The Helsinki Strings, formed of students from the East Helsinki Music Institute and the Sibelius Academy, has fifty members from the ages of 10 to 20. The orchestra was founded by its conductors Csaba and Géza Szilvay in 1972.

The Helsinki Strings have released 30 records and made over 70 television programmes, of which the series entitled "Minifiddlers in Musicland" marked a new era in music education in Finland. A substantial number of today’s active professional musicians and music teachers have played as members of the Helsinki Strings over the years, and a number have achieved international reputation. Besides Finland, the orchestra has given concerts in Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, The Faroe Islands, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Russia, The United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Throughout their existence, the Helsinki Strings have demonstrated how an extensive music education and a high-level performance schedule can complement one another. Through concert tours and demonstrations the orchestra has made Finland, Finnish music and string pedagogy known all over the world.

The Helsinki Strings wish to thank the Finnish Ministry of Education, Finnish foundations and funds, companies, other organizations and private persons for their continuous support.

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The work started by the Helsinki Strings in the development of string pedagogy and the cultural development through youth orchestras is known and appreciated practically world-wide. The teachers of the young artists believe that a child musician can create real art open to assessment according to absolute artistic standards. The outcome of the concerts and demonstrations by the Helsinki Strings has been that youth orchestras of many countries, which had earlier mainly enriched programmes of school celebrations, are being invited to appear in concert halls as a new class of performers.

Through providing their own interpretation of music appropriate for their maturity and performance level, especially of national works, children can become active participants in the cultural life. For this pioneering work the orchestra welcomes the contributions of contemporary composers and music authorities.

One of the orchestra’s main purposes is to act as a source of inspiration for Finnish children. The orchestra wants to convince parents, educators and the authorities of the importance of children playing instruments in a group. Forming and training groups like these is the most important duty of music pedagogy, not only from a professional but also from a national and international point of view.

Only as individuals brought up in a community can children develop into artists who cannot only express themselves but are also able to make an artistic contribution to society and thus help realise the function of art. Zoltán Kodály has said:

”Talent is not solely the possession of the one who has it; others can claim on it as well. But a talented person may discover that the gift does not decrease however generously it is shared. On the contrary, it will thereby multiply.”