The Guard's Band of Helsinki
The Guards band, founded in 1918 is an official orchestra of the armed forces of Finland. The orchestra performs in over 300 occations and 40 concerts annually. During the period of independence it has been among the official duties of the orchestra to take care of the state´s occations. The head of the Guards band, music major Elias Seppälä and music major Raine Ampuja both work as conductors of the orchestra. The conductors serve as special officers, in addition to beeing musicians the members of the band also represent their own military rank. The Guards band is the only full size professional wind orchestra in Finland. The number of musicians is 40, all symphonical wind instruments and percussion presented.