Take in Sibelius’s Finlandia, Valse Triste, Violin Concerto and Symphonies 2-4 alongside works by Richard Strauss and Rachmaninov
Explore the composer’s former home of Ainola on the shores of Lake Tuusulanjärvi, and take a behind-the-scenes tour of Sibelius Hall
Enjoy a full day exploring the exciting environs of Helsinki, visiting the famous mansion Hvitträsk as well as the charming medieval Old Town in Porvoo
“What more can I say? It was throughout an experience never to be forgotten, and remembered always with the greatest pleasure”
ACE customer on a previous Sibelius Festival in Finland tour
“I often conduct an orchestra in my sleep; my orchestras are so huge that the back desks of the violas vanish into the horizon. And everything is so wonderful”
– Jean Sibelius
There is something truly extraordinary about hearing the music of Jean Sibelius within the breathtaking landscapes he knew so well, home to the culture, stories and history that inspired so many of his works. Coupled with the exceptional quality of the festival performances – acclaimed as among the best in the world – this is surely why so many music aficionados gather in the Finnish city of Lahti for the International Sibelius Festival, which retains the work of Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) at its heart.
Performances take place in the spectacular Sibelius Hall, situated on the southern shores of Lake Vesijärvi and home to the acclaimed Lahti Symphony Orchestra, just one hour away from Helsinki. Built in 2000, the hall is an architectural and acoustic marvel with stunning views over the surrounding lake. Indeed, our stay in Lahti provides a tranquil contrast to the urban sights and sounds of the capital; between them, we will enjoy complementary aspects of Finland’s culture and landscape.
The 2026 festival promises to be a particularly brilliant occasion as we continue to explore the connections Sibelius forged with other composers who both inspired and learned from him.
“The concerts this year place his works alongside those of other great composers of his time, including Richard Strauss, Ferruccio Busoni and Rachmaninov. This is a great development and should make for an absorbing listen”
– Tour Director Sandy Burnett
Sibelius’s orchestral music anchors the programme, with highlight performances of the Violin Concerto featuring acclaimed South Korean artist Inmo Yang, Symphony No 2, Valse Triste and Finlandia. Richard Strauss’s Don Juan appears in our opening concert, paired appropriately with the Violin Concerto, which Strauss himself conducted at its Berlin premiere in 1905. Meanwhile, Symphony No 2 began life as an attempt to create music for the story of Don Juan, bringing this concert’s musical story full-circle.
Our second performance celebrates the legacy of the male-voice choir, featuring the oldest Finnish-language choir and one of the most exceptional male-voice ensembles in the world, the YL Male Voice Choir. Ferruccio Busoni’s monumental Piano Concerto, performed by the award-winning Kirill Gerstein alongside the choir, accompanies Finlandia, Symphony No 3 and the heartbreaking Valse Triste – one of Sibelius’s shortest yet most enduring works. We finish with a duo of arresting tone poems, The Bard and Nightride and Sunrise, alongside Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Sibelius’s Symphony No 4, which shares some of the same poetic origins as Rachmaninov’s work.
Our evening concerts are interspersed with smaller-scale daytime chamber recitals, which will be announced nearer to the time.
"Despite being the Tour Manager, I always return feeling well nourished – health-wise and musically! The natural landscape of trees and lakes, the food from the forests and plenty of fresh air all add up to a wonderfully relaxing experience"
– Michaela Rowland-Hall, Tour Manager on a previous Sibelius Festival tour
Lahti provides an ideal introduction to Sibelius’s life and the landscape that influenced him. Alongside the festival performances, we will visit Ainola, the composer’s house with its evocative atmosphere, and enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of the Sibelius Hall.
Our itinerary also incorporates many of the cultural highlights of Finland’s dynamic capital city, where we begin our tour, including the Sibelius Monument and the fabulous Ateneum Art Museum, part of the Finnish National Gallery and home to the largest collection of classical art in the country. Helsinki is furthermore home to a mix of Art Nouveau-influenced buildings alongside futuristic designs reflecting its nautical history. Beyond the city’s boundaries and new for 2026, we are delighted to be visiting the Old Town in Porvoo, one of Finland’s oldest cities and site of some wonderfully preserved medieval architecture. As well as viewing its iconic red ochre warehouses on the waterfront, we will wander along cobbled streets lined with multicoloured wooden houses.
Our Helsinki accommodation will be the four-star Solo Sokos Hotel, an elegant and sympathetically designed property in the city centre. In Lahti, we will stay at the four-star Solo Sokos Lahden Seurahuone Hotel, comfortable and conveniently located in the heart of town.
2026 Programme
2026 is a particularly good year to attend the Sibelius Festival, as it marks the second of three such events under the direction of Hannu Lintu, whose conducting credits range from the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra to Finnish National Opera and Ballet, and internationally with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Ireland’s RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. Lintu’s theming for 2025, 2026 and 2027 expands the reach of the festival by revolving around Sibelius’s musical encounters: “The originality of Jean Sibelius’s output can prevent us from noticing his connections with other composers and musical styles. We know that as a young man he admired Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner and that he was well aware of the stylistic turbulence of the early 20th century… As part of the Sibelius Festival, we want to show what those connections mean in practice. One festival is not enough; we need three.”
Sandy Burnett, MA
Tour Director Sandy Burnett, MA, is a musician and broadcaster who spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3; highlights there included hosting the breakfast programme, presenting live broadcasts from the Proms and Edinburgh Festival, and interviewing many of the world’s finest musicians. Conducting credits have included a complete cycle of Bach cantatas as well as work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre and in London’s West End where he spent many years as musical director. Jazz and improvised music form another important part of his output; as a double bassist he collaborates with many leading musicians from the UK and beyond. He is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music and has recently been appointed as the Hogwood Fellow of the Academy of Ancient Music.
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£3395
SIBE-26
