Finland on Music Theory Print

Aarre Merikanto

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Aarre Merikanto (29 June 1893 – 28 September 1958) was a Finnish composer. Life and career He was born in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland. His childhood he spent in Vilppula, Finland. He married Meri Grönmark in 1919. They had two daughters. He later married Evi Sylvia Mähönen. They had two sons, Ukri Uolevi Merikanto, a sculptor and Pan Ylermi Merikanto. He is considered a key figure in early Finnish modernism (together with Väinö Raitio and Ernest Pingoud) and several of his works, most notably the opera Juha, have obtained posthumous attention. As professor of composition in the Sibelius Academy (1951–1958) Merikanto taught several Finnish composers of the next generation, including Einojuhani Rautavaara, Usko Meriläinen, Aulis Sallinen and Paavo Heininen. Merikanto was diagnosed with lung cancer in the summer 1957, and he died on 28 September the following year, in Helsinki, aged 65. Main works * Juha, opera (1922; premiered in 1963) * Symphony No. 1 in B minor (1916) * Symphony No. 2 in A major (1918) * Symphonic Study (1928) * Symphony No. 3 (1953) * Violin Concerto No. 1 (1915) * Violin Concerto No. 2 (1925) * Violin Concerto No. 3 (1931; destroyed) * Violin Concerto No. 4

Aleksi Eeben

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Aleksi Eeben (born 2 July 1976), born Antti Aleksi Mikkonen, is a Finnish composer, sound designer, musician and programmer. He is best known for his musical contributions to the demoscene under the alias Heatbeat, where he has composed hundreds of modules using music tracker software and developed his own tools. He has also composed for video games, and was employed as a sound designer at Nokia (later Microsoft Mobile) between 2002 and 2015, creating many ringtones and sounds. His brother is Konsta Mikkonen, also a demoscene musician and dance producer known under the alias Muffler. Biography Early life Eeben has been interested in music and computers since he was a child, where he played with bongos and sung, and took basic tutorials from magazines. This led to him programming in BASIC on the VIC-20 and Commodore 64, as well as composing music. Demoscene and games Eeben joined the demoscene group Rebels in 1990, and later formed his own group Carillon, which merged with Cyberiad to form the group CNCD. He composed hundreds of tracks for demos and competitions, as well as the soundtrack for the Amiga game Elfmania. He later became inactive in the demoscene, although continued to c

Armas Launis

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Armas Launis (April 22, 1884 – August 7, 1959), was a Finnish composer as well as an ethnomusicologist, a professor, a writer and a journalist. He was born in Hämeenlinna. Composer Armas Launis was mainly an opera composer. He wrote ten operas (both libretto and music). Several were performed: *In Finland: “The Seven Brothers” (1913), the first Finnish opera comique, and “Kullervo” (1917), both in full stage performance, and a concert performance of “Aslak Hetta” in 2004 at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, directed by Sakari Oramo. *In France: stage performance of Kullervo (1940, Nice, Palais de la Méditerranée) with radio broadcasts on Paris-Inter and Radio Monte-Carlo (1938–1940). A short version of “Jehudith” was also broadcast in 1954 (Paris-Inter) Armas Launis also wrote chamber music pieces, cantatas, choruses, suites for orchestra, and the music of the first Finnish ethnographic film “A Wedding in Karelia, the Land of Poetry” (1921). Ethnomusicologist Launis was one of the first scholars to research and collect folk music. He was very open-minded; passionately fond of travels, which he undertook alone; and eager to meet other people. He travelled to Lapland (1904, 1905, 1922), Kain

Betty Boije

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Betty Natalie Boije af Gennäs (14 February 1822 - 14 November 1854), was a Swedish–Finnish opera and concert singer (contralto) and composer. Biography Boije was born on 14 February 1822 in Jakobstad, Grand Duchy of Finland to the Swedish nobleman Klas Otto Boije af Gennäs and Marianna Horn af Rantzien. Through her father Boije was a member of the family. Boije was one of eight children and was the sister of the pianist . Boije was raised in Finland, were her father had a position at the customs office of Pori. Betty Boije debuted as a concert singer in Turku in 1847. From 1847 to 1848, Boije was a student of the Swedish composer . She made a successful tour as a concert singer in Turku, Helsinki, Reval and Saint Petersburg. In 1849, she made her debut in Stockholm in Sweden. She was active as an opera singer at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1850-1851. She was described as an excellent alto and was given particular praise as Nancy in Martha, in which she made such a success that she was made to act in it again and again. She herself chose to leave the stage and return her profession as a concert singer. She performed in Finland, Denmark and Norway. In 1853-54, she toured

