Celebrate Finnish culture with a kantele performance by the Evergreen Livakat Kantele Group! This concert is included with Museum admission and registration is required.
What is a Kantele?
The kantele, Finland’s national instrument, is a powerful symbol of Finnish cultural heritage and is closely connected to the national epic, the Kalevala.
In the Kalevala, the wise hero Väinämöinen creates the first kantele from the jawbone of a giant pike, stringing it with the hair of a stallion. After losing that instrument, he fashions a second kantele from birch wood. According to Kalevala, the music of the kantele holds magical power. When Väinämöinen plays, the entire natural world grows still to listen—people, animals, forests, and even the waters.
The kantele later became an important national symbol during Finland’s 19th-century cultural awakening, when the Kalevala helped strengthen Finnish identity under Russian rule and prepared the nation for independence in 1917. Today the instrument remains central to Finnish folk music, ranging from traditional five-string kanteles to modern forty-string concert instruments.
Listen to the 2022 Kalevala Festival performance:
Spotlights
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50th Annual Kalevala Festival
This program is part of the 50th Annual Kalevala Festival. The Kalevala, Finland's national epic, is a collection of poems that contains stories based on oral poetry traditions from eastern and southeastern Finland.
About the Musicians
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The Evergreen Livakat Kantele Ensemble
BioThe Evergreen Livakat Kantele Ensemble is a kantele music group based in the Pacific Northwest, established 26 years ago by Satu Mikkola, a Finnish American music advocate.
In Partnership With
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Apr 9, 2026
Kalevala Festival: Folk Dance Class
Performance: 6:00-6:15pm; Class: 6:30-7:45pm
Free with Museum admission; RSVP required
