The Aurora free concert series will continue at the Art House Turku in spring 2026

The Aurora series, produced by the Turku Music Festival and launched at the Art House Turku, will continue after a short break. The free concert series has been running at the Art House since fall 2024, and there has been a lot of interest in it during the fall break.

The spring program has been planned by local composer Lauri Mäntysaari, who also curated the 2024–2025 Aurora series. Mäntysaari describes the spring concerts as follows:

"After a six-month break for renovations, it has been exciting to start planning the Aurora series concerts again. Our temporary venue on the upper floor of the Art House is intimate, so works that require an intimate atmosphere will also come into their own there. In January, the Otava Wind Quintet will perform, among other things, Gustav Holst's gentle wind quintet and Anni Tolvanen's inventive arrangement of Sibelius' beloved piano pieces from the 'Tree cycle'. In February and March, we will celebrate piano trios when Trio Lago takes a peek into the chamber music of composer couple Amanda Maier and Julius Röntgen. In February and March, we will celebrate piano trios when Trio Lago takes a peek into the chamber music of composer couple Amanda Maier and Julius Röntgen, and the KAAÅS-trio plays, among other things, a new work commissioned from Matthew Whittall.

In April the harmonist Mikko Luoma will tage the stage, and in May we will celebrate Snellman Day on May 12 with a premiere. At the same time, my dream of presenting my own music to the Aurora audience will come true. The text of the commissioned work De Fennis by the Ensemble MMXX vocal ensemble is a description of the Finnish tribe written by the historian Tacitus in 79 AD and perfectly sums up the core question of Finnishness: 'What do they think of us? The rest of the concert consists of the repertoire of an ensemble specializing in Renaissance music."

With the Main Hall of the Art House undergoing renovation, the Aurora series will move to the fifth floor of the same building, to the Hall of Words. The space and capacity are smaller than before, but this allows for more intimate concerts to be held. Due to limited capacity, concertgoers are asked to register for concerts in advance at tmj.fi.

Aurora concerts in spring 2026:

Tuesday 13.1. Wind Quintet Otava

Thursday 12.2. Trio Lago

Tuesday 10.3. KAAÅS-trio

Tuesday 14.4. Mikko Luoma

Tuesday 12.5. Ensemble MMXX

The concerts will be held in the Hall of Words at Art House Turku (Factory-building, 5th floor). All concerts begin at 6 p.m. For more information about the concerts and to register, visit tmj.fi.