20.5.2025
See you at the Choir Forum!
The Choir Forum is a place to meet festival performers and to learn about the backgrounds and values underlying their repertoire. Participants include the vocal ensembles Les Itinérantes, Vokalensemblen VoNo and Juurakko, the Choirs for Ecocide Law project and the productions Selkie and Yöpuolia.
Laulumaistiaisia maailmalta [Sampling songs from around the world] is a series of sessions for exploring songs from Croatia, Tanzania and the Middle East, led by Mia Reba, Kasheshi Makena and Ali Saad. Join us in the Winter Garden at Tampere Hall, a secluded space for learning and sampling. The session each day is preceded by an interview by Laura Vallenius of the Ääniystävä podcast, introducing the leader of the session.
Singalong moments at the Choir Forum are led by veteran choir conductor Marjukka Riihimäki, who warms up the festival audience for the Festival’s 50th anniversary Grand Sing, and by the instructor of the Vocal Youth course, Rohan Poldervaart. Musician, multi-instrumentalist and creativity coach Mikko Heikinpoika invites the audience to explore their own voices with no pressure of performance.
Brief performances are given by the Alto Choir consisting only of low female voices, the K65 choir (hits of the 60s sung by people who were young in the 60s), 4T from Latvia and Octavians from Germany that are competing in the Contest for Vocal Ensembles, and Chorus Review participant Gospel Helsinki. The Sing & Shine choirs are also there to present their Kaunis minä [Beautiful me] multi-discipline production in song and story.
The Finnish Music Council hosts a panel discussion about choirs as a resource for local culture. The panel members are Jussi Chydenius, Paavo Hyökki, Sanna Salminen, Kirsi Kaunismäki-Suhonen and Risto Kupari. Recent research findings on how group voice coaching can improve the wellbeing of young people is presented by Mari Koistinen. Choir conductor training opportunities are introduced by Markus Yli-Jokipii, a talk on gender equality in choirs is given by Julia Lainema and advice on international networking is provided by Sonja Greiner, Secretary General of the European Choral Association.
The Choir Forum also hosts choral organisations such as Musisoiva, the Puhtaasti project and MunKuoro/MinKör alongside music publishers Sulasol, Naiskuoroliitto, Canto-kustannus and Edition Tilli.
The Choir Forum programme is distributed over three days, from Thursday to Saturday, 12-14 June. On Sunday 15 June, sheet music sales continue, and in case of rain the Choir Picnic migrates from Sorsapuisto park to the Choir Forum.
Daily programme in English: