TMF 2026: The Beauty of the Husband

Poetry and music meet in a concert experience inspired by The Beauty of the Husband by Canadian writer Anne Carson. The multidisciplinary artists Mikko Perkola, Kjartan Sveinsson, and María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir create a slowly unfolding soundscape in which Carson’s texts and meditative music intertwine into a unified whole.

The Beauty of the Husband is an award-winning and original work that blurs the boundaries between poetry, essay, and fiction. It is an intense portrayal of a doomed marriage, weaving together classical references with raw personal experience. The concert features excerpts from the work, with the texts forming the basis for a minimalist and gradually evolving musical flow.

The collaboration between viol player, singer, and composer Mikko Perkola, and internationally renowned Icelandic composers and musicians Kjartan Sveinsson (Sigur Rós) and María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, emerges from the meeting of different art forms and musical expressions. The performance takes place in the Bonfire Hall of Åbo Akademi’s new Astra building, whose intimate and modern setting offers a new kind of concert experience in the heart of Turku.

The Beauty of the Husband is a poetic concert experience in which music and words create a slowly unfolding space – a meditative journey through themes of connection and longing.