Lapland Chamber Orchestra  

Founded in 1972, Lapland Chamber Orchestra is the most northerly professional orchestra in the European Union. It is a regional orchestra based in the town of Rovaniemi and gives performances both in the Province of Lapland and all over the Arctic region and Finland.

The orchestra has received a new concert hall and working rooms in the Culture House Korundi where the Rovaniemi Art Museum is also situated. They are often invited to such festivals as the Tampere Biennale, Viitasaari Time of Music, the Kaustinen Chamber Music Week, the North Norway Festival and the Korsholm Music Festival and have appeared in the Classics Series of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Lapland Chamber Orchestra frequently gives the Finnish premieres of works by composers of all nationalities and eras and the world premieres of music by many leading contemporary composers (such as Aulis Sallinen, Kalevi Aho, Pehr Henrik Nordgren and Jószef Sári).

Lapland Chamber Orchestra has been awarded distinctions by Finland’s TV1 (1998) and the Arts Council of Lapland (2000), and artistic director John Storgårds was the recipient of the culture prize of Rovaniemi and its rural district in 2000. TV1 also awarded its Vuoden Valopilkku prize for 2003 to the Luosto Symphony by Kalevi Aho premiered on Luosto Fell by Lapland Chamber Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE chose Kalevi Aho’s Rituals recording as Record of the Year 2009.