Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finnish: Kuhmon Kamarimusiikki) is an international chamber music festival held every July for two weeks in Kuhmo, Finland. It is the largest chamber music festival in Finland in terms of sold tickets. The festival attracts 6000-8000 visitors annually, with 95% of them being from Finland. The number of concerts held within the two weeks is around 70. Approximately 170 artists from Finland and abroad perform at the festival. The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival also offers music courses, master classes and chamber music workshops that are taught by the festival artists.
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History
The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival was founded by a Finnish cellist Seppo Kimanen in 1970. He and a handful of fellow students were looking for a place to arrange music courses and play chamber music. The total number of the audience in the 1970 festival was 800. In 2013, there were 72 concerts and over 36 000 tickets sold. Vladimir Mendelssohn has been the Artistic Director of the festival since 2005.
Venues
The main venue is the Kuhmo Arts Centre. It was opened in 1993, and it is renowned for both its acoustics and design. There are two halls; Lentua, which seats 668, and Pajakka, with 99 seats. Other venues include the Kontio School and Kuhmo Church.