is full of obstacles – stairs, cramped spaces, and noise – the work has been turned into a four-part radio drama series (spoken in Finnish, English subtitles available). Its aim is to bring a magical art experience within everyone’s reach, regardless of time, place, or physical limitations.
An experimental opera set in the depths becomes an immersive auditory journey
In this audio experience, Finland’s leading audio describer, Anu Aaltonen, guides the listener through the dim corridors and narrow stairways of a power plant—descending deep into concrete vaults and the surreal world beneath the river. The work is so evocative it leaves even the most eloquent professional speechless.
“I’m at a loss for words,” says Aaltonen as she enters a massive vaulted hall, where the sound of saxophones blends with the constant hum of the turbines.
This audio drama is more than just a recording; it is a standalone work where skillful dramatization and creator interviews reveal new layers of the opera. It is designed for listeners with visual impairments, as well as anyone captivated by experimental art or the history of hydroelectric power.
Advancing Accessibility in the Arts
This podcast was developed as part of the Oulu Cultural Events Association’s accessibility initiative. In spring 2025, the performance environment was evaluated alongside accessibility expert Marko Jääskeläinen; these insights led to the creation of a dedicated, creative digital version of the work.
The Pyhäkoski piece explores the power plant’s impact on the local community, the river, and the surrounding environment. It questions how the obstruction of migratory paths feels to the fish, or what officials are calculating at their desks, while ethereal, glowing figures sing through their saxophones from the depths of the river. Who truly remembers the taming of a wild river?
Performances and podcast
- Live performances of the work will be held in August 2026 as part of the European Capital of Culture Oulu2026 program. For more information about the performance, visit the Northern Opera Company website.
- Listen to the four-part Pyhäkoski on the Pohjoinen kulttuurivirta website. Available with English subtitles.
The member festivals of Oulu August Festivals will create a truly European August of experiences in 2026 by being part of the European Capital of Culture programme. The summer culminates in the Delta Life grand finale weekend, which invites the whole world to pause the wheel of time at the birthplace of Oulu.
Oulu August Festivals in the European Capital of Culture year:
- Elojazz (30 July–1 August) brings a New Orleans–style jazz street to the city together with Oulu2026.
- Oulunsalo Soi Chamber Music Festival (5–9 August) resounds with Eurovision! High quality with a low threshold.
- Muusajuhlat Literature Festival (19–23 August) explores what it means to be European and how its conscious or unconscious influence shapes both Finnish and international literature.
- Oulu Arts' Night transforms into Oulu No Arts Day (20 August), which extends throughout the weekend as the Delta Art Days (21–23 August). The Oulu No Arts Day prompts reflection on what life would be without art, while the Delta Art Days present a cavalcade of creativity and tune the city for the following week’s Delta Life grand finale.
- Air Guitar World Championships are part of the Delta Life grand finale. On the Delta Stage, at the birthplace of the City of Oulu, the greatest air guitar show of all time will unfold. The first final round takes place on Friday, 28 August, and the second on Saturday, 29 August, when the world champion will be crowned.
- Oulu Music Video Festival (27–30 August) launches a new European music video competition. Entries for the international competition open at the end of 2025, and for the national competition at the beginning of 2026.
- Premiere on 27 August: Faravid’s Land, a new immersive work created by Flow Productions and Oulu Theatre.
- Delta Life Grand Finale (27–29 August) crowns Oulu August Festivals. As the sun sets on the Delta Stage, at the birthplace of Oulu, global influences meet the life of the Oulujoki River. A carnival-like yet deeply moving, all-encompassing cultural experience awaits – free of charge.
The piece will be composed for string quartet, electric guitar, big band and male choir.
Marzi Nyman will compose the music for the culminating event of the Delta Life project, part of Oulu August Festivals 2026.
“Multi-talented Marzi Nyman is capable of weaving together jazz, a lyrical national romantic musical language, and the carnival spirit that embodies the universal love of air guitar,” says Delta Life’s Artistic Director Jukka Takalo about the choice of composer.
The Delta Life Celebration Weekend on 28–29 August 2026 is one of the highlights of the European Capital of Culture year. The event stage will be built on water, at Oulu’s place of origin, in an amphitheatre-like natural setting—nature’s own opera house. Entry will be free for the audience.
The European Capital of Culture aims to inspire the creation of new ideas. The Delta Life stage production is a local fusion of influences ranging from the hills of Kainuu to jazz and international flavours. At the heart of the experience lies the music, performed by an exceptional lineup of artists including Mieskuoro Huutajat (Screaming Men's Choir), the string quartet Meta4, and the Oulu All Star Big Band led by Jukka Eskola. Choir conductor Petri Sirviö will compose a dedicated section for Mieskuoro Huutajat.
In the weekend’s show, Marzi Nyman’s role will be to lead the air guitar forces of the Western world in an attempt to seize the source of all knowledge—the modern-day Sampo and Holy Grail: the Cup of Word and Poetry.
