Valamo Karelian Song Festival 25.-27.9.2026
Valamo's first Karelian Song Festival will be held on the last weekend of September at the Valamo Monastery. During the song festival, it is possible to hear a variety of Karelian music, participate in communal singing and sing in Karelian at the Sunday liturgy. The Ilomantsi Male Singers, Loimolan Voima, Pajojoukko Bratanat and the Suistamo Quartet will perform in Valamo. In addition, you will experience Jonna Ortju's musical monologue "Vanhan Valamon Juuli" and admire the Karelian folk dances of the folk dance group Motora.
You will be able to transform from a listener into a participant in a communal singing evening, a Karelian competition, and Karelian-language liturgy exercises under the direction of cantor Varvara Merras. The Sunday liturgy is partly conducted in Karelian, and some hymns are sung by the entire church congregation. Tickets are available for individual concerts, for Saturday or for the entire weekend.
You can also participate by dressing in a Karelian folk costume or part of it if you wish.
Welcome to Valamo's unique Karelian song festival!
Valamo Karelian folk song festival 25.-27.9.2026
Valamo enzimäine Karelian folk song festival pietäh syvyskuunn jälgämäzel nedälinlopul Valamo manasteris. During the Pajopruaznieka you can hear many Karelian musicians who have taken part in the Karelian liturgy. The Valamo concert will feature the Ilomančin men's choir, Loimolan Voima, the Pajojoukku Bratanat and the Suistamo Quartet. You can also listen to Jonna Ortju's musical monologue "Old Valamon Juuli - the journey of sisters" and the wonderful Karelian dance group Motoran.
The audience will enjoy the Karelian liturgy under the guidance of the Karelian-speaking cantor Varvara Merras. The Karelian liturgy is held in Karelian, and some of the choirs will be singing among the entire church congregation. Tickets can be purchased for individual concerts, or for the whole weekend.
You can choose to take a single Karelian route or take part in several of its events.
Come and see the Karelian festival performers!
SONG FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Fri 25.9.
16.00-19.00 Dinner (own expense 16 €/ people)
at 6:00 PM Evening Service
at 7:30 PM Opening of the day: Monastery director Archimandriitta Mikael
at 7:45 PM Evening of communal singing: Cantor Varvara Merras and harpist Mikael Shemeikka
at 8:30 PM Karelian evening meal
Sat 26.9.
at 6:00 AM Morning Service and Liturgy
at 8:30 AM Monastery breakfast
9:15 Church hymns in Karelian, joint rehearsal: Varvara Merras
10:00 “Old Valaam Juuli” musical monologue, Jonna Ortju
11:15 Ilomantsi Male Singers' Concert, conducted by dir.cant. Pekka Varonen
12:00 Moleben or prayer service
12:30 Karelian lunch
14:00 Folk dance group Motoran Riehakat
14:45 Karelian competition: Olga Gokkoeva
15:30 Coffee / tea break
16:30 Loimolan Voima concert
18:00 Vigil
20:30 Valamo tea table
9:30 PM-11:00 PM Evening at Trapesa restaurant: Pajojoukko Bratanat and singing together!
Sun 27.9.
7:30 AM-10:00 AM monastery breakfast
9:00 AM Liturgy, partly in Karelian
11:00 AM Karelian lunch
Rooms must be checked in by 12:00 PM
12:30 PM Suistamo Quartet Concert
Concerts at the Valamo Cultural Center, meals at the Trapesa restaurant and services at the monastery's main church.
Package prices Fri-Sun
Monastery hotel double room 192 €/ person
Small hotel single room 182 €
Guesthouse single room 162 €
Guesthouse double room 152 €/ person
Guesthouse 3 persons €142
The package includes accommodation, breakfasts, the program and the meals mentioned therein.
Sat 26.9. daily program 46 €/ person
-includes the program from 9:15 am to 6:00 pm
Individual tickets 20 €/ concert / monologue / dance performance
Individual tickets for concerts and performances will go on sale at a later date.
Registration by September 14, 2026
Reservations and additional information:
tel. 017 570 1810
myyntipalvelu@valamo.fi
The Valamo Karelian Song Festival is organized in cooperation with Karjalan Sivistysseura ry. The event is part of the Karjalan Sivistysseura ry's 120th anniversary program.
Performers of the weekend:
Jonna Ortju
Multifaceted artist and music therapist Jonna Ortju has managed to offer her audience art and culture from all angles during her 40-year career. Even as a little girl, Jonna knew that performing, singing and acting were her calling. Very soon, her own compositions, scripts and directing also came along. Jonna has worked as a pop-jazz singing teacher since the 90s and as an artist in numerous ensembles from gospel to jazz, from classical to light music and children's music. She has worked as a studio musician behind several artists and developed several fairy tale characters and corporate brands and products. Last year, Jonna made two premieres in the theater: Suurtuotto Niskavuori musical and the musical monologue Vanhan Valamon Juuli, which premiered in Valamo. The story tells of Jonna's great-aunt's life in border Karelia, Vanha Lintula, the evacuation journey and life in inland Finland. Valamo is an important place for Jonna, where she can find peace and even complete her art projects in an inspiring and motivating atmosphere.
