Sibelius Songs and Melodramas: Phantoms, Visions, Siren Voices by Sibelius, -tól (2022/2022), Milton Court Concert Hall, London, United Kingdom

“I believe that music alone – that is to say, absolute music – cannot by itself satisfy” wrote Jean Sibelius and his music is engaged in a continual dialogue with other artforms: poetry, drama and the folklore of northern Europe. At the start of our Total Immersion day, musicians from the Guildhall School perform Sibelius’s songs and melodramas – still under-appreciated in the English-speaking world. We’ll hear songs and poems spanning three decades of creativity: tales of nature, of supernatural encounters and of love, sung in both Finnish and Swedish. And there’s a rare opportunity to hear two of Sibelius’s melodramas – spoken-word poetry set to a powerfully evocative score, opening a whole imaginative world in a few minutes of words and music.