Throughout 2015, Finlandia Foundation National joined in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

Sibelius supported the founding of FFN in 1953, and was its first Patron. The letter from Sibelius accepting that role appears below.

A Sibelius 150 Jubilee Committee, chaired by FFN Trustee Marja Kaisla, worked throughout the year to encourage FFN chapters to plan a range of celebrations across the U.S. FFN made funding available to assist chapters with their Sibelius programming. The committee is also surveyed symphony orchestras and compiled a Sibelius 150 Jubilee calendar of concerts and other programs and events in 2015.

In addition, a grant from the Finnish Ministry of Education enabled FFN to present concerts and programming related to Sibelius and other aspects of Finnish music and culture in the U.S. in 2015. The funds were awarded to FFN through Suomi Seura/Finland Society, Helsinki.

The FFN Sibelius 150 Jubilee was separate from but complemented the extensive celebration in Finland.

Sinikka Garcia of the Finnish American Club of Tucson has written a series of stories about the life of Sibelius and compiled them into a document available as a PDF; click here to read “Janne Sibelius 1865-1957.”

The Finnish American Club of Tucson hosted cellist Jussi Makkonen and pianist Ruusamari Teppo, great-great granddaughter of Sibelius in the “Jewels of Sibelius” concert in September of 2015. The artists were interviewed and performed on KGUN-TV 9 program.

Click here for the program on YouTube.

Click here to download a PDF of the FFN brochure about Sibelius 150 Jubilee.

SIBELIUS AND NATURE

The natural world powerfully influenced Sibelius and his work. Click here for an article that first appeared in the magazine “Look at Finland,” and was reproduced in the July 1976 Finlandia Foundation newsletter.