Harmonica artist and composer Maria Kalaniemi will celebrate her 60th birthday in 2024. The summer of 2023 also marked 40 years since her victory in the first ever Kultainen Harmonikka competition in 1983, which marked Kalaniemi’s rise to national and later to international fame. The concert in Sellosali is part of a series of anniversary concerts that present the spectrum of Kalaniemi’s artistry from meditative compositions to evergreens of old dance music.

Maria Kalaniemi and pianist-composer Timo Alakotila are pioneers in the field of new Finnish folk music. They have played in different configurations and appeared in numerous concerts around the world. Over the years, cooperation between Maria and Timo has become an excellent, seamless, musical alliance. The concert features the duo's own compositions as well as Finnish and Swedish-speaking songs, minuets, polskas, polkas and tangos as fresh compositions by Maria and Timo. The duo will also be joined by Maria's long-term musician colleague, friend and harmonica artist Elina Leskelä who is also known from the band Hoivapelimannit.

Duration 1 h, including short intermission
The café is open

Free entry. The concert is organised in Sello Hall's foyer. Doors to Sello Hall will open 30 minutes before the concert begins, and seats will be allocated in order of arrival.

Afternoon event

Afternoon concert: Maria Kalaniemi & Timo Alakotila: Anniversary concert

The event “Afternoon concert: Maria Kalaniemi & Timo Alakotila: Anniversary concert” has ended