Usedom Music Festival 2025: Spotlight on Finland
As autumn’s light softens and the Baltic Sea grows rougher, the Usedom Music Festival opens its doors and invites you on a musical journey to the far North. From 20 September to 11 October 2025, Finland takes centre stage—a land of vastness and quiet poetry. The programme reflects the full sonic diversity of this year’s guest country. It spans from Jean Sibelius to Einojuhani Rautavaara, from choral and vocal art to chamber music and symphonic highlights, and even the passionate Tango Finlandés.
The Usedom Music Festival 2025 opens on 20 September with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic under the baton of Joshua Weilerstein at the Peenemünde Power Plant. The evening’s soloist is the young Finnish violinist Iidamari Ahonen, recipient of the Usedom Music Prize 2025. Further highlights include Tango Finlandés on 26 September with Esko Laine, principal double bassist of the Berlin Philharmonic; a concert evening of romantic songs on 1 October with Mika Kares, one of Finland’s most eminent basses; and on 4 October, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Symphony Concert conducted by Susanna Mälkki, featuring soprano Camilla Nyland. The Grand Trio Vilnius, founded by long-time festival guest David Geringas, makes its festival debut. Contemporary sounds come to the island on 5 October with the Finnish ensemble TampereRaw. The festive closing on 11 October is presented by the renowned male choir Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat, performing Finnish folk songs and choral works in Wolgast.
The collaboration between Finland and the Usedom Music Festival opens exciting opportunities to bring Finnish artists and Nordic musical culture closer to an international audience.
Finland’s rich musical culture shines through in other highlights as well. Anna Morottaja is a singer and political activist of the Inari Sámi people from Northern Lapland. In the first festival week, she will sing traditional Lapland songs on 21 September in the village church of Liepe, and the next day discuss “Climate Change and Traditional Culture” with Jüri Reinvere.
During the second festival weekend, on 27 September, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra performs festive Baltic Sea region music with improvisations on the traditional Finnish bowed lyre (Jouhikko) in Świnoujście (Swinemünde). On 28 September, the Finnish ensemble Gamut! reflects on the impermanence of natural habitats in their poetic and associative sound and visual performance Flos—in collaboration with artist Vappu Rossi and sound designer Tuomas Norvio—followed by Folk in Finnish on 30 September with the band Värttinä.
And as every year, a well-known TV actor will read from a Finnish classic—on 2 October, Robert Stadlober reads from Aleksis Kivi’s great national novel The Seven Brothers, accompanied by Hideyo Harada on piano. The gala concert on 3 October features 19th-century Finnish-Swedish chamber music with the Sundqvist Quintet, led by the renowned clarinettist Christoffer Sundqvist, soloist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. For those wishing not only to listen but also to dance, the Berlin quartet Satumaa will whisk audiences away into northern tango dreams on 3 October in the concert tent on Ahlbeck Beach. And to fully embrace the Finnish lifestyle, visitors can enjoy the sauna by the sea next to the tent from 2 to 5 October, with a direct view of the Baltic Sea..
We look forward to jointly presenting the richness and expression of Finnish music at our festival (...) Because music connects people and creates a place of togetherness in challenging times.
Alongside Finnish music, international diversity is not neglected. In the first week of the festival, accordion virtuoso and YCA prizewinner Radu Ratoi will demonstrate the impressive range of his instrument — from Bach to Nørgård. The West African band Sahad combines African rhythms with jazz and blues on 24 September at Villa Esplanade, Heringsdorf, opening a sonorous “window to the world”. Already on 21 September, the Mozart Piano Quartet performs a programme of works by Sibelius, Hannikainen, and Brahms. The festival’s first “lying concert” promises a special atmosphere on 25 September at the Heringsdorf Tourism Service Centre: Falk Schönfelder (piano), Matthias Hübner (cello), and Romy Möhrke (vocals) will transport the audience into ethereal sound worlds. On 10 October in Zinnowitz, actor Frank Arnold will read from Geese, Trees, Artists’ Dreams, accompanied by Jan Brachmann on piano with works by Agnes Tschetschulin and Ilmari Hannikainen. Throughout much of the festival, the exhibition The Moomins Are Coming! can be seen at Villa Irmgard in Heringsdorf. The lovingly drawn trolls by the Finland-Swedish author Tove Jansson have long since achieved cult status worldwide. The exhibition opens on 23 September.