Info letter 13/04/2015
Dear participant of the III International Kantele Competition (17th-19th of April, Helsinki),
the Kantele Competition will be held at the premises of Sibelius-Academy’s T-building (Töölönkatu 28) in Töölö, Helsinki (see map below click to enlarge! T-talo=T building). If you will be arriving with a car please note that there are limited parking spaces around the T-building, some of which have a parking fee also during weekends. Users of public transportation may look for suitable connections at http://www.reittiopas.fi/en/ . The walk from the city centre to the T-building takes ca. 10 minutes.
Our info point and participant registration are located on the 3rd floor. When you arrive at the T-building, please register and retrieve your competition pass. The info point will attend to your questions. You can also contact our officials whom you will recognise by their red name tags. They will be happy to help you!
The doors open both Saturday and Sunday 7.30.
Kantele Association takes photos during the competition. There will be a photographing permit form to be signed at registration desk. I you don’t give permission, no photos of you will be published in Kantele magazine, on the internet or elsewhere.
Programmes will be handed out at the locale. You may also see the program in the internet where you’ll also find the rehearsal schedules and the pop up concert program.
18.4.: https://www.kantele.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Aikataulu18_4.pdf
19.4.: https://www.kantele.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Aikataulu19_4.pdf
The actual competition venues are located in the 3rd and 4th floors as well as the basement floor. There are guides to the venues. The programme will inform you on the location of each individual competition category. Please note that the categories will change locations during lunch break.
Please make sure to arrive at the competition venue no later than 10 minutes before the beginning of your performance. A new performance slot can regretfully not be arranged for a participant who does not make it in time for their own announced slot. Please also make sure that your performance will not exceed the time limit stated in the competition rules (10 minutes for KanteleKimara and the youth category, 15 minutes for the open category and 20 minutes for the professional category). Exceeding the time limit may result in reduction on points! See the competition rules at https://www.kantele.net/competition/rules .
You will not need to bring your own kantele table (this table is a sitting down table, we unfortunately can’t offer standing position tables), chair or music stand unless you have special needs or require more than one piece of each item. If you have made an agreement to bring your own amplification please arrive at the beginning of the break stated in the programme to set it up. You may arrive at the door beforehand to make sure you have as much time as possible.
There is a stage manager present at every competition venue who will attend to the contestants’ needs and make sure any doors are closed during the performances. Use of the doors is allowed only during breaks between performances. Please also make sure that your mobile phone will be muted during performances.
The rehearsal rooms are situated in the 1st floor and the rehearsal schedules will be found on the doors or each room. The doors will not be locked so you may freely enter during your announced rehearsal time. Please make sure to comply with the rehearsal schedule and exit the rehearsal room when your time is over to allow the next participant to enter. Each rehearsal room will be supplied with a kantele table, a music stand and an adjustable chair so you’ll only need to bring your instrument. Please do not leave your instrument or other belongings to the rehearsal rooms since the doors will not be locked at any time.
The instrument storage room will be found on the 3rd floor. Please tag each instrument and item left in the storage room as clearly as possible. The instrument will be handed out only to a participant whose competition pass is addressed to the same name as the instrument’s tag. This is to make sure no instruments will end up with anyone else but their owner. If anybody else needs to get the instrument for a participant they will need to present the participant’s competition pass. An instrument may be left in the storage room during the final concert but it must be retrieved immediately after the concert has ended. You may also take your instrument with you to the National Museum of Finland where lockable storage boxes are available. If you will be attending the concert at the Temppeliaukio church, please take your instrument form the T-building already before the final concert.
The trade fair of the instrument builders is situated in rooms 304, 311 and 314 on the 3rd floor where you can meet the builders and have a look at their instruments and other items.
You can draw cash from the nearest cash machine in address Sandelsinkatu 6. (Turn left from the main entrance, turn left to Tykistönkatu, turn left to Töölöntorinkatu, turn right to Sandelsinkatu and walk almost to the next crossroads. The machine is called ”Otto”, with orange/yellow sign.)
