KUMAUS FESTIVAL
ART X MUSIC FESTIVAL
13.-17.8.2025 IN LAPPEENRANTA
ART X MUSIC FESTIVAL
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS:
LAURI PEKKARINEN, HELKA SEPPÄLÄ & JANNE VALKEAJOKI
CONTACT US:
NEWS
WELCOME TO THE KUMAUS FESTIVAL NEWS!
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NEWS
VITO ŽURAJ'S COMPOSITION MASTERCLASS AT THE KUMAUS FESTIVAL, AUGUST 14-16, 2025
Vito Žuraj’s Composition Masterclass at the Kumaus Festival, August 14–16, 2025
The Kumaus Festival is organizing a masterclass with Vito Žuraj in August in Lappeenranta. Žuraj is one of the most significant contemporary composers of our time, with his works performed by ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic and, most recently in Helsinki, premiered by the Helsinki Chamber Choir and Ensemble Recherche at the Musica nova festival. Žuraj is professor of composition and music theory at the Music Academy of the University of Ljubljana.
Date and Location: August 14–16, 2025, Lappeenranta Finland
Professor: prof. Vito Žuraj (Slovenia)
Instrumentation: Percussion, double bass, accordion
Teaching language: English
Application
Applicants are required to submit a CV, short motivation letter (max 1 A4), one existing score of a composition in PDF format and one recording.
Application period: April 1–30, 2025. Selected participants will be notified by May 12.
Please send your application to kumausfestivaali@gmail.com
Course Fee
The fee of the masterclass is 400€.
Course Details
A total of three participants will be selected for the masterclass. Each participant will compose a short piece (3–5 minutes) for Kumaus Trio (percussion, double bass, accordion – no electronics). In addition to two private lessons, the course includes a group session with all participants and the world premiere of the newly composed pieces at the Kumaus Festival. Participants will also receive a Kumaus Festival Pass, granting access to all festival concerts (August 13–17). The course begins on Thursday, August 14, in the morning in Lappeenranta.
Course Fee includes
- Two 45-minute private lessons with prof. Vito Žuraj
- A group session with all participants and prof. Vito Žuraj
- Rehearsals and premiere at the Kumaus Festival (performed by Kumaus Trio: Janne Valkeajoki, Helka Seppälä, Lauri Pekkarinen)
- An official artist meeting, where participants present their work and introduce themselves to the audience
- A Kumaus Festival Pass
Masterclass is organized by the Musiikkiyhdistys Kumaus ry, kumausfestivaali@gmail.com
English version translated with AI, original language of the course information is Finnish.
NEWS
8.3.2025: WORLD PREMIERE BY TARA VALKONEN AT KUMAUS FESTIVAL 2025
MORE REVEALS ABOUT THE UPCOMING KUMAUS FESTIVAL!
We are thrilled to premiere a new work by Tara Valkonen, composed for Kumaus Trio, at the Kumaus Festival on August 2025! We’re incredibly excited about this collaboration with Tara.
A heartfelt thank you to Teosto for their support!
Tara Jovana Valkonen’s career in music began with playing cello at the age of six, and soon she was imagining her future as a professional cellist – and a sculptor. But picking up the guitar at the age of 13 brought a change, and although she didn’t abandon cello playing, it was rock music now that became the main interest in her life, until in high school when she found herself increasingly interested in contemporary music.
In addition to playing and composing Tara designs and builds large installations with the architect Siiri Hänninen. Room227 was part of the Musica Nova 2021 festival, after which Markus Kåhre and the Mänttä Art Festival commissioned them to create a new installation Pesä/NEST for the exhibition of 2022.
Tara’s work and studies have been kindly supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Teosto Cultural Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, and the Paulo Foundation among others.
NEWS
14.2.2025 VITO ŽURAJ APPOINTED AS THE COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE
AT KUMAUS FESTIVAL 2025
BIG NEWS!
We are beyond excited to announce that Vito Žuraj will be the composer-in-residence at Kumaus Festival 2025!
Žuraj's most significant recent works include Anemoi (2023/2024), commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Blühen (2022), commissioned by the Oper Frankfurt, which was named the world premiere of the year 2023 by Opernwelt Magazine.
As part of the composer-in-residence program, Vito Žuraj will compose a new piece for Kumaus Trio, which will be premiered at the festival’s closing concert in Lappeenranta on Sunday, August 17. His other works will also be featured in the festival program. As our composer-in-residence, Vito will be joining us in Lappeenranta for the duration of the festival!
Stay tuned—we’ll be sharing more about Vito and the exciting 2025 edition of Kumaus Festival soon!
ABOUT
Kumaus Festival is a chamber music festival located on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland city of Lappeenranta. Kumaus has shaken up the Finnish festival field since the year 2019. The approach of the festival is strictly with the new generation of musicians, with the aim of breaking the traditional, building the new and creating an event of its own kind in the already undeniably wide range of festivals in Finland.
The core of the festival consists of Lappeenranta city orchestra's double bassist Helka Seppälä and percussionist Lauri Pekkarinen, as well as Lappeenranta-born accordion artist and conductor Janne Valkeajoki. Equally at the center of the festival is the "base" of the event, the artist-run cultural space Nuijamies.
We warmly welcome You to Kumaus Festival on 13–17 August 2025!