Young Ukrainian Jazz musicians to visit Espoo in April
The Kryvyi Rih Junior Big Band will be visiting Espoo in April for the April Jazz festival, with support from the City of Espoo. The visit is related to the partnership efforts between the City of Espoo Cultural Services and the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.
The City of Espoo has wanted to express solidarity towards Ukraine since the beginning of the war, leading to a partnership agreement being signed between the City of Espoo and the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Europe Day, 9 May 2023. The partnership agreement enables intercity cooperation across a variety of fields. The City of Espoo Cultural Services began planning the cooperation with Kryvyi Rih in November 2023. The cooperation meetings strongly highlighted the need to support children and young people and leverage cooperation between the cities to provide them with ordinary day-to-day experiences, which have been difficult or impossible due to the war.
Kryvyi Rih Junior Big Band’s visit in April is a result of the close cooperation between the cities and the first step in bringing the plans to reality. The visit will provide the young Ukrainian jazz musicians with a respite from their daily life that has been altered by the hostilities. Kryvyi Rih Junior Big Band is a youth orchestra comprising students of a music school in Kryvyi Rih. Over the years, the jazz orchestra established in 1980 has visited many European festivals and educated close to 400 talented young jazz musicians.
Practice and concerts with Finnish young musicians
Kryvyi Rih Junior Big Band will be taking part in the all-weekend Big Band Boost! camp to be organised in connection to the April Jazz festival, together with Ebeli Big Band from Espoo, Vaskivuori Big Band from Vantaa and Oulu Youth Jazz Orchestra from Oulu. The camp will see the young musicians practising together under the tutelage of experienced professional musicians.
The closing concert of the Big Band Boost! camp will be staged on 21 April 2024 15:00–17:00 in the Louhi Hall of the Espoo Cultural Centre. In addition to this, Kryvyi Rih Junior Big Band will be performing in the Louhi Hall on Monday 22 April 2024 at 19:00–21:00 to provide a wider showcase of its skill. The band’s varied repertoire includes jazz standards, pieces by contemporary composers and arrangements of tunes such Ukrainian folk songs by the band leader Artem Zinchenko.
The City of Espoo Cultural Services will also be extending a hand to Ukrainians living in Finland by offering tickets to the Sunday 21 April and Monday 22 April concerts at a discounted price of €10. Discount tickets can be purchased at the April Jazz Festival guest desk in the lobby of the Espoo Cultural Centre an hour before the concert. The desk cannot provide change, so payments can only be made by card or exact change. A Ukrainian passport must be presented when purchasing a ticket.