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Finlandia Prize 2007 to Hannu Väisänen

Hannu Väisänen, who was born in Oulu, currently lives in France. Besides as an author, he works as a graphic artist and colourist painter. In November Väisänen was also awarded the State Prize for art (Taiteen valtionpalkinto) worth 15,000 euros.

Finlandia Junior
Last Thursday (29.11) the Finlandia Junior award for children's and youth literature was presented to Aino Havukainen (38) and Sami Toivonen (36) for their illustrated book Tatun ja Patun Suomi (literally 'Tatu's and Patu's Finland'). The book tells about the brothers Tatu and Patu from Outola (a place for strangers), where everything is different than in Finland. Together they discover what kind of country Finland is. The book has also been translated in Swedish (Det här är Finland) and English (This is Finland).

Related:

Shortlist for this year's Finlandia Prize announced

Nominations for Finlandia Junior award announced

New Finlandia prize for comics


Interview with Hannu Väisänen
– Books from Finland
Extract from Toiset Kengät ('The Other Shoes') in English – Books from Finland

Art by Hannu Väisänen – Galerie Anhava, Helsinki

Christmas Calendar with a.o. excerpts from Tatu and Patu – This is Finland – Kidzone Finland


Finlandia Prize
– Wikipedia

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Misc News

Near-record price for Finnish masterpiece at auction

Only two works by artist Helene Schjerfbeck (1862 – 1946) have fetched higher bids at auctions in Finland.

Järnefelt, one of Finland’s most prominent painters, painted Pyykkiranta in 1889 in the town of Keuruu. It depicts washerwomen by a lakeside. [photo]

The work was bought on Saturday by businessman and art collector Anders Wiklöf. It will be part of the extensive art collection at his summer residence Andersudde, south of Mariehamn, the capital of Finland's autonomous island region of Åland.

Wiklöf’s art collection, which contains some of the best Finnish and Swedish art from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is currently on display at the Amos Andersson Art Museum in Helsinki.

Photo of Pyykkiranta by Eero Järnefelt (Hagelstam)

Eero Järnefelt – Wikipedia
Artworks by Eero Järnefelt – Finnish National Gallery

Hagelstam Fine Art Auctioneers

Helene Schjerfbeck, a modernist observer of life – Virtual Finland
Artworks by Helene Schjerfbeck – Finnish National Gallery

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Misc News

The Boss IS coming to Helsinki

Bruce Springsteen has only been in Finland once before. In 2003 he played two sold out gigs at the same stadium in the capital in front of a record combined audience of 89,856, breaking the Finnish record of 87,000 set by Michael Jackson in 1997.

Bruce Springsteen is only one of the international mega stars that have recently been confirmed to play in Finland next year. Other recently announced big names include Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, Kylie Minogue, the Smashing Pumpkins and Angie Stone.

Also popular Swedish rock band Kent will return to Finland, this time for a mini-tour of four gigs. After their sold-out concert at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki last September, the group will now only perform outside the Finnish capital region at the end of January and the beginning of February: in Lahti (30.1), Tampere (31.1), Vaasa (1.2) and Oulu (2.2). Warming up for Kent will be Swedish electro band Familjen.

For more details on these and other concerts by foreign artists in Finland, check FREE!’s Coming to Finland list >>

Related:
Album review: Magic – Bruce Springsteen


Bruce Springsteen: official site | MySpace

Kent: official site | MySpace
Familjen: official site | MySpace

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Misc News

Kylie Minogue finally live in Finland

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Smashing Pumpkins coming to Finland

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More money to film production than producers demanded

The rest of the extra funds for the film industry will go to, among other things, the digitalization of small countryside cinemas and films for children.

In the previous proposal there was no extra money allocated to support domestically produced films, despite earlier suggestions by Wallin.

The over 10 million euros extra to directly benefit cultural, youth work and sports activities were freed up from the National Lottery profits. In the earlier proposal much of that money was reserved to partly cover rental expenses, paying off loans of cultural bodies and renovations (including the renovation of the National Theatre).

Funds to cover those real estate expenses will now have to be found elsewhere.

The Parliament will likely vote on the proposal on Friday.

Related:

Finnish film producers in protest: no new films

Film producers end the strike

 

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Misc News

Finnish festivals more popular in 2007

The festival drawing the largest amount of visitors this year was the Maritime Festival in Kotka. An estimated 300,000 people visited the Tall Ship Races and other events in the port town 130 km east of Helsinki.