Carl Ludvig Lithander

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Carl Ludvig Lithander (26 January 1773 – 17 December 1843) Carl Ludvig Lithander appears to have stayed briefly in Königsberg, as he is listed as enrolled at the university there; in 1790 he however enrolled in Uppsala University in mainland Sweden. The following year he resided with an uncle in the Swedish capital Stockholm, left the university and joined the military instead. He graduated as an officer specialised in fortification in 1795. He thus never reached Turku and Finland, but kept in close contact with his siblings who had settled there, and who shared his musical interests. For example, he facilitated the procurement of a new piano, made in Stockholm, for the on their behalf. From 1804 he was employed as a teacher of mathematics at the Military Academy Karlberg, where he also was granted living quarters, and from 1809 as a lecturer in geometry and trigonometry. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1812, but two years later left active military service. During his time in the military, he also took music lessons from Georg Joseph Vogler and Johann Christian Friedrich Hæffner, and began producing musical compositions himself. Between 1801 and 1814 he was organist a

Cecilia Damström

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Cecilia Damström (born 28 July 1988) is a Finnish award-winning composer. She is known for expressing strong political opinions through her works for orchestra and choir. Career Born in Helsinki, Damström studied composition at Tampere University of Applied Sciences (2008–2014) and at Malmö Academy of Music (2014–2015 and 2017–2018) under the instruction of Hannu Pohjannoro and Luca Francesconi. Damström’s music has been performed by the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Brodsky Quartet, among others Damström has won the first prize at the International Vocal Espoo Choral Composition Competition, the International Linköpings Studentsångare Composition Award and the International Josef Dorfman Composition Competition. List of works Orchestra * Extinctions (2023), sinfoniaorkesterille, 20 min * Wasteland (2022), symphony orchestra, 20 min * ICE (2021), symphony orchestra, 10 min * Fretus (2021), string orchestra, 10 min * Nixus (2020), symphony orchestra, 10 min * Lucrum (2018), symphony orchestra, 7 min * Tundo! (2016/2018), symphony orchestra, 10 min * Infirmus (2015), string orchestra, 7 min * Unborn (2012–2014), symphony orchestra, 10 min

Diana Ringo

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Diana Ringo (born 8 March 1992) is a Finnish film director, composer and visual artist. She is best known for the films Quarantine (2021) and 1984 (2023). Biography Diana was born in the family of Finnish researcher Reijo Mononen and Russian-Finnish artist Elena Ringo. Her great-grandfathers are inventor Josef Ringo Her director debut is dystopian feature film drama Quarantine (2021) which was shortlisted for the 2022 Golden Globes as a foreign entry. She was also composer of the film and for the film’s score she wrote 26 original tracks. In November 2022 it was announced that her feature film based on George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four would be released in 2023. Her film 1984 was released on 15 November 2023. In February 2025, the trailer for The Curse of Modigliani was released. The film, starring Edward Pishiyski and based on an original screenplay by Diana Ringo, marks her first English-language feature. Shot in Helsinki, the film was released on 7 December 2025. Diana Ringo’s directorial style has been compared to the works of Andrei Tarkovsky, Terrence Malick and Aleksandr Sokurov. Her music for the film Million Loves in Me by Sampson Yuen won the award for

Edward Vesala

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Edward Vesala (15 February 1945 – 4 December 1999), Career Born in Mäntyharju, he began playing jazz and rock in the 1960s, in such bands as Blues Section and Apollo. In the 1970s, he led his own jazz groups, a quartet with Polish trumpet player Tomasz Stańko and sax player Tomasz Szukalski, played with Toto Blanke’s Electric Circus, and recorded with Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. In the 1980s and 1990s, Vesala recorded several albums of his own compositions that combined jazz, classical music, tango, and folk music with his own group Sound & Fury, an ensemble of about ten players made up mostly of Vesala’s students. Prominent players in Sound and Fury included saxophonists Jorma Tapio and Pepa Päivinen, guitarists Raoul Björkenheim and Jimi Sumén, and harpist and keyboardist Iro Haarla, who was Vesala’s wife. Vesala died from congestive heart failure in Yläne, Finland at the age of 54. Discography As leader or co-leader * Nan Madol (ECM, 1974) * Satu (ECM, 1977) * Open (FMP, 1979) with Gerd Dudek and Buschi Niebergall * Heavy Life (Leo, 1980) * Lumi (ECM, 1986) * Ode to the Death of Jazz (ECM, 1989) * Invisible Storm (ECM, 1991) * Nordic Gallery (ECM, 1994) As sideman With J

