Valamo Karelian Song Festival 25.-27.9.2026
Valamo's first Karelian song festival will be held on the last weekend of September at Valamo Monastery. During the song festival, it is possible to hear various kinds of Karelian music, as well as participate in communal singing and sing in Karelian during Sunday's liturgy. Performing in Valamo are Ilomantsin Mieslaulajat, Loimolan Voima, Pajojoukko Bratanat, and Suistamo-kvartetti. Additionally, you will experience Jonna Ortju's musical monologue "Vanhan Valamon Juuli" and admire the Karelian folk dances by the folk dance group Motora.
You can transform from a listener to a participant in the communal singing evening, a Karelian quiz, and Karelian-language liturgy rehearsals under the direction of cantor Varvara Merras. Sunday's liturgy will be partly in Karelian, and some hymns will be sung by the entire congregation. Tickets can be purchased for individual concerts, for Saturday, or for the whole weekend.
You can also participate by dressing in a Karelian folk costume or part of it.
Welcome to Valamo's unique Karelian song festival!
Valamo Karelian Song Festival 25.-27.9.2026
Valamo's first Karelian song festival will be held on the last weekend of September at Valamo Monastery. During the song festival, you can hear various kinds of Karelian music and participate in communal singing and sing in Karelian during Sunday's liturgy. Performing in Valamo are Ilomančin miespajattajat, Loimolan Voima, Pajojoukko Bratanat, and Suistamo-kvartetti. Additionally, you will hear Jonna Ortju's musical monologue "Vanhan Valamon Juuli – with the sisters" and admire the Karelian dances by the folk dance group Motora.
You can transform from a listener to a participant in the communal singing sessions and Karelian-language liturgy rehearsals under the direction of cantor Varvara Merras. Sunday's liturgy will be partly in Karelian, and some hymns will be sung by the entire congregation. Tickets can be purchased for individual concerts, for Saturday, or for the entire weekend.
You can also participate by dressing in Karelian folk attire or part of it.
Welcome to Valamo's unique Karelian song festival!
SONG FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Fri 25.9.
16:00-19:00 Dinner (self-funded 16 €/ person)
18:00 Vespers
19:30 Festival Opening: Abbot Archimandrite Mikael
19:45 Communal Singing Evening: Cantor Varvara Merras and accordionist Mikael Shemeikka
20:30 Karelian Evening Snack
Sat 26.9.
6:00 Morning Service and Liturgy
8:30 Monastery Breakfast
9:15 Church Songs in Karelian, communal rehearsal: Varvara Merras
10:00 "Vanhan Valamon Juuli" - musical monologue, Jonna Ortju
11:15 Concert by Ilomantsin Mieslaulajat, conducted by dir. cant. Pekka Varonen
12:00 Moleben, or Prayer Service
12:30 Karelian Lunch
14:00 Folk dance group Motora's Riehakat
14:45 Karelian Quiz: Olga Gokkoeva
15:30 Coffee / Tea Break
16:30 Concert by Loimolan Voima
18:00 Vigil
20:30 Valamo Tea Table
21:30-23:00 Evening gathering at Restaurant Trapesa: Pajojoukko Bratanat and communal singing!
Sun 27.9.
7:30-10:00 monastery breakfast
9:00 Liturgy, partly in Karelian
11:00 Karelian Lunch
room check-out by 12:00
12:30 Concert by Suistamo-kvartetti
Concerts at Valamo Cultural Center, meals at Restaurant Trapesa, and services in the monastery's main church.
Package Prices Fri-Sun
Monastery Hotel, 2 persons/room 192 €/ person
Small Hotel, 1 person/room 182 €
Guest House, 1 person/room 162 €
Guest House, 2 persons/room 152 €/ person
Guest House, 3 persons/room 142 €
The package includes accommodation, breakfasts, the program, and the meals mentioned therein.
Sat 26.9. Day Program 46 €/ person
-includes the program from 9:15 to 18:00
Individual Tickets 20 €/ concert / monologue / dance performance
Individual tickets for concerts and performances will go on sale at a later announced date.
Registration by 14.9.2026
Reservations and further information:
tel. 017 570 1810
salesservice@valamo.fi
Valamo Karelian Song Festival is organized in cooperation with Karjalan Sivistysseura ry. The event is part of Karjalan Sivistysseura's 120th-anniversary program.
Performers of the Weekend:
Jonna Ortju
Multidisciplinary artist and music therapist Jonna Ortju has, during her 40-year career, offered her audience a wide range of art and culture. Even as a little girl, Jonna knew that performing, singing, and acting were her calling. Very soon, her own compositions, scripts, and direction were added. Jonna has worked as a pop-jazz singing teacher since the 90s and as an artist in numerous ensembles, from gospel to jazz, classical to entertainment, and children's music. She has worked as a studio musician for several artists and developed many fairytale characters, corporate brands, and products. Last year, Jonna performed two premieres in theater: the major production Niskavuori musical and, in Valamo, the musical monologue 'Vanhan Valamon Juuli' premiered. The story tells of Jonna's great-aunt's life in border Karelia, in Vanha Lintula, her evacuation journey, and life in inland Finland. Valamo is an important place for Jonna, where one can find peace and even complete art projects in an inspiring and inspiring atmosphere.
