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 festival, it is possible to hear various kinds of Karelian music, as well as participate in communal singing and sing in Karelian in Sunday's liturgy. Performing in Valamo are Ilomantsi Male Singers, Loimolan Voima, Pajojoukko Bratanat, and Suistamo Quartet. Additionally, Jonna Ortju's musical monologue "Juuli of Old Valamo" will be experienced, and the Karelian folk dances of folk dance group Motora will be admired.
You can transform from listener to participant at the communal singing evening, the Karelian competition, and the Karelian-language liturgy rehearsals under the direction of cantor Varvara Merras. Sunday's liturgy will be performed 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 wearing a Karelian folk costume or part of one if you wish.
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 Karelian music and also participate in communal songs and sing in Karelian in Sunday's liturgy. Performing in Valamo are Ilomantsi Male Singers, Loimolan Voima, Pajojoukko Bratanat, and Suistamo Quartet. Additionally, Jonna Ortju's musical monologue "Juuli of Old Valamo – On the Sisters' Journey" will be heard, and the Karelian dances of the folk dance group Motora will be admired.
You can become a participant from a listener in communal singing evenings and Karelian-language liturgy rehearsals under the guidance of cantor Varvara Merras. Sunday's liturgy will be held partly in Karelian, and some hymns will be sung by the entire congregation. Tickets can be bought for individual concerts, for Saturday, or for the entire weekend.
You can also participate by dressing in Karelian costumes or wearing a part of them.
Welcome to Valamo's unique Karelian song festival!
PROGRAM OF THE SONG FESTIVAL
Fri 25.9.
4:00 PM-7:00 PM Dinner (self-funded 16 €/person)
6:00 PM Vespers
7:30 PM Opening of the Days: Abbot Archimandrite Mikael
7:45 PM Communal Singing Evening: Cantor Varvara Merras and accordionist Mikael Shemeikka
8:30 PM Karelian Supper
Sat 26.9.
6:00 AM Matins and Liturgy
8:30 AM Monastery Breakfast
9:15 AM Church Songs in Karelian, communal rehearsal: Varvara Merras
10:00 AM "Juuli of Old Valamo" - musical monologue, Jonna Ortju
11:15 AM Concert by Ilomantsi Male Singers, directed by dir.cant. Pekka Varonen
12:00 PM Moleben or Prayer Service
12:30 PM Karelian Lunch
2:00 PM Folk Dance Group Motora's Riehakat
2:45 PM Karelian Competition: Olga Gokkoeva
3:30 PM Coffee / Tea Break
4:30 PM Loimolan Voima Concert
6:00 PM Vigil
8:30 PM Valamo Tea Table
9:30 PM-11:00 PM Evening event at Restaurant Trapesa: Pajojoukko Bratanat and communal singing!
Sun 27.9.
7:30 AM-10:00 AM Monastery breakfast
9:00 AM Liturgy, partly in Karelian
11:00 AM Karelian Lunch
room check-out by 12:00 PM
12:30 PM Suistamo Quartet Concert
Concerts in Valamo Cultural Center, meals at Restaurant Trapesa, and services in the monastery's main church.
Package Prices Fri-Sun
Monastery Hotel double room 192 €/person
Small Hotel single room 182 €
Guest House single room 162 €
Guest House double room 152 €/person
Guest House triple 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 AM until 6:00 PM
Suistamo Quartet concert Sun 27.9. at 12:30 PM, individual tickets 20 €/person. Advance bookings to Valamo Sales Service. Tickets at the door, if seats are available
Registration by 14.9.2026
Bookings and additional 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.
Weekend Performers:
Jonna Ortju
Multidisciplinary artist and music therapist Jonna Ortju has had time to offer art and culture of all kinds to her audience during her 40-year career. Already as a little girl, Jonna knew that performing, singing, and acting were her calling. Very soon, her own compositions, scripts, and directions were also included. Jonna has worked as a pop-jazz vocal 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 several fairy tale characters, company brands, and products. Last year, Jonna performed two premieres in theater: The major production Niskavuori musical and the musical monologue, Juuli of Old Valamo, which premiered in Valamo. The story tells about Jonna's great-aunt's life in border Karelia, Old Lintula, her evacuation journey, and life in inner Finland. Valamo is an important place for Jonna, where one can find peace and even complete art projects in an encouraging and inspiring atmosphere.