Einar Englund

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Sven Einar Englund (17 June 1916 – 27 June 1999) was a Finnish composer. Life Sven Einar Englund was born at Ljugarn in Gotland, Sweden, on 17 June 1916; he died on 27 June 1999 in Visby, Sweden. He married twice: in 1941 to Meri Mirjam Gyllenbögel, who died 1956 (they had one son and two daughters including the ballerina and choreographer Sorella Englund); and in 1958 he married Maynie Sirén, a singer, with whom he had one son. One of the most important Finnish symphonists since Jean Sibelius, Englund was a native Swedish speaker who often felt that his career was sidelined from the mainstream of Finnish music. He went to Svenska normallyceum i Helsingfors and was 17 when he began studies at the Helsinki Conservatory (now the Sibelius Academy) in 1933. Already a considerable pianist, he continued his studies with Martti Paavola and Ernst Linko while studying composition with Bengt Carlson and Selim Palmgren. Following his graduation in 1941, Englund was conscripted into military service. During his time in the Finnish Continuation War he was wounded in his hand, which almost brought to an end his hopes of pursuing a career as a concert pianist. He would often recall the bizarre, t

Einojuhani Rautavaara

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Einojuhani Rautavaara (; 9 October 1928 – 27 July 2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara attended the University of Helsinki to study piano and musicology, and eventually studied composition at the Sibelius Academy under Aarre Merikanto from 1948 to 1952. He first came to international attention when he won the Thor Johnson Contest for his composition A Requiem in Our Time in 1954, despite having, according to Rautavaara, “…absolutely no experience of writing for brass band and a composition technique that was immature at the time…” The work caught the attention of then-famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, prompting him to recommend Rautavaara for a scholarship to study at the Juilliard School in New York City. There he was taught by Vincent Persichetti, and he also took lessons from Roger Sessions and Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. Reflecting on his time enrolled in Juilliard, Rautavaara later said that living in Manhattan was, “Maybe the most important experience, and taught much more about life to me than all those teachers about music.” He then returned to Helsinki and graduated f

Elmer Diktonius

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Elmer Rafael Diktonius (20 January 1896 – 23 September 1961) was a Finnish poet and composer, who wrote in both Swedish and in Finnish. He was born in Helsinki and studied at the Helsinki Music Institute. He undertook several study trips abroad, including to France and England in 1921–22, Paris in 1925–27, and Prague in 1934 . In 1922, he established an avant-garde magazine, Ultra, which had Finnish and Swedish editions. He was also involved in the establishment of another avant-garde magazine Quosego. In addition to his editorial work, he was a literary and music critic for numerous publications, including Arbetarbladet, Elanto, Suomen Sosialidemokraatti, Nya Argus, and the Malmö-based Arbetet. He was a board member of the Society of Swedish Authors in Finland from 1927, and served as its vice-chairman between 1937 and 1944. Diktonius died in Kauniainen, and is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki. Private life Dikotnius was the son of August Viktor Diktonius and Adelaide Maria Rosalie Malmström. He was married twice; first to Meri Rigmor Marttinen from 1923 until their divorce in 1926, and second to Anna-Leena Jäykkä from 1929. Awards and honors Source: *Lybeck Prize (19

Erik Bergman

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Erik Valdemar Bergman (24 November 1911 – 24 April 2006) was a composer of classical music from Finland. Bergman’s style ranged widely, from Romanticism in his early works (many of which he later prohibited from being performed) to modernism and primitivism, among other genres. He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1994 for his opera Det sjungande trädet. Biography Bergman was born in Nykarleby. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and afterwards with Heinz Tiessen in Berlin and with Wladimir Vogel in Ascona. Since 1963 he taught composition at the Sibelius Academy, besides working until 1978 as a choir conductor. Bergman is considered a pioneer of modern music in Finland. Because of his training he was considered as a representative of the avant-garde; he developed for example the twelve-tone techniques of Arnold Schoenberg learned from Wladimir Vogel. He composed song cycles, cantatas, pieces for piano and for organ, a guitar suite, a chamber concert for flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, violin, viola, cello, percussion and piano and further chamber works. His Requiem for a dead poet (1970) and Colori ed improvvisazioni for orchestra (1973) gave him international recog