Vanhan Valamon Juuli – musical monologue
Script, dramatization, direction, and performance: Jonna Ortju
Vanhan Valamon Juuli is a story about the fate of life and the journey it dictates. Jonna's great-aunt Juuli Ortju was born as the daughter of a large farming family, in the village of Uuksu, Salmi, in August 1915. Old Valamo with its churches was an important place for the family, and religion was a significant part of life. The depression of the 1930s led several Karelian girls to become ascetics at Vanha Lintula Monastery in Kivennapa, including Juuli. When the war broke out, the evacuation journey to inland Finland began.
The war messed up many things, everything according to Juuli, and because of it, life did not turn out as many had imagined.
The work's music consists of older Karelian-language and newer Finnish-language music, as well as music composed by Jonna's younger son, Alvi Ortju. Music production by Viljami Ortju.
Ilomantsin Mieslaulajat, conducted by dir. cant. Pekka Varonen
Founded in 1948, Ilomantsin Mieslaulajat has previously delved into Karelian-language repertoire, but this time the perspective is new. In 2025, the choir launched a project where, through male choir music, it aims to revive the use of the Karelian language. The choir has had musical pieces, already familiar to today's audience, translated into the Livvi dialect of the Karelian language. The translation of the songs was done by KM Hannu Lappalainen, who studied the Karelian language at the University of Eastern Finland, and the new male choir arrangements are by dir. cant. Pekka Varonen, who leads the choir. The natural rhythm of the Karelian language has been utilized in the arrangements. Both the translation work and the creation of new arrangements have been supported by a grant from the Foundation for the Promotion of Karelian Culture.
Ilomantsin Mieslaulajat is a lively, goal-oriented, 20-member Karelian village choir that brings together singers of various ages and backgrounds. The choir recognizes within itself the desire to renew, the joy of singing, and open-mindedness in repertoire selection. The choir's conductor, M.Mus., dir. cant. Pekka Varonen (b. 1968) has studied choral conducting under Heikki Liimola and Timo Nuoranne at the Sibelius Academy, among others, and has served as artistic director for several choirs since 1985.
Folk Dance Group Motora's Riehakat
Riehakat is one of Motora's adult folk dance groups, which aims to maintain Motora's existing repertoire and revive Motora's beloved choreographies hidden in the archives. The group consists mainly of dancers who participate in another group of the association, have danced for a long time, and seek new dance challenges. The group's main purpose is to foster team spirit among Motora's different groups. The group is led by dance pedagogue Mitja Pilke.
Loimolan Voima
Loimolan Voima is a band creating new Karelian-language folk music, whose roots extend deep into Border Karelia. The band consists of brothers Mika ”Miša” Saatsi and Niko ”Miikkula” Saatsi, who grew up in Lieksa and have roots in Suistamo.
Miša is responsible for compositions, and Miikkula writes the lyrics directly in proper Karelian. The brothers' mission is to make the endangered Karelian language known through music. Approximately 11,000 people speak Karelian as their native language in Finland.
The band, which released its debut album Ruttomužikan kyynäl in 2020, has performed over a hundred gigs in a few years, visited Germany and Estonia, released two albums, and been awarded the folk music album of the year in 2021, folk music artist of the year in 2023, the Elmi Tsokkinen Memorial Medal in 2023, and the Risteys Award in 2024. This year, the band was chosen as the band of the year at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival.
Loimolan Voima's concert in Valamo is part of a new album release tour.
Praasniekat are a central and connecting theme for the Il'lan pruazniekka album. The album's name can be approached in two ways: Iljan praasniekka began the revival of the Karelian 'praasniekka' tradition in post-war Finland, and its celebration is also a central part of the Saatsi brothers' personal history. On the other hand, Iljan praasniekka also alludes to the stories told by Il'la Šinda from Suistamo, and most of the album's songs have at least a small reference to Šinda's sayings. However, the themes of the songs are approached from a contemporary perspective.
The album release concert is at Karjalatalo on May 17, and tickets for it are now available at a reduced price.
Pajojoukko Bratanat
Pajojoukko Bratanat is a Karelian-language singing group whose repertoire brings together all the different linguistic forms of Karelian and diverse folk music, from rune singing to new contemporary folk. The band's first digital EP "Pilbazie" was released in autumn 2024. Pilbazie contains four folk tunes from Suistamo, arranged in the Bratanat style. As choir mates, Bratanat also sing the bass part in the Järvenpää Orthodox Church Choir.
Lineup:
Marko Meijer – vocals, guitar, percussion
Timo Mokkila – vocals
Mika Saatsi – vocals, string and percussion instruments, kantele
Mikael Shemeikka – vocals, accordion, kantele
Suistamo-kvartetti
Suistamo-kvartetti's first performance took place in the early 2010s in connection with a Suistamo church feast at Uspenski Cathedral. Since then, the quartet has performed numerous times at Karelian and especially Suistamo-related events, singing both Karelian folk songs in the Karelian language and the 'Songs of the Wanderer' beloved by many evacuated Orthodox.
Singing in the quartet are siblings with Suistamo backgrounds, cantor Varvara Merras and archpriest Teo Merras, Maria Lampinen, a teacher with a Suistamo background, and Maria's husband, archdeacon Juha Lampinen, a true son-in-law of Suistamo with Salmi roots!
