Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä was founded in 1955 and has seen various stages, among them phases as a private organisation and as a communal unit. The orchestra has operated in its present form since 1965. After nine years with Patrick Gallois as music director, the artistic committee is now responsible for programme planning, after the appointment of its new music director in Autumn 2013. The orchestra consists of 38 musicians and has made a number of tours abroad, including appearances in Japan, France, Spain, Poland and Norway.

Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä has recorded extensively for a number of major companies, among others for Naxos. These include a series of early symphonies by Joseph Haydn (8.557571, 8.557771), Franz and Karl Doppler’s flute music (8.570378) as well as Louis Spohr’s Violin Concertos, performed by Simone Lamsma (8.570528). The orchestra has also made a platinum-selling recording with the opera star Karita Mattila. Recent releases include, among others, music by George Gershwin (8.570939), the Saint-Saëns Violin Concertos (8.572037), eighteenth-century American overtures (8.559654) and Cimarosa Overtures, Volume 3 (8.572734).

In addition to the orchestra’s international activity, Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä also gives concerts regularly in Finland and since 1993 has been active in education and audience development aimed at schools in central Finland.

Photo courtesy of Petteri Kivimäki