Erik Furuhjelm

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Erik Gustaf Furuhjelm (1883–1964) was a Finnish composer, violinist, and writer. Biography Erik Furuhjelm was born on 6 July 1883, in Helsinki and died in the same city on 13 June 1964. His parents were , Secretary of Protocol for the Senate, and Selma Gabriela Antell. He was the brother of the astronomer and politician Ragnar Furuhjelm. Erik Furuhjelm entered high school in 1901, studied at the Philharmonic Society’s orchestral school from 1893, at the Sibelius Academy from 1901 to 1906, at the University of Helsinki from 1901 to 1902, and in Vienna and Munich from 1906 to 1907 and in Paris from 1908 to 1909. Erik Furuhjelm served as acting director of the Sibelius Academy. He held the positions of Professor 1905–1906, professor 1907–1935, and assistant director 1920–1935. Erik Furuhjelm gave numerous concerts, conducted choirs, and played viola in concerts with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 1904–1905 and in opera performances conducted by Armas Järnefelt. He founded the Finnish Music Review (Fisk Musikrevy) in 1904 and worked as a music critic for the from 1912 to 1914 and for the from 1915 to 1920. Prizes and awards * Composer’s state pension d’État de compositeur (1921

Erik Tulindberg

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Erik Eriksson Tulindberg (February 22, 1761 – September 1, 1814) was one of the first known Finnish composers of classical music. Life Tulindberg was born in Vähäkyrö in Western Finland. He studied in Turku and then worked as a civil servant in Oulu from 1784 to 1809 and thereafter in Turku. He played the violin and cello and was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1797. He died in Turku at the age of 53. Music From his compositions only a violin concerto in B-flat major, six string quartets, and a polonaise with five variations for solo violin remain. He wrote the violin concerto before 1784 during his youth in Turku. The work shows “simplicity and occasional clumsiness” and the influences of Mozart, Haydn and the Mannheim School of music. His string quartets are more mature works and are better known today than the violin concerto. The string quartets are in the tradition of Haydn. A copy of Haydn’s string quartets was found among Tulindberg’s possessions after his death. Perspective Tulindberg was a contemporary of Mozart and, like Mozart, he was part of the Classical era in music. His importance stems largely from his pioneering position in the music of

Erkki Melartin

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Erkki Gustaf Melartin (7 February 1875 – 14 February 1937) was a Finnish composer, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. Melartin is generally considered to be one of Finland’s most significant national Romantic composers, although his music—then and now—largely has been overshadowed by that of his contemporary, Jean Sibelius, the country’s most famous composer. The core of Melartin’s consists of a set of six (completed) symphonies, as well as is his opera, Aino, based on a story from the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, but nevertheless in the style of Richard Wagner. Melartin’s other notable works include the popular wedding tune, Festive March (1904; from the incidental music to the play, Sleeping Beauty); the symphonic poem, Traumgesicht (1910); the Violin Concerto in D minor (1913); the Kalevalic symphonic poem for soprano and orchestra, Marjatta (1914); The Blue Pearl, Finland’s first large-scale ballet (1930); and a set of four string quartets, composed between 1896 and 1910. In addition, a number of Melartin’s songs for solo voice and piano have found a lasting place in the Finnish repertoire. Two additional projected symphonies, the Sevent

Erkki Salmenhaara

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Erkki Olavi Salmenhaara (March 12, 1941 – March 19, 2002) was a Finnish composer and musicologist. Personal life Salmenhaara was born in Helsinki, Finland, and married Anja Kosonen in 1961. They had two sons, but divorced in 1978. Salmenhaara died in Helsinki on March 19, 2002. Career Salmenhaara studied composition with Joonas Kokkonen at the Sibelius Academy until 1963, and then continued his studies with György Ligeti in Vienna. Salmenhaara then studied musicology, aesthetics and theoretical philosophy at the University of Helsinki, and earned his PhD in 1970 with a doctoral thesis about the works of the composer Ligeti. He served as lecturer (1966–1975) and associate professor (1975–2002) of musicology at the University of Helsinki and was also the leading writer on classical music in Finland. In addition, he served as chairman of the Society of Finnish Composers (1974–1976) and of the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras (1974–1978). Works Prior to studying with Kokkonen, Salmenhaara had already written several tonal pieces, including the 17 Small Pieces for Piano (1957–1960). In the early 1960s, he was associated with the modernist Finnish Musical Youth. Beginning in th

