Ourvision is a singing contest arranged by Caisa, especially for immigrants, people of immigrant origin and foreigners living in Finland.

The contest is divided into following groups: Asiavision, Afrovision, Americavision, Middle-Eastvision and Europevision.

Ourvision singing contest was arranged for the first time in 2007.

Ourvision Singing Contest
May 17th
Savoy Theatre (Kasarmikatu 46–48)
Tickets 12 and 8 euros
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In her music, Concha Buika combines the traditions of flamenco and coplas with jazz and soul. Through her hoarse, soulful voice, the charismatic singer interprets her feelings with high intensity and concentration.

Concha Buika is undoubtedly one of the most captivating Spanish artists at the moment.

Read more about the artist

Savoy Theatre (Kasarmikatu 46–48)
April 29th, 7 pm
Tickets 42/40 euros
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Our aim is to survey customer experiences on Helsinki Cultural Centre venues. The venues are Annantalo, Caisa, Kanneltalo, Malmitalo, Savoy Theatre, Stoa and Vuosaari House.

Take our customer survey no later than April 21st, and tell us what works and what doesn’t. How can we improve our services? By answering you can win tickets to our events.

Your opinion matters!

To the survey

More information:
communucations manager Terttu Sopanen, terttu.sopanen(at)hel.fi

Annantalo’s Step into the Room is the creation of a music playing, composing, painting and writing Heta Aho (born in 1992). The exhibition presents her paintings, writings and music over the last few years. Completed art and art in the making is on display.

During the exhibition, Aho works in her exhibition space workroom on Wednesdays and Fridays at 14–18. Visitors are welcome to talk to the artist and have a cup of tea.

Step into the Room 1.–27.3.2013

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This time the festival will be focusing on puppet theatre, but other forms of theatre, ranging from musical theatre and dance to nonverbal theatre, are represented in the programme.

The festival is organized in the cultural centres of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area for the sixth time. The biggest theatre event for children and young people offers the best and latest Finnish theatre to both pre-schoolers and schoolchildren. All the plays are suitable for adults as well.

Read more: http://hurraa.org/in-english/

To an Island provides experiences and knowledge: stories to hear, tell and write. Not only will you find, see and hear stories about the island and water, you will also tell them yourself.

The multi-sensory art adventure begins in a boat, takes you underwater, into a diving bell and finally to an island. Island-themed books by 21 Finnish authors form the core of this exhibition.

To an Island Feb 5th–March 24th

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Mayor Jussi Pajunen will launch The Blue Line light installation in Helsinki Observatory on Dec 10, i.e. 135 years to the day after the first electric light lit up in Helsinki and the entire Finland in 1877.

The light marks the inner city’s longest undivided street axis. Union Axis consists of Kopernikuksentie, Unioninkatu and Siltasaarenkatu streets.

Up to end January, The Blue Line is best seen from 6 pm to 2 am daily.

Read more about the Helsinki 200 Years as Capital jubilee: www.helsinki200.fi/en.

In the hands of choreographers Susanna Leinonen and Jouka Valkama the story gains an interpretation in which two families and two languages of movement meet. The piece combines death and love as well as dance and film.

Romeo & Juliet at Stoa:

Fri Nov 30, 7 pm (premier)
Sat Dec 1, 7pm
Sun Dec 2, 3 pm
Tue Dec 4, 7 pm
Sat Dec 8 7 pm
Sun 9th Dec 3 pm

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Promising young Japanese artists and designers living in Finland show a glimpse of their work. They present a distinctive blend of skills, cultural backgrounds and influences of life and environment in Finland.

The exhibition also brings contemporary Japanese design products to display in ceramics, textiles and innovative paper products.

A photographic exhibition with photography by children with a Japanese background displays different views to combine Japanese and Finnish cultures.

Japan Meets Finland -exhibition in Caisa  19.10.–20.12.2012.

Moving in November festival presents the pre-premiere of the new piece by Canadian Frédérick Gravel, Usually beauty fails. Given his previous work, his unpretentious approach to dance, the audience can expect an an irrevent, crazy, musical and poetic performance.

Another piece taking place at Stoa is Lisbeth Gruwezs new, trance-like solo work It's going to get worse and worse, my friend. Gruwezs work turns the ecstasy and power of the spoken word into physical reality.

Read more:

Moving in November
Stoa

The Klezmatics is the only klezmer music group to have won a Grammy award. The group is known for the unequalled manner in which it combines contemporary influences with the traditional Jewish music of Eastern Europe.

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The Japanese think that there are many kinds of beauty and something beautiful about everything. Beauty can be flamboyant, simplified and very discreet.