Vanhan Valamo Juuli – musical monologue
Manuscript, dramatization, direction and performance of the work: Jonna Ortju
Vanhan Valamo Juuli is a story about the fate of life and the journey it determines. 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. Vanha Valamo with its church was an important place for the family and religion was an important part of life. The depression of the 1930s took several Karelian girls to compete in the Vanha Lintula Monastery in Kivennava, including Juuli. When the war broke out, the evacuation journey to central Finland began.
The war messed up many things, according to Juuli, everything, and because of that, life did not go as planned for many people.
The music of the work is older Karelian, newer Finnish, and 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, the Ilomantsin Mieslaulajat has previously tackled Karelian-language repertoire, but this time with a new perspective. In 2025, the choir launched a project in which it aims to contribute to the revival of the Karelian language through male choir music. The choir has translated pieces of music that are already familiar to today's audience into the Livonian dialect of Karelian. The translation of the songs was done by Hannu Lappalainen, who studied Karelian at the University of Eastern Finland, and the new male choir arrangements are the work of the choir's director, cant. Pekka Varonen. The arrangements make use of the natural rhythm of the Karelian language. Both the translation work and the creation of the new arrangements were supported by a grant from the Karelian Culture Promotion Foundation.
Ilomantsin Mieslaulajat is a lively, goal-oriented 20-member Karelian village choir that brings together singers of different ages and backgrounds. The choir recognizes in itself the desire to renew itself, the joy of singing and open-mindedness in the selection of repertoire. The choir's director, MuM, dir. cant. Pekka Varonen (b. 1968) has studied choral conducting, among others. at the Sibelius Academy under the direction of Heikki Liimola and Timo Nuorantee and has served as artistic director of several choirs since 1985.
Folk dance group Motoran Riehakat
Riehakat is one of Motora's adult folk dance groups, which strives to maintain Motora's existing repertoire and rekindle Motora's beloved choreographies that have been hidden in the archives. The group consists mainly of dancers who participate in the club's second group, have been dancing for a long time and are looking for new dance challenges. The purpose of the group is above all to create a sense of community between the different groups at Motora. The group is led by dance pedagogue Mitja Pilke.
Loimolan Voima
Loimolan Voima is a band that makes new Karelian folk music, with roots deep in Border Karelia. The band is formed by brothers Mika “Miša” Saatsi and Niko “Miikkula” Saatsi, who grew up in Lieksa and are originally from Suistamo.
Miša is responsible for the compositions and Miikkula writes the lyrics directly in West Karelian. The brothers' mission is to make the endangered Karelian language known through music. The Karelian language is spoken as a native language by approximately 11,000 people 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 won the Folk Music Album of the Year 2021, Folk Music Composer of the Year 2023, the Elmi Tsokkinen Memorial Medal 2023, and the Risteys Award 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 the new album's release tour.
Praasniekat is the central theme of Il'la's pruazniekka album and the theme that connects the songs. The title of the album can be approached in two ways: Iljan praasniekka started the revival of the Karelian praasniekka tradition in post-war Finland and its celebration is also a central part of the personal history of the Saatsi brothers. On the other hand, Iljan praasniekka also hints at the stories told by Il'la Šinda from Suistamo, and most of the songs on the album contain at least a small reference to Šinda's suakkuns. However, the topics of the songs are treated from a contemporary perspective.
The album's release concert will be held at Karjalatalo on 17.5. and tickets there are now available for purchase at a discounted price.
Pajojukkoo Bratanat
Pajojukkoo Bratanat is a Karelian-language vocal ensemble, whose repertoire includes all the different language forms of Karelia and diverse folk music from poetic songs to new contemporary folk. The band's first digi-ep "Pilbazie" was released in the fall of 2024. Pilbazie contains four folk tunes from Suistamo, arranged in a Bratan style. As choirmates, Bratanat also sings bass parts in the Järvenpää Orthodox Church Choir.
Lineup:
Marko Meijer – vocals, guitar, rhythm instruments
Timo Mokkila – vocals
Mika Saatsi – vocals, string and rhythm instruments, kantele
Mikael Shemeikka – vocals, accordion, kanteles
Suistamo Quartet
The Suistamo Quartet's first performance took place in the early 2010s in connection with the Suistamo church holiday at the Uspenski Cathedral. Since then, the quartet has performed numerous times in connection with Karelian and especially Suistamo events, singing both Karelian folk songs in the Karelian language and the Wanderer's songs, which are dear to many evacuee Orthodox.
The quartet features sisters from Suistamo, cantor Varvara Merras and rector Teo Merras, a teacher from Suistamo, and Maria Lampinen, Maria's husband, archdeacon Juha Lampinen, a true Suistamo son-in-law with Salmi roots!
