During the season that began in mid-May, more than 300 free performances were organised on Espa Stage, featuring more than 1,600 artists from nearly 40 countries. In addition to Europe, performers arrived from, among others, New Zealand, South Korea, the United States and Côte d ’Ivoire. The weather was favourable, as it rained on just nine event days during the season of three and a half months.
“This year, there was more time to plan the programme and for background work than before. This resulted in an exceptionally diverse and high-quality season. The aim was to include as many musical styles as possible and to offer a more abundant programme also for families with children,” says Cultural Producer Laura Pyrrö from Espa Stage.
As much as 60 percent more people gathered to Espa compared to 2023. In total, the concerts on Espa Stage gathered more than 140,000 listeners to the park this summer.
“The largest audiences, more than a thousand listeners, were gathered by, among others, A Love Letter to the Music of Love Records concert, Arja Saijonmaa, who performed on Espa Stage for the first time, ethno-pop artist Vilma Jää as well as opera singers Jaakko Ryhänen and Jyrki Anttila. However, the entire summer’s number one favourite was Aarne Alligaattori, who drew huge numbers of spectators to the park with two gigs,” Pyrrö says.
The Our Uusimaa concert series, supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Uusimaa Regional Fund, consisted of 21 concerts and attracted more than 14,000 listeners. The concert series included performances by Meta4 string quartet, Samae Koskinen as well as Paleface & Laulava Union.
In July and August, the Jazz-Espa festival brought top jazz to the stage. The series of fifteen concerts featured, among other things, top names of domestic jazz Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui and Wishamalii, as well as children’s band Megasakki, who received an Emma award on family day. Other crowd favourites at Jazz-Espa included Screaming Jay & The Bones, Freezer and Icelandic Sigurdur Rögnvaldsson Lúna. The total number of visitors to the festival was close to 8,000.
The ten-day Etno-Espa festival brought a diverse collection of world music to the heart of Helsinki in August. The biggest audiences at Etno-Espa were gathered by stars of the Night of the Arts Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L and Janne Masalin, Banda Caribe Helsinki and Jäine. The total number of visitors to Etno-Espa was approximately 12,000 people.
