LAHTI ORGAN FESTIVAL GOES TO SYSMÄ!
5.8. klo 10:00 – 16:30
Join Us for a Classical Organ Excursion to Sysmä!
Travel by coach to the picturesque town of Sysmä for a day filled with music, culture, and local traditions. During the excursion, we will visit the Finnish Accordion Museum, enjoy lunch at the charming Café-Restaurant Suvi-Pinx, explore the organs of Sysmä Church, and attend an organ recital by Jaak Luts.
Before returning to Lahti, we will sample Sysmä’s famous SAHTI at Matkabaari, well known from the Finnish film One Hundred Litres of Sahti.
This is a trip not to be missed!
Schedule:
- 10:00 AM – Departure from the Marolankatu Tourist Bus Stop, Marolankatu, 15110 Lahti
- Visit to the Finnish Accordion Museum
- Lunch at Café-Restaurant Suvi-Pinx, with an opportunity to explore the art exhibition on display
- Introduction to Sysmä Church and organ recital by Jaak Luts
- Sahti tasting at Matkabaari
- 4:30 PM – Return to the Marolankatu Tourist Bus Stop, Marolankatu, 15110 Lahti
The excursion will be guided in Sysmä by Susanna Nordbeck.
Price: 120€ per person
After registering, you will receive an invoice by email. Your place on the excursion is confirmed upon payment of the invoice.
Registrations and confirmations must be completed no later than Wednesday, 22 July 2026.
Organ Recital Programme
Jaak Luts – organ
The recital features organ music ranging from the Baroque period to the Late Romantic era.
Prelude in G Minor, BuxWV 149
This is one of Dieterich Buxtehude’s best-known, most frequently performed, and most dramatic organ works. It is characterized by its energetic and brilliant style. The work traditionally consists of five sections, alternating between free, toccata-like passages and strict contrapuntal fugues.
Unusually, the piece begins with an ostinato bass theme instead of a traditional flowing toccata section. This is followed by a rhythmic four-part fugue. The middle section between the fugues is rhapsodic and improvisatory in character.
The second fugue is also a four-part fugue, whose subject bears some resemblance to that of the first. The improvisatory conclusion grows directly out of the second fugue and comes to an unexpected end.
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Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18
Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18, is one of the most famous and beloved organ works by the French composer César Franck. Composed between 1860 and 1862, the work represents French Romantic organ music at its finest and is especially admired for its singing melody and refined structure.
The composition belongs to Franck’s important collection Six Pièces and is dedicated to the organist and composer Camille Saint-Saëns.
The work is divided into three main sections, which are performed without interruption (attacca):
- Prelude
The piece opens with an intimate, gently rocking, and wistful melody accompanied by broken chords. This beautiful theme serves as the unifying element throughout the entire work. Near the end of the Prelude, a brief Lento passage, reminiscent of a church prayer, provides a transition to the next section. - Fugue
A short and classically clear four-part fugue. Its subject emerges naturally from the atmosphere of the Prelude but possesses a more stable character and is woven into a rich polyphonic texture. The fugue culminates in a grand and radiant conclusion. - Variation
The work returns to the mood of the opening and to the Prelude’s principal theme. In this variation, the melody remains exactly as it first appeared, but it is accompanied throughout by a continuous, flowing pattern of rapid sixteenth notes. This creates the work’s characteristic and almost hypnotically beautiful conclusion.
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Carillon de Westminster, Op. 54 No. 6
Louis Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster (Op. 54, No. 6) is one of the most famous and frequently performed works in the organ repertoire. Published in 1927, it forms part of the larger collection 24 Pièces de Fantaisie (Third Suite, Op. 54).
The piece is particularly renowned for its virtuosic transformation of the famous bell melody associated with Big Ben and the bells of Palace of Westminster.
The work begins with a quiet presentation of the bell theme, which gradually expands through increasingly complex harmonic and rhythmic layers toward a majestic, grandiose, and sweeping climax. Vierne dedicated the piece to the English organ builder Henry Willis.
It is often said that Vierne did not remember the bell melody entirely accurately from memory; as a result, the theme used in the composition differs slightly from the actual Westminster chime.