Oulainen Music Week celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The theme, Welcome Home, brings artists who have gone out into the world back to Oulainen and offers audiences a diverse programme of music and other art forms.
The programme brings together classics, new works and artists with roots in Oulainen or the surrounding region. Ida Elina’s Echoes of the Kalevala combines kantele, vocals and the internationally acclaimed Under the Northern Skies into a cinematic concert experience together with the Haapavesi Chamber Orchestra (HAKO). The programme also features Mozart’s Requiem, dance performances and a number of musicians originally from Oulainen.
Audiences are invited to encounter a wider range of art forms than ever before
In November, a multidisciplinary weekend will be built around Oulainen Music Week, bringing together not only music but also dance, visual art, environmental art, media art and fire art. The programme strongly reflects Oulainen’s connection to the wider world.
The weekend opens with dance as choreographer Milla Koistinen, originally from Oulainen and Haapavesi and now working in Berlin and Helsinki, brings the installation-like stage work In the Waning Light III to Soihtula together with sound designer Paul Valikoski.
Koistinen’s works have been presented widely in Finland and internationally, and she has worked in Berlin for more than 15 years.
In the Waning Light III creates a space where, as in nature, the audience can find paths towards concentration, slowing down and opening up the senses. The work explores what aspects of nature and embodied observation can be brought into a theatre space. Through an ornithological perspective, the work addresses themes of departure, disappearance and letting go found in nature.
The weekend will also feature the unveiling of Oulainen’s work as part of the Northern Landscape environmental art programme.
Part of the Oulu2026 programme, Northern Landscape brings site-specific works to different locations across Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, from Kuusamo to Hailuoto. Oulainen’s city residency programme Sykli is one of eight residency organisations selected for the project.
The Oulainen work has been created by artists Juha Allan Ekholm and Jussi Valtakari. The outdoor installation is located along the walking route by the Pyhäjoki River, opposite Ilkka-Juhani Takalo-Eskola’s World’s Reserve Pole (Maailman varanapa). Together, the works will begin to form an environmental art park in Oulainen.
The Northern Landscape project is coordinated by the art centre KulttuuriKauppila and implemented by residency organisations belonging to the Northern AiR network. The project has received funding from the Oulu2026 Foundation.
Works by Lotta Nevanperä featured in the anniversary visual identity and exhibition
The visual identity of Oulainen Music Week’s 40th anniversary once again features works by Oulainen-based visual artist Lotta Nevanperä. In the illustrations, the anniversary and Oulu2026 open up into a broader perspective – all roads lead to Oulainen.
Nevanperä is also the invited artist at KoronaGalleria. The Trees Are Full of Children (Puut ovat täynnä lapsia) is a multidisciplinary exhibition based on the poetry and art book by Toni Lahtinen and Nevanperä.
The works explore the experiences of a person living with Alzheimer’s disease, memories, changes in speech and perception, and the significance of the forest as a place of refuge. The exhibition combines visual art, poetry, music and book art. It can be experienced throughout November.
In addition to Nevanperä and Lahtinen, the working group includes musician Risto Ylihärsilä and writer and book artist Antti Nylén.
Joki palaa brings light and fire to the river landscape
This year, the Joki palaa event, organised by Oulaisten Kulttuurin Tuki ry, is connected with Oulainen Music Week. On Saturday 7 November, the main event taking place along the river landscape in central Oulainen brings together light art, fire, dance, media art, music and people.
At the heart of the event is the idea of the light that exists within each person and is passed from one person to another – like a current. In the midst of the dark season, the event highlights community and contrasts: light and darkness, fire and water.
Highlights of the Joki palaa programme
TRIÁLOGO: Myllyn Muisti
4.00–8.30 pm, Maunula Mill
This audiovisual work is a tribute to the more than 120-year-old Maunula Mill. Flamenco singer Anna Murtola’s voice, sounds recorded at the mill and transformed into music by Josu Mämmi, and Janne-Pekka Manninen’s video art bring the history of the mill and the memories that have lived there to life.
The work is based on the TRIÁLOGO live music performance created at Maunula Mill in summer 2026.
Joki palaa! – Fire Performance
8.00–8.30 pm, by the Oulaistenkoski rapids
The evening culminates in a fire performance by KorentoArt’s Piia Henttinen and Oulainen-born Antti-Jussi Kortesoja, combining fire, dance, sound and texts by local writers. Kortesoja’s sound work leads the audience to the meeting point of water and fire, with local performers also taking part in the collectively created work.
Anniversary Gala brings together musicians with roots in Oulainen
The anniversary gala on 15 November brings together musicians originally from Oulainen who have achieved success in recent years.
Oulainen has developed many opportunities for children and young people to pursue music as a hobby, with the possibility of continuing towards professional music if desired. For everyone invited to perform at the anniversary gala, their musical journey began in their home town. Oulainen Music Week has also been familiar to them since their school years.
Now, musicians who have travelled across Finland and around the world return to perform together on one stage.
Performing at the Anniversary Gala:
Lotta Hirvilammi, flute
Ida Elina, kantele
Sanna Korpi, soprano
Jemina Niemelä, piano
Katri Porkka, clarinet
Juho Punkeri, tenor
Antti Tikkanen, violin
Välke, conducted by Tapani Tirilä
The Anniversary Gala is hosted by Tuomas Niemelä, announcer at Yle Radio 1.
Welcome Home
Oulainen Music Week’s anniversary brings together local roots, artists who have ventured out into the world, and a wide range of art forms. At the same time, it shows how someone can set out for the world from a small town – and how the world can lead them back home.
Oulainen Music Week’s 40th anniversary is part of the programme of Oulu2026, the European Capital of Culture year.
Further information
oulaistenmusiikkiviikot.fi/ohjelma
Anna Koivukangas, Cultural Producer
Tel. +358 44 479 3268