The restaurant in the T-building is open on Saturday between 10:00 and 14:00. The restaurant serves coffee, tea and snacks as well as a lunch from 11:00 to 13:30. Find their menu at http://www.sodexo.fi/sibat. On Sunday the restaurant is closed but there are many cafés and restaurants nearby. The orange markers represent restaurant on the map. Also check out the restaurants’ names and descriptions at https://www.google.fi/maps/search/ravintola/@60.1791571,24.9273835,17z?hl=fi
Toilets are located on every floor to the right from the elevators.
The Pop Up concerts (Sat. 13.30-16.30, Sun. 12.00-16.30) as well as the final concerts and distribution of prizes on Saturday and Sunday are held at the National Museum of Finland (http://www.nba.fi/en/nationalmuseum , Mannerheimintie 34, Helsinki)(In the map Kansallismuseo = National Museum). The museum is easily accessed from the T-building by foot or by trolleys 4, 7 and 10 from Mannerheimintie. All participants of the competition get free entry to the exhibitions of the museum during Saturday and Sunday by representing their competition passes. Attendees of the Pop Up concerts under 18 years of age may also bring their parents to the exhibitions free of charge. There will be guides in the museum to the locations of the Pop Up concerts. Your Pop Up performance may freely consist of other repertoire than that performed during the competition act. Each pop up location will be supplied with a kantele table, a music stand and an adjustable chair so you’ll only need to bring your instrument.
The final concerts on Saturday (17.00) and Sunday (17.30) are held in the Auditorium of the National Museum of Finland. There is a straight entry to the auditorium and other premises in the basement floor outside next to the main stairs on street level. If you participate in the Pop Up concerts and bring your instrument to the final concerts you may store it in the group work room in the base floor to which one of our officials will have a key on Saturday from 13:00 and on Sunday from 11:30. You will find their phone number in the guides at the museum. If you arrive at the museum before the final concert please move your outerwear from the museum’s clothes rack to the auditorium since the museum will be closed before the concert ends!
The competition jury will choose performing acts for the final concerts. Be prepared to be asked to perform in the final concert of your competition day. Keep an eye on your mobile phone – but please keep it muted in the museum premises. Also final concert location will be supplied with a kantele table, a music stand and an adjustable chair.
Other events during the International Kantele Competition:
17.4. 19:00 Kalevala live! – Stringpureé Band soundtracking Kalevala (Kaasutehtaankatu 1, Helsinki)
The opening act of the competition weekend takes place in the big hall of Oranssi ry in Suvilahti. The Kalevala & Stringpurée Band live performance combines the 1975 Kalevala animations of artist Reino Niiniranta with the lively music of progressive folk group Stringpurée Band into a unique movie experience. The event is free for participants of the competition! Please sign up at the tickets sale. More information at http://www.kalevalalive.net/
18.4. 19:00 Kantele concert in Temppelinaukio church (Lutherinkatu 3, Helsinki) ( In the map Temppeliaukio church = Tempeeliaukion kirkko): Announcement of the Kantele Association’s acknowledgements and performance of Kantele group of the year Duo Cecilia.
Entry to concert is free of charge. Programme 5€. You may store your instrument at the church during the concert. The church can be accessed from the T-building with trolley 2.
The annual acknowledgements of the Kantele Association will be announced at the beginning of the concert. The acknowledgements to be announced are the following: Kantele album of the year (selected by Hannele Huovi), Kantele of the year (a recent kantele achievement), Kultakantele life’s work acknowledgement and kantele group of the year Duo Cecilia. The latter three acknowledgements are selected by workgroups authorised by the Kantele Association.
Duo Cecilia is a duo formed by Heidi Äijälä (kanteles) and Pauliina Almonkari (flutes). Their unique combination of instruments creates both delicate and powerful tones in the duos repertoire of baroque and renaissance music.
Lets make an unforgettable kantele competition together! If yoy have any questions please contact me: Leeni Wegelius / The producer of the III International kantele competition +358 50 564 5966 kilpailut@kantele.net