The commissioned composition is part of the long-term Delta Life project by the Oulu August Festivals, culminating at the end of August 2026. Delta Life is united by water routes and their impact on human life—past, present and future. The concept emphasises encounters, innovation, and making art visible.
Since 2021, Delta Life art and events have taken place along waterways. In 2026, this artistic substance will be showcased during Oulu August Festivals and the Delta Life Celebration Weekend. The multidisciplinary and cross-artform Delta Life is produced in collaboration with numerous partners, ranging from local village communities to European metropolises.
Teosto has granted support for the composition. The extensive Delta Life programme within Oulu August Festivals has been funded by the Oulu Cultural Foundation, the Ministry of Education and Culture (OKM), the North Ostrobothnia Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre), the Regional Council of North Ostrobothnia, as well as municipalities and businesses in the region.
The Delta Life project, highlighted in the main programme of the Oulu European Capital of Culture year, will culminate in a celebratory weekend on August 28–29, 2026. One of the largest public events in 2026 showcases a multidisciplinary, free of charge outdoor spectacle at Oulu's birthplace at the end of Oulu August Festivals.
"Pokkisenväylä is an overlooked urban space at Oulu's birthplace, a historical riverbed shaped by land uplift, right in the heart of historic Oulu. The natural amphitheater between the Tähtitorni Café and the Radisson Blu hotel can host up to 10,000 spectators," explains Jukka Takalo, the artistic director of Delta Life.
The grand finale is envisioned as a carnival for everyone, where the wheel of time slows down, and the world is saved through joy and cooperation. Mythical spirits inspire participants to slow down time together, blending Finnish cultural heritage with European classical elements – earth, water, air, and fire – giving rise to something new.
"A multimedia show on a floating stage on water connects audiences globally through a uniquely Oulu tradition: air guitar playing. From the Great Wall of China to the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, and the Statue of Liberty, people worldwide will play air guitar together for world peace," Takalo elaborates.
Before this celebratory weekend, Delta Life will explore the life and future of waterways through various cultural events. Collaborating with Oulu August Festivals and numerous partners, Delta Life fosters regional and international artistic dialogue.
Oulu was chosen as the European Capital of Culture on June 2, 2021, and Delta Life's first event, Journey to Maakinen Martinniemi, took place the following week on the Kiiminki River. Since then, events of various scales have been organized along the Iijoki, Kiiminkjoki, and Oulujoki rivers, from the delta to the headwaters. Delta Life has even visited Kaunas, Lithuania, another European Capital of Culture, in May 2022.
This year, Delta Life will feature young artists, highlight regional culture and its creators through the Northern Cultural Stream channel, and advance accessibility in cultural events.
Upcoming events will be listed on the Delta Life event calendar.
For event highlights, personal interviews, and cultural content, follow the Northern Cultural Stream channel.
More information is available at www.deltalife.fi
Six young artists have been selected for the documentary series "Artists Arise in the Delta" for the years 2024-2026. As part of Oulu August Festivals’ Delta Life project, the series follows the artists' journey towards Oulu 2026 European Capital of Culture year. The documentary series features Ida Remsu, Marianne Kauppila, and Duo Emilia and Joonatan from Oulu, Niilo Korsulainen, originally from Oulu but studying in Helsinki, and Mandi Koskela from Ranua. The age range of the artists is 14–28 years.
Ida Remsu, a dancer and dance teacher student studying at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences, describes her participation in the series as follows: "It's interesting to see what kind of traces I, as an artist, will leave during this project, and which ones will be washed away with the waves. However, on this shoreline, I intend to dance and, like the waves, create a momentary joy for those watching."
Representing dance art is also Mandi Koskela, a pole dancer from Ranua, who is a two-time world champion in the Pole Sport junior A category. "It's so great to be involved in such a project! I'm looking forward to all the new and wonderful things!"
Musical siblings Joonatan and Emilia Lappalainen are featured in the documentary series as a duo. Joonatan studies classical percussions and drum set at the Oulu Conservatory, while Emilia studies violin and singing at the Oulu Conservatory and in the youth education program at the Sibelius Academy. "It will be interesting to look back and see what has been done, and also to give other people the opportunity to see what the life of a young aspiring artist is like," says Emilia Lappalainen.
Niilo Korsulainen, a composer of art music, is currently studying music theory at the Sibelius Academy. "At best, melodies are like a gateway to another world for me, somewhere I usually only reach in dreams, or to those magical, somehow unreal moments that can be experienced, for example, on a summer night in the midst of nature," Korsulainen describes his relationship with art music.
According to visual artist Marianne Kauppila, who specializes in mural art, murals have the power to unite communities and visually enhance urban spaces. "I am fascinated by the idea of how huge works of art transform spaces, tell stories, and reflect the spirit of the times, and at best, depict the values and life of their location, whether it's a public urban space, office space, or private hangout."
The artists' journey is followed on the social media channels and the website of the Northern Cultural Stream. The entire project will be condensed into a series of short documentaries, which will be released in the summer of 2026. The project will culminate in the artists’ performances or exhibitions in the Oulujoki River Delta area during Oulu August Festivals in 2026.
