Sibelius and the Sinfonietta

Multifunctionality at the Instituutti: cafe by day, performance space by night.
Photo credits: CUT architectures

As mille et un hipster apologists have extolled and more and more start-ups are commodifying, there is a certain current of back-to-basics nostalgia and existential longing for innovative simplicity (zen) among millenials. Virgin landscapes, perhaps especially those of the far north, call to us even, or especially, as they warm -- glaciers at once receding into themselves and insodoing, falling heavily into the same psychological dark spot we reserve for the realisation that we may never be able to afford a mortgage, that we might always work in admin.

It was fitting then, trendy even, that the raucously talented young musicians of the Sinfonietta Paris Chamber Orchestra should perform Finnish composer Jean Sibelius's still unpublished Piano Quintet in G Minor on what would have been his 150th birthday this past Friday at the Institut Finlandais.

The institute's performance space conforms to all of the precepts that have made Scandinavian aesthetics so universally comfortable - clean lines, natural materials, light. The lobby outfront unapologetically presents minimalist pottery by Finnish designers and hand-knitted linens at prices one can only assume guarantee the artisans a standard of living befitting citizenship of a country with famously low income-inequality.

The orchestra director and the directrice of the Institute both made short remarks before the concert that struck charming notes of cheer and practicality, like an Ikea bedspread. The concert began with "Svartsjukans Nätter" (Nights of Jealousy), a melodrama composed of strings, piano, soprano and oratory. Since I "get" classical music about as much as I do, well, someone speaking in Finnish, I can only speak to how deftly the piece navigated an emotional range between violins that sounded like refreshing summer rain and poetry reading like Loki dying of heartbreak.

Unsurprising in this era of grappling, of split priorities, of alternately recasting and romanticizing the past and of cynicism confronting pugnacious optimism in the present, the Sinfonietta is struggling to stay alive. Afterall, what could be more supercilious than a chamber orchestra? What could be more vital than preserving cultural masterpieces, of adequately rewarding hard work and immense talent? Donate here.