Juuli of Old Valamo – musical monologue
Script, dramatization, direction, and performance of the work: Jonna Ortju
Juuli of Old Valamo is a story about life's fate and the journey it dictates. Jonna's great-aunt Juuli Ortju was born as the daughter of a large farming family in Uuksu village, 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 novices at Old Lintula Monastery in Kivennapa, including Juuli. When the war broke out, the evacuation journey to inner Finland began.
The war complicated many things, everything according to Juuli, and because of it, life did not go as many had imagined.
The music of the work includes older Karelian-language, newer Finnish-language, and music composed by Jonna's younger son, Alvi Ortju. Music production Viljami Ortju.
Ilomantsi Male Singers, directed by dir. cant. Pekka Varonen
Founded in 1948, the Ilomantsi Male Singers have previously tackled Karelian-language repertoire, but this time the perspective is new. In 2025, the choir launched a project where it aims to revive the use of the Karelian language through male choir music. The choir has had music pieces, already familiar to today's audience, translated into the Livvi dialect of the Karelian language. The translation work for 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 the work of the choir's director, dir. cant. Pekka Varonen. The arrangements have utilized the natural rhythm of the Karelian language. Both the translation work and the creation of new arrangements have been supported by a grant from the Karelian Culture Promotion Foundation.
The Ilomantsi Male Singers is a vibrant, goal-oriented, 20-member Karelian village choir that brings together singers of different ages and backgrounds. The choir recognizes within itself the desire to renew, the joy of singing, and an open-minded approach to repertoire selection. The choir's director, M.Mus., dir. cant. Pekka Varonen (b. 1968) has studied choir conducting with Heikki Liimola and Timo Nuoranne at the Sibelius Academy, among others, and has served as artistic director of 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 beloved Motora choreographies that have been hidden in the archives. The group primarily consists of dancers who participate in the association's other group, have danced for a long time, and are seeking new dance challenges. The group's main purpose is to create team spirit among Motora's various groups. The group is led by dance pedagogue Mitja Pilke.
Loimolan Voima
Loimolan Voima is a band that creates new Karelian-language folk music, with roots deep in 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 mother tongue in Finland.
The band, which released its debut album Ruttomužikan kyynäl in 2020, has performed over a hundred gigs, visited Germany and Estonia, released two albums, and been awarded Folk Music Album of the Year in 2021, Folk Music Creator 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 for the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival.
Loimolan Voima's concert in Valamo is part of their new album release tour.
Praasniekat are the central theme of the Il'lan pruazniekka album, connecting the songs. 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. Iljan praasniekka also hints at the stories told by Il'la Šinda from Suistamo, and most of the album's songs contain at least a small reference to Šinda's narratives. However, the topics of the songs are approached from a contemporary perspective.
The album release concert is at Karjalatalo on May 17th, and tickets can now be purchased at a reduced price.
Pajojoukko Bratanat
Pajojoukko Bratanat is a Karelian-language vocal ensemble whose repertoire encompasses all different forms of the Karelian language, as well as diverse folk music from runo-singing to new contemporary folk. The band's first digital EP "Pilbazie" was released in autumn 2024. Pilbazie features four folk tunes from Suistamo arranged in the Bratanat style. As fellow choristers, Bratanat also sing bass in the Järvenpää Orthodox Church Choir.
Line-up:
Marko Meijer – vocals, guitar, percussion
Timo Mokkila – vocals
Mika Saatsi – vocals, string and percussion instruments, kantele
Mikael Shemeikka – vocals, accordion, kantele
Suistamo Quartet
The Suistamo Quartet'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 events, singing both Karelian folk songs in the Karelian language and Traveler's Songs dear to many evacuated Orthodox Christians.
Singing in the quartet are the siblings of Suistamo background, cantor Varvara Merras and Archpriest Teo Merras, teacher Maria Lampinen of Suistamo background, and Maria's spouse Archdeacon Juha Lampinen, a true son-in-law of Suistamo with Salmi roots!
