Prom 58 (part 2): Sibelius - Kullervo

Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra live at the BBC Proms in an all-Sibelius programme: the tone poem En Saga and the epic Kullervo, with male voice chorus and soloists.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall
Presented by Penny Gore

Sibelius: En Saga

7.50 pm Interval

8.10 pm
Sibelius: Kullervo

Johanna Rusanen-Kartano (soprano)
Waltteri Torikka (baritone)
Polytech Choir
BBC Symphony Chorus (men's voices)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)

Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo pairs two of Sibelius's most engagingly descriptive works as we continue our 150th-anniversary celebrations of the composer. The folk hero Kullervo was the inspiration behind a powerful national statement for a country struggling to overthrow Russian rule. This massive musical hybrid - part cantata, part symphony, part suite - is a vivid and thrilling work, richly melodic but looking ahead to modernism in some striking musical gestures. En saga is a fairy tale without a plot, whose contrasting movements suggest many possible stories, but never commit to just one.