Oulu Music Festival in 1998 again brought a lot of talented musicians both from Finland and abroad to the city. The program included several chamber music concerts and solo piano concerts, and the impressive list of pianists included Ralf Gothoni, Olli Mustonen, Eero Heinonen, Aleksei Lybimov and Christian Zacharias.
The opening concert of the festival was all about old English music, performed by awarded Battalia Ensemble.