In its spring 2010 season the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra will be celebrating Schumann and Mahler and putting on some large-scale vocal productions.

The five months of the forthcoming spring season will take in 25 concerts at Finlandia Hall, three at the University Hall and one at St John’s Church. Chief Conductor John Storgårds will be conducting seven of the concerts. In March he will take the HPO to the Mahler Festival in Stockholm.

In honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Robert Schumann, the programme for the spring will feature both his cello and his piano concerto, while tribute will be paid to Gustav Mahler, born 150 years ago, with performances of his fifth and seventh symphonies.

Vocal-music lovers can look forward to the first performance in Finland of the Johannes Passion by Sofia Gubaidulina, to be conducted by Leif Segerstam on March 31, and to Olari Elts’ rendering of Mendelssohn’s oratorio Paulus. Excerpts from Wagner’s Parsifal can be heard in a concert version conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste on February 3.

Other highlights of the spring season include the HPO brass under Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet, in a programme entitled Tango and Symphony (Jan 14). Saxophonist Jukka Perko will be following in the footsteps of Charlie Parker (Mar 20), and the now traditional spring sing-along will be held with the Rajaton vocal ensemble on May 12.