The festival with the biggest number of paying visitors (almost 65,000) was the Helsinki Festival. With 264,376 visitors in total, it was the second biggest Finnish festival overall in 2007.

TOP 10 BIGGEST FESTIVALS* – OVERALL

 1. Kotka Maritime Festival – 300 000 visitors
 2. Helsinki Festival – 264 376
 3. Pori Jazz – 153 000
 4. Kaustinen Folk Music Festival – 121 000
 5. Tampere Theatre Festival – 76 000
 6. World Village Festival, Helsinki – 70 000
 7. Puistoblues, Järvenpää – 70 000
 8. Savonlinna Opera Festival – 68 753
 9. Provinssirock, Seinäjoki – 55 000
10. Imatra Big Band Festival – 52 000

*) Includes only festivals that are members of Finland Festivals
(Source: Finland Festivals)

TOP 10 FESTIVALS* – PAYING VISITORS

 1. Helsinki Festival – 64 845 paying visitors
 2. Savonlinna Opera Festival – 58 555
 3. Pori Jazz – 58 000
 4. Kaustinen Folk Music Festival – 41 000
 5. Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival – 32 436
 6. Orivesi Summer Festivals – 26 741
 7. Art Centre Salmela, Mäntyharju – 26 000
 8. Tampere Theatre Festival – 26 000
 9. Provinssirock, Seinäjoki – 21 500
10. Kotka Maritime Festival – 20 000

*) Includes only festivals that are members of Finland Festivals
(Source: Finland Festivals)

The statistics given above are only based on the amounts of visitors of member festivals of Finland Festivals. Big events like the Tango Festival in Seinäjoki (104,390 visitors in 2007), the Raumanmeri Midsummer Festival (about 90,000) and Ruisrock in Turku (65,000) are not included.

Finland Festivals

Tango Festival, Seinäjoki

Raumanmeri Midsummer Festival

Ruisrock

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Obie Trice gig cancelled


Obie Trice
– Official website
Obie Trice
– MySpace

RL Entertainment

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Turku officially European Capital of Culture 2011

Finnish Minister of Culture Stefan Wallin finds the decision a great honour for the City of Turku, for Finland and for Europe. “Turku is Finland’s oldest city, and a place from which culture originated and remains to this day. This is a great day for us all. It feels wonderful to be from Finland and, even more specifically, from Turku”, Wallin commented in Brussels.

Every year cities in two EU countries get the honour to carry the title of European Capital of Culture for one year, based on a system of rotation. This year’s European Capitals are the cities of Luxembourg and Sibiu (Romania).

Cultural capitals have been chosen since 1980. The cities are given the chance to showcase their cultural diversity and development and promote their cultural activities internationally.

The cities of Turku and Tallinn are planning close co-operation.

Celebration
On Tuesday (20.11) the City of Turku is organizing a big Turku On Fire celebration on the Aura River banks to thank the thousands of people who took part in the bidding process. From 6 p.m. there will be a big fire show with dozens of performers at the Theatre Bridge next to the Turku City Theatre.

The organizers are kindly asking the audience to gather on the western side of the river close to Pharmacy Museum and the Student Theatre.

Turku 2011

Tallinn 2011

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Shortlist for this year’s Finlandia Prize announced

Nominated for the Finlandia prize 2007 are:

Kohti [‘Towards’] by Juha Itkonen

Det har varit kallt i Madrid [‘It’s been cold in Madrid’] by Agneta Ara

Romeo ja Julia
[‘Romeo and Juliet‘] by Jari Järvelä

Lakanasiivet [‘(The) Bed sheet wings’] by Sirpa Kähkönen

Sakset [‘(The) Scissors’] by Laura Lindstedt

Toiset Kengät [‘The other shoes’] by Hannu Väisänen

Literature researcher Laura Lindstedt is the debutant on the short list. Hannu Väisänen is a well-known Finnish artist. Swedish-speaking Agneta Ara is a Finnish novelist and poet who earlier won the Runeberg Prize for literature. Sirpa Kähkönen is a novelist and translator who has written both books for children and young adults and historical novels.

Well-known Finnish writers Jari Järvela and Juha Itkonen have both been nominated for the Finlandia Prize before. Itkonen is also on the short list for the 2007 Finlandia Junior award (literature for children and young adults) for his book
Taikuri Into Kiemura.

The 3-person selection committee read a total of 94 works. The final receiver of the Finlandia Prize for fiction is this year chosen by cultural editor Kaisu Mikkola. The winner, who will also get a 26,000-euro award sum, will be announced on the 4th of  December.


