Joensuu City Orchestra

Joensuu City Orchestra

The Joensuu City Orchestra is an energetic symphony orchestra with a diverse repertoire and 35 active musicians. The orchestra gives about eighty performances each year, roughly one-third of which are symphony concerts. In addition to these, the orchestra performs church, chamber, and light music, as well as music for children and young people—not to mention rock. Jukka Untamala serves as the artistic director and chief conductor of the Joensuu City Orchestra. We also continuously engage in preventive cultural well-being work in schools, service centers, events, and businesses. In addition to concerts held at the Carelia Hall, the orchestra brings the joy of music to daycare centers, institutions, and festivals across eastern Finland, such as the Lieksa Brass Weeks and Ilosaarirock.

Orchestral activities began in Joensuu at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1953, the foundation was laid for the current Joensuu City Orchestra, which became a municipal orchestra in 1978. The orchestra’s first artistic director was Pekka Haapasalo. Following him, the artistic directors have been Juozas Domarkas, Atso Almila, Hannu Koivula, Esa Heikkilä, Jurjen Hempel, and Eero Lehtimäki. In the early 2020s, the orchestra’s artistic partners included Minna Pensola, Iiro Rantala, and Antti Tikkanen, after which Jukka Untamala took over as artistic director.