Last year, the stage had around 140,000 visitors and around 82,000 in 2023. This shows that visitor numbers have been growing strongly in recent years.
“In addition to the diverse programme offered, the cool early summer weather may have contributed to the record attendance. Maybe the city residents didn’t want to travel further away, but instead were attracted by the local high-quality free programme. Of course, in this economic climate, free events in general interest people,” says Laura Pyrrö, producer of the Espa stage.
“Finland's longest summer festival”
In total, Espa stage offered 340 free performances over 79 event days during the summer season (16 May–30 August). On average, programme was available five days a week.
“In addition to city residents of all ages, both domestic and foreign tourists enjoyed the events. Many visitors were surprised that the Espa stage season is so long, from mid-May to the end of August. You could even say that the Espa stage summer is the longest summer festival in Finland,” says Pyrrö.
The majority of the performances were musical, ranging from jazz to classical and ethnic to rock. The stage also featured children's events, dance performances, poetry, speeches, plays, panel discussions, exercise classes and an entire chamber opera.
Of the individual shows, Kimmo Pohjonen's performance on the Night of the Arts attracted the largest audience. The list of the most popular events also included Pelle Miljoona Band, Maria Ylipää & Marzi Nyman, Piirpauke, Meiju Suvas and some of the concerts in the MIL-Espa series. Skidit disco attracted one of the largest children’s event audiences.
Over the summer, the stage hosted around 1,700 performers in total, from 20 different countries. In addition to performers from European countries, artists from countries such as Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, India, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Peru, Senegal and the United States took to the stage.
The stage was renovated in spring, with a focus on environmentally friendly solutions. The old lamps on the stage were recycled, and the Espa stage switched to borrowing the energy-efficient lights of the Savoy Theatre, which is closed during the summer season. The energy consumption of lighting was reduced by up to 81% this year.
This summer, Esplanadi Park also hosted works from the Helsinki Biennale for the first time.
