Held annually since 1995, the World Village Festival is a free festival that all the family can enjoy, providing introductions to different cultures from around the world. Growing in popularity with every passing year, last year’s festival was visited by around 105,000 people! Held in the centre of Helsinki, in Central Railway Square and Kaisaniemi [...]
The largest Finnish event featuring contemporary music, Musica Nova Helsinki will be held for the 22nd time between the 8th and 16th of February. This year’s festival will present a veritable smörgåsbord of music from Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. The theme in for the 2013 event is “Orient-Occident”, one of the most [...]
Although it hardly seems credible, there is case to be made that Finland, rather than Argentina, is the foremost tango country in the world, at least in terms of numbers. The most obvious indication that this is so is the annual Tangomarkkinat (tango festival) held in Seinäjoki, where over 150,000 people take part every year. [...]
Organised every year since 1997 by the non-profit Night Visions, with support from the Finnish National Council for Cinema and the Cultural Office of Helsinki City (among others), the Night Visions Film Festival is the oldest, biggest, and most prestigious film festival in the country that focuses on fantasy, horror, and science fiction, with an [...]
Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular Based on the six-part BBC miniseries that first aired in 1999, this show is one of the most successful stadium shows ever. Since its first inception as Walking with Dinosaurs – The Live Experience which first appeared in Australia at the beginning of 2007, there have been close [...]
This Sunday Helsinki will once again host its oldest traditional event, the Baltic Herring Fair, which has been held every year since 1743. Helsinki may be celebrating 200 years as capital of Finland, but this event is celebrating 270 years! From the 7th to the 13th of October, Helsinki’s Market Square will attract fishermen from [...]
// The Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy was launched in 1988, with the aim of promoting the art of film making by screening inventive, visually stunning (and often controversial) new movies, as well as showing films that would otherwise not be screened in Finland. HIFF has been held every year since then, [...]
// By now, anyone who has already visited Helsinki in 2012, or indeed anyone who has considered visiting Finland’s capital, will be aware of its proud designation of World Design Capital 2012. There are reminders everywhere, from the brand new Chapel of Silence in Narinkka square to the bright red public seats that have popped [...]
As the summer draws to an end in Helsinki, the new programme for the 2012/13 has been announced for the Finnish National Opera, and for the Finnish National Ballet which is celebrating its 90th anniversary. There are over 100 opera performances to look forward to, with 14 operas, of which 6 will be premieres. Those [...]
At 6pm on June 22nd the festival of juhannus begins in Finland, at the same time as the Finnish flag is raised on all public buildings. The celebration of Midsummer in Finland has its roots in pre-Christian traditions when Finns celebrated Ukon juhla, the feast of Ukko, who was the pagan god of fertility and [...]
