Wasn't sure where to put this post...but since this is rather hilarious...this fits very easily into the realm of Sibelian humor...

This evening I was listening to L.A.'s classical station, KUSC, online. Right as I tuned in, they were playing the Karelia Suite. Of course, I had to stop and listen.

After the conclusion of the work, the announcer, Jim Svejda, remarked...

"Petri Sakari led the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Karelia Suite...BY EDVARD GRIEG."

My jaw dropped. I quickly went to their website to check their playlist and it says Sibelius online...I'm am extremely shocked that Svejda, a veteran classical radio announcer, would make such a mistake.

Very funny...!

Nice one... we had a Classic FM presenter who once announced the famous 'One Eight One Two' overture by Tchaikovsky

Along these lines, next week my orchestra is playing the Mozart Symphony by Haffner.

You would expect that classical music stations would ensure that announcers had a basic knowledge of the repertoire. Only recently Sir Colin Davies was about to conduct Sibelius's second symphony. The lady, talking with great authority told us that Sir Colin was one of todays greatest Mahlerians. Sir Colin of course makes only occasional forays into Mahler. These kind of slips seem to be happening more and more.--kp

Well, I'd like to think it was an innocent mistake on Mr. Svejda's part. As I mentioned, he is a veteran classical radio announcer/presenter and he has a very wide ranging "expert" grasp of his subject matter. I think you would have to have such a grasp in order to have the reputation he does in Los Angeles, one of the world's "great" (for lack of a better word) cities.

I did not hear his intro to the piece, only the outro. I don't know what he said as he was introducing it...maybe at the end it was just a slip of the tongue and he didn't realize what he said. Though he did not go back and correct himself at all after the gaffe...