Annantalo visitors can get acquainted with today’s modern ikebana and origami and participate in making large origami trees blossom at the Activity Gallery.

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After a two-year break, Annantalo will once again be filled with activities related to Japanese culture: workshops, dance performances, lectures, budo martial art performances and Japanese food.

The Book Café will organise a manga workshop for the youth. Other related programmes include the Manga Basics for Adults course and the Japanese Quarter Course, i.e., learning Japanese quickly in a fun way.

The Japan Day is organised in co-operation with the Friends of Japanese Culture Society, Finnish Iaido Federation and Annantalo Arts Centre.

www.annantalo.fi

Night of urban dance is made of two pieces. Ima Iduozees solo balances between surrealism and reality. The work will premiere at the festival.

Anne Nguyens choreography Yonder Woman is a trial for two superheroes. The dancers tirelessly struggle onwards through an imaginary maze filled with goals and obstacles.

Read more:
www.stoa.fi
www.urb.fi

All the lessons concentrate on one dance style. The teaching starts from the beginning, no former experience is requiered. The teaching is in Finnish.

Read more (in Finnish)
 

The group Le Arti per Via of Bassano del Grappa is the author and actor of a new and original cultural initiative. It has succeeded in uniquely combining three types of entertainment: folk group, strolling musicians and street theatre. 

Le Arti per Via at Narinkka Square 26th–27th May at 3 pm.  

Italian Market at Narinkka Square 25th–27th May. Opening hours Friday 11 am–8 pm, Saturday and Sunday 12 am–8 pm.

The past few years have seen her acclaimed as a newcomer on the modern fado scene. Her solo album “Fado” went platinum in Portugal and critics consider it the most influential fado debut album in years. This may well be because Carminho was born and grew up surrounded by fado, making her an unbelievably powerful, yet at the same time incredibly sensitive singer, who literally leaves her listeners spellbound.

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The event features a number of performances, including colourful lion and dragon dances and plenty of activities for children. You can also watch the New Year’s Celebrations from Beijing in a live broadcast. The Chinese market and the immensely popular food market bring along colour, flavour and life to the hibernating Lasipalatsi Square. The festival is crowned by a massive fi reworks show above Töölönlahti Bay.

22.1.2012 2-6 pm Chinese New Year Celebration
Location: Lasipalatsi square, Mannerheimintie 22-24, Helsinki
Free entrance

In the event of changes, we will endeavour to announce them as soon as possible on the Facebook page of each venue as well as on www.hel.fi/kulttuuri. We apologise for any inconvenience.

When you see The Tree of Wooden Clogs or Time Stood Still, you can’t help but wonder: were the most beautiful images in the history of cinema shot by Ermanno Olmi? The Italian new wave filmmaker and neorealist Ermanno Olmi (b. 1931) became known for his societal and deeply humane films. As a director he is self-taught, which is probably one of the reasons for his highly distinctive and personal style. Olmi’s attention is often in the mundane as he depicts the ordinary people, their lives and struggles. 

The four films screened now belong to his very best. The series opens with the magical Time Stood Still (1959) – a subtle and poetic film about the growing friendship of a young student and an older man in an isolated construction site in the mountains. In The Job (1961 – also known as The Sound of Trumpets) two suburban Italian youth struggle to find their first employment in Milan. Masterful The Fiancés (1963) is a beautiful story of a young couple whose relationship is strained when work forces them apart from each others. The series ends with the Golden Palm winner, the powerful The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978). The 80-year old auteur is still active – his latest film premiered only little more than a month ago in Venice film festival.

In connection with the films, Italian film critic and Olmi specialist Adriano Aprà will give a lecture with the title “The Rebirths of Olmi”. The lecture is in English and it takes place in the cinema Bio Rex, Lasipalatsi (Mannerheimintie 22-24) on Saturday November 5th at 14:30 (2:30 p.m.).

The series is organized in co-operation with the Italian Cultural Institute, Cinecittà Luce and Società Dante Alighieri.

The Screening Schedule and Program

Cinema Bio Rex, Lasipalatsi (Mannerheimintie 22-24) – All films subtitled in English

Friday Nov 4th at 17:00 
TIME STOOD STILL (Il Tempo si è fermato, 1959, 83min)

Ermanno Olmi’s first feature film. The starting point was a documentary about the construction of a power plant in the Italian Alps, but the film grew into a beautiful, poetic tale about two men representing different generations and different modes of thinking. They don’t seem to share anything until a powerful storm forces them to fight together, bridging the gap between generations and bringing visible the common humanity. This is grand cinema.

