A Signature in Sound

This year at Oulunsalo Soi, the audience will also get to enjoy concerts in the stunning setting of the Hupisaari Open-Air Theatre, as the Shostakovich day will be crowned with a collaborative concert with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. German viola superstar Nils Mönkemeyer will take on the dual role of leader and soloist.

Exactly fifty years after his death, Dmitri Shostakovich is remembered as the voice of conscience for the Soviet people. Despite the ever-present pressure of political oversight, he succeeded in composing dozens of universally acclaimed masterpieces. Among them is his eighth string quartet – a mournful meditation on despair and destruction, written in memory of the bombed city of Dresden. Conductor Rudolf Barshai later created an orchestral arrangement of the work, which Shostakovich himself praised as being even better than the original.

Shostakovich’s final composition was a sonata for viola and piano, of which we will hear a version for viola and string orchestra. The recent orchestral work of Oulu-born composer Lauri Marjakangas circles around the eternal questions of life and existence.

Nils Mönkenmeyer, viola and lead
Oulu Sinfonia

Programme

Dmitri Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a
arr. Rudolf Barshai

Largo

Allegro molto

Allegretto

Largo

Largo

Lauri Marjakangas: Death Circles Around (2025)
I.

Intermission

Dmitri Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and String Orchestra, Op. 147
arr. Vladimir Mendelssohn

Moderato

Allegretto

Adagio

Unlike other festival concerts, tickets are also available at the Oulu Music Centre.

In co-operation with: Oulu Sinfonia