St. Michel Strings
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St. Michel Strings (Finnish: ''Mikkelin kaupunginorkesteri'', Swedish: ''St. Michels stadsorkester'') is a
chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
based in
Mikkeli Mikkeli (; ; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city in, and the regional capital of, South Savo, Finland, located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population is approximately , while the Mikkeli sub-region of Southern Savonia has a populat ...
,
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
, and supported by the municipality. It is the third oldest professional orchestra in Finland. The orchestra was founded in 1903 as an amateur ensemble with a professional conductor and a concert master on a monthly payroll, and during the following decades it slowly transformed into a professional ensemble. In 1990 the orchestra gained a status of a full-time professional orchestra, and at that time the number of employed musicians was 12. The past conductors of St. Michel Strings include Onni Kelo, whose efforts brought the city of Mikkeli an excellent Mikaeli Concert Hall, Tiitus Mäntynen and Eric-Olof Söderström. The orchestra has also collaborated with conductors
José Serebrier José Serebrier (born 3 December 1938) is a Uruguayan conductor and composer. He is one of the most recorded conductors of his generation. Early life Serebrier was born in Montevideo to Russian and Polish parents of Jewish extraction. He fi ...
,
Leif Segerstam Leif Selim Segerstam ( , 2 March 1944 – 9 October 2024) was a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist, and pianist, especially known for writing over 300 symphonies, along with other works. From 1963 onward Segerstam conducted a vari ...
and Andres Mustonen. After being without a permanent conductor for more than 15 years the orchestra in April 2012 appointed Sasha Mäkilä their new Music Director. Over the past years the orchestra has concentrated especially on repertoire for
string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first a ...
, but several times a year St. Michel Strings joins forces with the other orchestras in the region (namely orchestras based in
Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...
,
Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...
and
Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately , while the Jyväskylä sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately ...
) to be able to play symphonic concerts. The orchestra has recorded seven albums, most of them on
Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...
record label.


Recordings

*Torelli, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, MIKOCD-1 (1993) *St. Michel Strings in Poland with Tadeusz Wicherek, Alba ABCD 173 (2002) *Segerstam Live Concert Recordings, HT-Intendent Oy HTINT 00001 (2005) *Bloch & Busoni, Alba 6417513102345 (2007) *MKO &
Kauko Röyhkä Kauko Röyhkä, (born Jukka-Pekka Välimaa, 12 February 1959, Valkeakoski), is a Finnish Rock music, rock musician, author and screenwriter. Since the early 1980s he has been a popular rock artist in Finland known especially as a strong lyricist. ...
: ''
Zaia ''Zaia'' was a Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was f ...
'', Ranka Recordings RA 155-177722-3 (2008)


References


External links


St. Michel Strings on the website of the Association of the Finnish Symphony OrchestrasOfficial website of St. Michel String (in Finnish)
{{Authority control Finnish orchestras 1903 establishments in Finland Musical groups established in 1903 Mikkeli