Sibbe Live!: Music of Love and the Sea

Standard price 15€ + order fee (from 1,50 € + 0,65 % of the order)

Students/pensioners/children 12€ + order fee (from 1,50 € + 0,65 % of the order)

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Annukka Kuivisto, soprano
Jaana Luuppala, piano
Aboa Quartet

Programme:

Ernest Chausson: Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer op. 19 (arr. Franck Villard)
I La Fleur des eaux
II Interlude
III La Mort de l’amour

Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet nr. 1 C minor op. 15
I Allegro molto moderato
II Scherzo: Allegro vivo
III Adagio
IV Allegro molto

Ernest Chausson’s (1855–1899) Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer, Op. 19 (Poem of Love and the Sea), is a gem of French Romanticism—a song cycle for soprano or mezzo-soprano and orchestra, composed between 1882 and 1892. The work is based on poems by Maurice Bouchor, which explore the mystical connection between love and the sea. The three-part cycle—La Fleur des eaux (The Flower of the Waters), Interlude, and La Mort de l’amour (The Death of Love)—guides the listener from passionate love to its fading and eventual longing. Chausson’s impressionistic musical language, rich harmonies, and orchestration that mirrors the waves of the sea create a captivating and emotionally profound experience.

In this concert, the approximately half-hour work will be performed in a transcription by Franck Villard for voice, string quartet, and piano. Villard’s adaptation seeks to honor the unique spirit of the original composition, preserving its symphonic breadth while bringing out the intimacy of French melody.

“Chausson’s song cycle made a lasting impression on me, and I’ve wanted to perform it for a long time,” says soprano Annukka Kuivisto. “A few years ago, I came across this transcription for chamber ensemble, and we began planning a performance together with pianist Jaana Luuppala and the Aboa Quartet. Our long-standing plan will finally come to life in autumn 2025, when we premiere the work in the excellent concert hall of the Sibelius Museum in Turku. It will also be the Finnish premiere of Franck Villard’s transcription.”

Gabriel Fauré’s (1845–1924) Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15, is one of the French composer’s masterpieces. Composed between 1876 and 1879 for violin, viola, cello, and piano, the four-movement work—Allegro molto moderato, Scherzo: Allegro vivo, Adagio, and Allegro molto—reflects Fauré’s sensitive and melodic style, blending Romantic passion with impressionistic elegance. The dark hues of C minor and the dramatic contrasts give the work deep emotional weight, while its structure remains clear and balanced. The slow third movement is especially noted for its lyrical beauty. Loved in the chamber music repertoire, the quartet is celebrated for its expressiveness and virtuosic character.

The Aboa Quartet has performed this piece in various contexts over the years, including a tour in China in 2018. Violist Harri Sippel of the Aboa Quartet describes the work as “an absolute gem of the piano quartet repertoire, and it is a pleasure to perform it once again—this time at the Sibelius Museum in Turku.”

Annukka Kuivisto is an opera and concert singer from Turku, whose voice is at its best in dramatic soprano repertoire. She graduated as a vocal pedagogue from Turku University of Applied Sciences (2007) and as a Master of Arts (opera diploma, Mgr.Art.) from the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia (2013), where she studied under Professor Eva Blahová. Kuivisto has performed at the Turku Opera, the Naantali and Turku Music Festivals, with several choirs and orchestras (including the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and the Baroque Orchestras of Turku and Tallinn), and as a soloist in church music works. In addition to Finland, she has given concert performances in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Austria. Recently, Annukka Kuivisto has specialized in performing song cycles and chamber music arrangements of vocal music. Her most recent opera roles include the title role in Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica and the woman in Francis Poulenc’s monologue opera La voix humaine. In 2024, Kuivisto graduated with a Master of Arts (FM) degree from the University of Turku in musicology, where she specialized in performance and musicology research. She works as a singing teacher in Southwest Finland.