Related:
Nominations for Finlandia Junior award announced

Finlandia Prize – Wikipedia

Categories
Misc News

Danish dancer next Artistic Director at National Ballet

The Board of Directors of the Finnish National Opera Foundation decided on the appointment on Wednesday (14.11), after it had proposed him for the job two weeks earlier. Also the personnel groups of the Finnish National Opera agreed unanimously with the nomination.

As Artistic Director, Greve will be responsible for the artistic planning and development of the classical ballet and modern dance programme of the FNB. He will also be in charge of the content and artistic policy of the Ballet.

The term of the current Artistic Director, Dinna Bjørn, ends at the end of July, 2008.

Related:
Danish dancer nominated for director post at National Ballet


Kenneth Greve in Etudes (Royal Danish Ballet)
– DR1/YouTube

Interview with Kenneth Greve – Ballet-Dance Magazine (May, 2006)

Finnish National Ballet (at the Finnish National Opera)
Press release about the nomination of Greve – Finnish National Opera (31.10.2007)

Danish Royal Ballet

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Second stadium concert Iron Maiden

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Misc News

Bon Jovi tickets on sale next Thursday

The last time Jon Bon Jovi and the rest of the group played in Finland was in 2000, in Turku and Helsinki.

The band’s greatest hits album Cross Road from 1994 is the third best selling foreign album in Finland, with over 125,000 copies sold.

Bon Jovi – official website
Bon Jovi – MySpace

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Misc News

Nominations for Finlandia Junior award announced

Nominated for the 2007 Finlandia Junior prize are:

> Tatun ja Patun Suomi (‘Tatu and Patu’s Finland‘) by Aino Havukainen & Sami Toivonen

> Taikuri Into Kiemura by Jukka Itkonen

> Filmi poikki (‘Film broken‘) by Hanna Marjut Marttila

> Herttuan hovissa – Elämää 1550-luvun Turussa (‘In the Duke’s Court – Life in the Turku of the 1550s‘) by Paula Moilanen & Kirsi Haapamäki

> Emilian päiväkirja – Supermarsu lentää Intiaan (‘Emily’s diary – Super Guinea Pig flies to India‘) by Paula Noronen

> Orava ja pääskynen (‘The squirrel and the swallow‘) by Maria Vuorio

The receiver of the prize, which comes with an award sum of 26,000 euros, will this year be chosen by Inkeri Näätsaari, the Director of the Turku City Library. The winner will be announced on November the 29th.

The Finlandia Junior award is one of three prestigious prizes awarded annually by the Finnish Book Foundation, the others being the Finlandia Award (Best novel, since 1984) and the Tieto-Finlandia (Best non-fiction book, since 1989).

The first ever book to win the Finlandia Junior was Gondwanan lapset (‘Children of Gondwana‘) by Iranian-born Finnish writer, documentary maker, director-producer and publisher Alexis Kouros, in 1997. Last year, the prize was awarded to Timo Parvela for his book Keinulauta (‘The seesaw‘).


Finlandia Prize
– Wikipedia

Categories
Misc News

Iron Maiden in Helsinki as part of biggest ever Nordic tour

Tickets for the Finnish part of the Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 08 will go on sale next Monday, the 12th of November, via Lippupalvelu.

Iron Maiden will release their double-DVD Live After Death in February (2008), as the band kicks off the Somewhere Back In Time world tour in Mumbai, India, on February 1st.  After that, the tour will take the metal legends to Australia, Japan, the United States and Latin America.

Trip back in time
The world tour will be a trip back in time, as the entire set list will consist of Maiden material from the 80’s. The stage design will feature elements from that decade as well, with a specific focus on the Powerslave era. Also the group’s mascot Eddie will return and be part of the show.

During the course of their careers, Iron Maiden has sold over 70 million albums worldwide, with sales of well over 500,000 copies in Finland.

The last time the group
played in Finland was in 2006, when the band
performed in front of more than 31,600 fans during three sold-out gigs.

Update:
Second stadium concert Iron Maiden


SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME World Tour 08

– Nordic leg of the tour

16 July – Stockholm Stadium, Stockholm (SWE)
18 July – Olympic Stadium, Helsinki
22 July – Lerkendalstadium, Trondheim (NOR)
24 July – Valle Hovin, Oslo (NOR)
26 July –  Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg (SWE)
27 July – Horsens Gods Bane Pladsen, Horsens (DK)


Iron Maiden
– official website

Iron Maiden
– MySpace