NEWS
KIMITOÖN MUSIC FESTIVAL 2026 – THE SUMMER HIGHLIGHT IN THE ARCHIPELAGO
The Music Festival will take place 6–12 July 2026 around Kimito island and the surrounding areas. This summer’s programme brings together international top musicians, new guest artists, and familiar performers from previous years. The festival venues include churches, manor houses, and art museums with a strong cultural and historical background.
The opening concert, performed by the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, draws its programme from the love rhetoric of the Baroque era. The soloist is Danish bass‑baritone Jakob Bloch Jespersen, and the concert will also feature the world premiere of a new work by Paola Livorsi, with Jespersen as the soloist.
New artists at the festival include violinist Kreeta‑Julia Heikkilä, cellist Kati Raitinen, and tenor Tuomas Katajala, who together with guitarist Petri Kumela gives Schubert’s Winterreise a new dimension through Kumela’s guitar arrangements. In Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Katajala is joined by pianist Mackenzie Melemed, whose performances last summer charmed the audience. The series of premieres continues with the festival’s first-ever brass ensemble, as the brass septet Cono makes its debut at the Music Festival and performs Jaakko Kilpeläinen’s work Austere. The septet will also appear in several other concerts.
As in previous years, violist Roland Glassl, cellist Samuli Peltonen, and guitarist Petri Kumela will participate. Music journalist Tuulikki Närhinsalo will speak about the background of Winterreise and about American piano music from three centuries. She will also serve as host of the lunch concert in Labbnäs.
Following last year’s successful concert in Angelniemi Church, it will once again serve as a concert venue. The traditional lunch concert in Labbnäs combines music with the archipelago’s delicacies. The concerts on Sandö and Söderlångvik take the audience on a musical journey to the Mediterranean. The double concert From Church to Church in Västanfjärd’s new and old churches returns to the programme. As evening falls, a torchlit procession in folk costumes leads the audience from the new church to the candlelit concert in the old church. At Salo Art Museum Veturitalli, visitors can enjoy gems of both music and visual art.
Tickets are now on sale via Lippupiste. Tickets can also be pre‑ordered directly from the Music Festival without a service fee until 6 June 2026.
MAILING OF PROGRAM BROCHURES TO HOME ADDRESSES
We aim to reduce unnecessary mail and environmental impact. Therefore, this year we will send the brochure by post only to those who order it separately.
Printed brochures can be picked up at K‑Supermarket and S‑Market in Kimito, Villa Lande, the ticket office of Turku Concert Hall, as well as at Luckan in Turku and Helsinki.
The brochure can also be read in electronic form on our website.
Order the brochure here »»
WELCOME TO ALL NEW AND RETURNING MEMBERS
Read more here »»
Opening Concert 2026 – collaboration with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra continues
This past summer, we heard Lara Poe’s fantastic commissioned work, premiered by the Finnish Baroque Orchestra. Next year, we are delighted to continue this excellent collaboration. In the festival’s opening concert, the audience will experience a dialogue between baroque and contemporary music, as baroque repertoire is combined with a new commissioned work by Paola Livorsi. The opening concert will take place, according to festival tradition, on Tuesday at 7:00 pm in Kimito Church.
A winter journey in the nuances of tenor and guitar
Schubert’s Winterreise will be presented in a new and intimate interpretation. Tenor Tuomas Katajala and guitarist Petri Kumela bring the listener closer to the work through a sensitive guitar arrangement that opens up its poetic world in a subtle and compelling way.
Kumela’s arrangement preserves the work’s original structure, while the guitar’s sound world offers a fresh perspective. The result is a performance that is both faithful to the original and boldly distinctive. The concert will take place on Wednesday, July 8, at 7:00 pm in Karuna Church.
Give the gift of a musical experience at Kimito Island Music Festival 2026
Gift cards for the Kimito Island Music Festival are a perfect present for anyone who loves music and the beautiful archipelago surroundings. Gift cards can be purchased by email from the festival and later redeemed for tickets to the Kimito Island Music Festival, held July 6–12, 2026. You choose the amount, and the recipient chooses the concert or concert package they prefer.
Order gift cards by email at musikfestspel@kimf.fi.
Gift cards are primarily delivered electronically.