Kuhmo Chamber Music

Kuhmo Chamber Music is the biggest and oldest chamber music festival in Finland - over 60 concerts in 14 days, over 350 compositions in the concerts, over 100 international artists on the stage. "The Festival of the Year 2026" in Finland.

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The 56th Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival will take place from July 12–25, 2026. The theme for the year is "Celebrations & Ceremonies". The festival will celebrate various annual festivities from Easter to May Day, Midsummer, and Christmas, as well as birthdays and anniversaries of composers and artists. One person’s celebration may be another’s ordinary day – even consumerism will be part of the theme.A significant part of the celebration will be the European Capital of Culture year for Oulu and its 39 neighboring municipalities. Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival will be closely involved and contribute to the Spotlight of Europe theme with three commissioned premieres. Compositions have been commissioned from composers Olli Mustonen, Krishna Nagaraja, and Cecilia Damström.

Around 100 international artists will come and perform in Kuhmo. Among them will be violinists Elina Vähälä, Sergey Malov and Daniel Rowland, pianists Olli Mustonen and Tuija Hakkila, cellists Tuomas Lehto, Trey Lee and David Cohen, and the Meta4 string quartet, Trio Storioni and the Orsino Ensemble.The concerts are held in three wonderful wooden venues – in Kuhmo’s beautiful old church (built in 1816), at the Kuhmo Arts Centre (built in 1993) and in the Tuupala School (2018). The concert venues are all within walking distance of one another, or bicycles are a popular means of getting about, for artists and audiences alike. Music is everywhere. There are concerts from morning to late at night, and people just live for the music. In the evenings, gathered round an open fire in the yard of the festival restaurant, musicians and festival-goers get together and strike up friendships.

The program will be published in January 2026.

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Welcome to Kuhmo - the capital of chamber music!