Friday November 4 at 19:00 
THE JOB / THE SOUND OF TRUMPETS (Il Posto, 1961, 93min)

When young Domenico moves from a small village to Milan in search of employment, he finds himself on the bottom bottom rung of the bureaucratic ladder in a huge, faceless company. The prospects are gloomy, but Domenico finds reason for hope in the beautiful Antonietta, also trying for work in the same corporation. A tender coming-of-age story and a sharp observation of dehumanizing corporate enterprise, The Job is a touching and hilarious tale of one young man’s stumbling entrance into the perils of modern adulthood.

Saturday November 5 at 14:30 
LECTURE: THE REBIRTHS OF OLMI

The renowned Italian film critic and Olmi specialist Adriano Aprà will give a lecture about Ermanno Olmi at the cinema Bio Rex. The lecture is in English and participation is free of charge.

Saturday November 5 at 16:00 
THE FIANCÉS (I Fidanzati, 1963, 77min)

The strained relationship of young Milanese fiancés Giovanni and Liliana is tested when Giovanni accepts a new job in Sicily. With the separation come loneliness and nostalgia but perhaps also some new perspectives that might rejuvenate their love. Olmi’s deep humanism charges this moving depiction of ordinary men and women, and the pitfalls of the human heart.

Saturday November 5 at 18:00 
THE TREE OF WOODEN CLOGS (L’Albero degli zoccoli, 1978, 186min)

A little boy breaks his precious pair of clogs, which he needs for his long trek to school. Desperate for wood to make a new pair, his father sneaks into a prized grove in their small village. When he's caught, the unfeeling, wealthy landlord punishes him severely for his transgression. This small incident, and the various viewpoints of the peasants, reveal in beautiful detail rural life under oppressive rule.

Dramatizing a year in the life of northern Italian peasants at the turn of the century, The Tree of Wooden Clogs pays loving tribute to both the neo-realist style of filmmaking and a rural way of life that no longer exists. The film was awarded with the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival.

All the films have English subtitles.

Ticket information
Tickets 4€. LippuRex, Lasipalatsi, Mannerheimintie 22–24, Mon–Fri 11–18, and on the screening days also one hour before the first screening (Friday November 4th until 19:00 and Saturday November 5th 15–18.)

Italy 150 years – Other Film Program
See also the National Audiovisual Archive’s Italy 150 years series (between October 4th and November 6th) at the cinema Orion: www.kava.fi

More information: project coordinator Anna von Bagh, (09) 310 37934, anna.vonbagh/(at)hel.fi

Quatuor IXI draws on two traditions, classical music and modern jazz. Genius Atsushi Sakaï is the latest member of the ensemble, known in the world of European baroque music as an incomparable cellist.

Régis Huby – violin
Irène Lecoq – violin
Guillaume Roy – viola
Atsushi Sakaï – cello, guest Veli Kujala – accordion

Organised by City of Helsinki Cultural Office, Vapaat äänet (Free Voices, Free Sounds) and We Jazz
Quatuor IXI’s tour is supported by the French Institute, Adami, FCM and Spedidam.

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Salif Keita is world-famous for his unforgettable live performances, magnificent voice and emotive songs. Keita’s music is inspired by African musical traditions, fusing them into seductive world music.

He made his international breakthrough in the eighties with the solo album Soro, which is considered a classic today. Keita’s international career has produced many acclaimed recordings as well as cooperation projects with musicians such as Joe Zawinul and Carlos Santana. Keita's latest album, La Différence, was released in the summer of 2010.

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Alongside the exhibition, the French Cinematheque, who organized a complete Tati exhibition and retrospective in Paris in 2009, will propose 3 days of workshops for pupils and students in Helsinki from 15th to 17th September 2010. Children and teenagers will discover the Tati exhibition, attend film screenings and follow a workshop run by Mr. Vincent Deville from the Education team of the French Cinematheque. Mr. Deville has been invited to Helsinki by City of Helsinki Cultural Office and Centre Culturel Francais. During the workshop, they will try to “get the Tati gaze”, that is to say they will try to shoot short funny movies seeing the world around them with the gaze/eye of Jacques Tati, whose comic strategies are mostly based on observation of the world around us.

The exhibition and the workshops are part of L’automne français, www.ranskalainensyksy.fi.

duration 50 min

Stoa Cultural Centre of Eastern Helsinki

Circo Aereo: Ro-pu
Thu 26.8.  19:00   
Sat 28.8.  19:00   
Sun 29.8.  15:00   
Mon 30.8.  19:00   
Tue 31.8.  19:00   
Wed 1.9. 2010 19:00  

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