Erna Tauro

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Erna Tauro ( Pergament; 16 August 1916 4 June 1993), was a Finland-Swedish pianist and composer, as well as a theatre musician and teacher. She is remembered for her collaboration with Tove Jansson. Biography Erna Pergament was born in 1916, in Viipuri. She was the daughter of Isak Pergament and Rifka (née Rosenthal), and niece of composers Moses Pergament and Simon Parmet. The family moved to Berlin in 1921 and later to Helsinki. Tauro studied piano and music theory in Berlin, and according to some sources, also studied music at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. During World War II, Tauro worked as a nurse and also an accompanist. She married Risto Ilmari Tauro in 1944, and they had one daughter born in 1945. They divorced in 1950. From 1955 to 1969 she was principal accompanist at the Little Theater in Helsinki and composed music for a number of plays and musicals. Alongside her employment at the Little Theater, Tauro also worked as a pianist at Stockmann’s lunch restaurant, among other places. Her composition “Höstvisa” (“Autumn Song”) with lyrics by Tove Jansson won third prize in the 1965 Finnish Broadcasting Song Contest. The same year, she won second place with the song “Den

Ernest Pingoud

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Ernest Pingoud (; 14 October 1887 – 1 June 1942) was a Finnish composer and music critic born in Saint Petersburg. Life Pingoud was born to a father of French Huguenot ancestry and a German-Finnish mother. His father Guido Pingoud was the pastor of the German Lutheran parish of Saint Catherine in Saint Petersburg, and his mother belonged to the Finland-Swedish Sesemann family, related to the Melartin family. He also studied non-musical subjects, including geology, philosophy and literature, at Jena, Munich, Bonn and Berlin, with German literature as his main subject. He wrote a doctoral thesis on the young Goethe and Romanticism, but it was not approved because new sources that emerged at the same time undermined the material in the thesis. The programme included La dernière aventure de Pierrot, Piano Concerto No. 1 and Danse macabre, works influenced by Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin and Claude Debussy that were the most daring music yet performed in Finland. Style Pingoud’s preferred mode of musical expression was orchestral, especially in symphonic poems following the example of Scriabin Recordings A CD containing some of Pingoud’s symphonic poems has been recorded for Ondi

Ernst Mielck

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Ernst Leopold Christian Mielck (24 October 187722 October 1899) was a Finnish composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. A precocious but sickly youth, his promising career was cut short in its infancy when he died of consumption in Locarno, Switzerland, at age 21. As a result, Mielck’s is small; his most acclaimed compositions are the Symphony in F minor (Op. 4; 1897) and the Dramatic Overture (Op. 6; 1898). Life Mielck was born in Viipuri (Vyborg). He started piano lessons at the age of ten; in 1891 he was sent to Berlin, where he studied under Max Bruch, one of the leading composers of the period. Bruch said of Mielck that he had “an easy, felicitous, and remarkable flair for invention.” Mielck returned to Finland in 1896. Three years later he died of tuberculosis in Switzerland, at age 21. Music Mielck composed all his works in the short span of four years. His catalogue includes a number of works in the field of chamber music, including a string quintet and a string quartet. He also composed the Symphony in F minor (1897), two overtures, a concert piece for piano and orchestra, as well as one for violin and orchestra, the Finnish Suite, and two major vocal works in the

Esa Pietilä

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Esa Pietilä is a Finnish saxophonist and composer (b. 1964) who works diversely on the field of contemporary music. He studied saxophone and composition in Sibelius- Academy jazz department in Helsinki and privately in US with David Liebman. In his home country, the Yrjö Jazz award 2016 was given to him for his original, genre-defying work in the field of avant-garde jazz. Career Esa Pietilä started his career as a jazz musician and later on has expanded his expression to many different musical genres. He has performed with his jazz groups e.g. Liberty Ship, Esa Pietilä 3, with his duo collaborations with contemporary classical & new music chamber musicians, as soloist for chamber orchestras, other larger ensembles and performing totally free improvisations at his solo concerts. Pietilä has worked e.g. with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Ville Matvejeff, Tibor Boganyi, Hossein Piskar, Jan Söderblom and Erkki Lasonpalo, with Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. Pietilä has premiered the saxophone concerto of Kalevi Aho, Eero Hämeenniemi and Pietilä´s concerto “Graffiti Play” for chamber orchestra & contemporary jazz trio and Pulses, Waves & Dialoques for tenor saxophone

