Turku Philharmonic Opens a New Chapter at Music Centre Fuuga

The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra has moved into Music Centre Fuuga, marking the opening of a concert hall designed for the sound of a large symphony orchestra. Chief conductor John Storgårds leads opening concerts from 12 to 14 November 2026, with soprano Karita Mattila as the featured soloist. For the Finnish city and its orchestra, the opening is the culmination of a long effort to give symphonic music a purpose-built home.

The programme starts with the overture to Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Mattila has selected songs by Jean Sibelius and Alban Berg. Another focal point is the world premiere of Eirene, Peace by Ukrainian composer Victoria Polevá, giving the first concerts both a familiar ceremonial gesture and a new work with a contemporary resonance. Orchestra chief executive Nikke Isomöttönen has described the move as a long-awaited dream: the ensemble can now perform in a room conceived around its own acoustic needs.

Fuuga’s main concert hall seats about 1,300 people. Construction took roughly three years and the project cost around €90 million. The hall’s longer-term ambitions extend beyond a single resident orchestra. On 1 May 2027, the Berlin Philharmonic is scheduled to bring its Europa Concert to Turku, with Kirill Petrenko conducting and Leif Ove Andsnes at the piano. That visit will place the new venue within a network of international concerts as well as local music-making.

The first test, however, is the ordinary work that follows opening week: rehearsals, recurring concerts, school visits and the gradual growth of an audience. Fuuga gives Turku’s musicians a new physical centre for that work. Its success will be measured not simply by the building or its inauguration, but by the musical life it enables over the coming seasons.