Jaana Luuppala studied piano at the Turku Conservatory and continued her studies at the Sibelius Academy. Since graduating, she has worked as a piano teacher and lecturer at the Turku Region Music Institute and, since 2007, at the Turku Conservatory. Luuppala has also served as principal of the Arkipelag Music Institute and the Rauma Music Institute. She has experience in music production from the Mänttä Music Festival, where Luuppala was the chief producer from 2014 to 2019. In addition, he currently sits on the board of the Mänttä Music Festival Support Association. Luuppala also works as an accompanist at the Turku University of Applied Sciences Arts Academy and has performed as a musician in various ensembles over the years, most recently in the plays Sibelius, Immortal (2018) and Suurenmoista (2019) and the melodrama Kuoleva Sisar (2021).

ABOA-KVARTETTI

Juha-Pekka Vikman, 1. violin
Maija Kontunen, 2. violin
Harri Sippel, viola
Timo Hanhinen, cello

The Aboa Quartet was formed in the 1980s from the ranks of the Turku Ensemble chamber music association. For two decades, the quartet performed extensively in Finland, in several European cities, in Russia, and in the British Isles. In London and Cambridge, the Aboa Quartet also frequently rehearsed for their concerts under the guidance of the London-based Alberni Quartet. The Aboa Quartet’s repertoire ranged from Viennese classics to more recent string quartet music. In collaboration with the Sibelius Museum, the quartet performed all 14 of Dmitri Shostakovich’s string quartets in six concerts. Interdisciplinary projects were also part of the Aboa Quartet’s activities. All of the quartet’s musicians are versatile musicians who have worked in various areas of musical life. The Aboa Quartet’s active career came to an end in the early 2000s as new and diverse challenges beckoned the quartet’s musicians. In the spring of 2023, the Aboa Quartet had the opportunity to reunite for a “new beginning” and has begun working on future concerts.

Juha-Pekka Vikman began playing the violin at the age of eight as a student of Holger Moranti. He continued his studies at the Turku Conservatory and later at the Sibelius Academy under Professor Tuomas Haapanen. Vikman has supplemented his studies with numerous master classes and studied chamber music with the Amadeus and Alberni quartets, among others. In 1977, he won third prize in the Kuopio Violin Competition. Juha-Pekka Vikman has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Finland and as a chamber musician in Finland and abroad. He has also played in the Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra. Until 2024, Vikman served as the first concertmaster of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he took over from the Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is also a member of the Turku Ensemble and the Finnish Chamber Orchestra and plays first violin in the Aboa String Quartet.

Maija Kontunen studied at the Sibelius Academy, where she gave her debut concert in 1984. She continued her studies at the Vienna Conservatory and in the Netherlands. Maija plays in various Finnish chamber ensembles and orchestras of different sizes. She has made numerous recordings for Yleisradio, including quartet and trio ensembles, and played in the Radio Symphony Orchestra until 2000 and continues to play as second concertmaster of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. She is one of the founders of Turun Vanha Musiikki ry.

Harri Sippel studied viola at the Turku Conservatory and the Sibelius Academy, graduating with a Master of Music degree in 1987. Sippel has performed as a viola soloist, chamber musician, and in his own recital concerts. As the viola player of the Aboa Quartet, he has given concerts in Finland, London, Cambridge, Bratislava, and St. Petersburg, among other places. In 2018, Sippel performed in China as a member of the Nordic Light Piano Quartet. He is a founding member and current chair of the Turku Ensemble chamber music group and has performed with them since 1984. After serving for several years as principal violist with the Turku City Orchestra, Sippel became a lecturer in viola at the Turku Conservatory, where he continues to teach viola on an hourly basis. He also teaches at Turku University of Applied Sciences. Sippel is a founding member of the Iitti Music Festival, where he also served as executive director from 2002 to 2014. Harri Sippel founded the Iitti Music Festival Association and a national music course organized in collaboration with the Perheniemi Institute, and has been responsible for its planning and implementation as its director since 2004.

Cellist Timo Hanhinen studied in Paris and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he graduated in 1976. Hanhinen has performed extensively as both a soloist and chamber musician, including as a member of the Turku Ensemble and the Aboa Quartet. He was awarded the City of Turku Art Prize in 1996. Timo Hanhinen won the Turku Cello Competition in 1972 and the following year he was also awarded a prize at the Paris Cello Competition. He worked as a senior lecturer at the Turku Academy of Arts and taught cello at the Sibelius Academy. He worked as a university lecturer at the Turku Academy of Arts and taught cello at the Sibelius Academy.