Bach–Torikka–Uotinen

• Time:

  • Tue 19.8.2025 20:00

  • Wed 20.8.2025 20:00

  • Wed 20.8.2025 22:30

• Address:

  Temppeliaukio Church
  Lutherinkatu 3
  00100 Helsinki

• Tickets:

  45–59 € (Lippu.fi)

  Get tickets

Event Introduction

Baritone Waltteri Torikka and choreographer Jorma Uotinen have created a dramatic stage work combining sound, light, and movement around the music of J.S. Bach. The piece is a tribute to Jorma Uotinen and his life’s work as a choreographer and dance artist, while also celebrating his 75th anniversary year.

Both Torikka and Uotinen have extensive experience in designing and executing multidisciplinary art projects.

“Bach’s music has always been the dearest to me – ‘perfect’ music. I’ve long wished for the opportunity to perform these arias for an audience. In this project, we want to unite Bach’s heavenly music with movement and light in a completely new way, shaking up traditional performance conventions,” says Waltteri Torikka, the creator of the concept behind the performance.

The theme of the work revolves around the journey of human life: where we come from, who we are, and how our earthly path ends. The piece particularly explores death and letting go, raising essential questions: What does it feel like when death approaches, and how do we respond to it? Death has become something we rarely encounter or reflect upon in our daily lives. One of the work’s aims is to return death to its place as a human experience within life, emphasizing its significance and inevitability as part of our humanity.

The musical core of the concert consists of orchestral works, cantata and passion arias by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed in the concert by Torikka together with Oulu Symphony and Ensemble Nylandia, conducted by Matias Häkkinen. Also invited to reflect on the journey of human life are dancers Sofia Ruija, Nina Hyvärinen, Antti Keinänen and Kasperi Kolehmainen, as well as lighting designer Veli-Ville Siven.

Categories

Dance, Classical and Contemporary Music

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