Esa-Pekka Salonen

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Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish conductor and composer. He is the principal conductor designate of Orchestre de Paris and creative director designate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is also conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was music director of the San Francisco Symphony from 2020 to 2025. Life and career Early work Born in Helsinki, Finland, Salonen graduated from Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu (SYK), one of the top high schools in Finland, in 1977 and then went to study horn and composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, as well as conducting with Jorma Panula. His conducting classmates included Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Osmo Vänskä. Another classmate on the composition side was the composer Magnus Lindberg and together they formed the new-music appreciation group Korvat auki (“Ears open” in the Finnish language) and the experimental ensemble Toimii (lit. “It works”). Later, Salonen studied with the composers Franco Donatoni, Niccolò Castiglioni, and Einojuhani Rautavaara. His first experience with conducting came in 1979 with the Finnish Radio Symphony

Fredrik Pacius

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Fredrik Pacius (, ); in German and in Estonian Friedrich Pacius; 19 March 1809 – 8 January 1891) was a German composer, violinist and conductor who lived most of his life in Finland. He is regarded as the “Father of Finnish music”. Pacius was born in Hamburg. He was appointed music teacher at the University of Helsinki in 1834, where he founded a musical society, the student choir Akademiska Sångföreningen and an orchestra, building up orchestral and choral life in the city. In 1848, Pacius set to music the poem "" by Johan Ludvig Runeberg, which became Finland’s national anthem. The same melody was also used for the Estonian national anthem “Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm” and the Livonian ethnic anthem “Min izāmō, min sindimō”. In 1852, he composed Kung Carls jagt (English: King Charles’ Hunt; Finnish: Kaarle-kuninkaan metsästys), the first opera written in Finland, with a libretto by Zacharias Topelius. Biography Early life and training Pacius grew up in a musical family in Hamburg; his father, the wine merchant Johann Conrad Ludwig Pacius, played violin and hosted weekly string quartet evenings at home. On the recommendation of Hamburg’s music director Albert Gottlieb Methfessel, th

Heidi Sundblad-Halme

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Heidi Gabriella Wilhelmina Sundblad-Halme (25 September 1903 – 30 April 1973) was a Finnish composer and conductor who founded the Helsinki Women’s Orchestra and conducted it for 30 years. Career Sundblad-Halme was born in Jakobstad, where her father Henrik Sundblad was a composer, cantor, and organist. She married Deputy Judge Helge Halme in 1930. The couple traveled to the Soviet Union and several Baltic countries, and published accounts of their travels in Finnish newspapers. Sundblad-Halme directed a private music school until they moved to Helsinki in 1933. Their son Hannu was born in 1935. Sundblad-Halme studied music at the Helsinki Conservatory (later the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki) from 1927 to 1933, then privately in Berlin and Lund, Switzerland. Her teachers included Dean Dixon, Leo Funtek, Clemens Krauss, Erkki Melartin, Väinö Raitio, and Sulho Ranta. During the mid-1930s, she conducted orchestra concerts in the Finnish cities of Turku, Tampere, and Helsinki. Conductor Georg Schnéevoigt reportedly suggested that Sundblad-Halme start an all-female orchestra so the men in regular orchestras wouldn’t be distracted by a female conductor. Orchest

Heikki Suolahti

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Heikki Theodor Suolahti (2 February 1920 – 27 December 1936) was a Finnish composer. Suolahti was born and died in Helsinki, where he studied under Arvo Laitinen in Helsinki from 1929 until his death. In 1935, he composed Sinfonia piccola, which was first performed in February 1938 under Tauno Hannikainen. Hannikainen also orchestrated some of Suolahti’s songs. Sinfonia piccola was published in the United States in 1959. When the composer died at the age of 16, none of his works had been performed publicly yet. He left the opera Pärttylin yö and a few other works unfinished. Suolahti, a huge admirer of Richard Wagner, was promised a trip to the Bayreuth Festival in the summer of 1937, but he died soon after Christmas 1936. Jean Sibelius was fascinated with Sinfonia piccola and praised it to Suolahti’s mother after the composer’s untimely death. Works The following works are largely unpublished, but are archived at the Helsinki University Library. Orchestral * Symphony no.1 in b minor (sinfonia piccola h-molli) (1935) * Prélude pour petit orchestre dédié à mon père, Op.6 * Fantasia-Impromptu, Op.9 (1932) * Hades, Op.10 Symphonic poem (1932) Concerto * Piano concerto no.1, Op.15 (193

Heino Kaski

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Heino Wilhelm Daniel Kaski (21 June 1885 – 19 September 1957) was a Finnish composer, teacher and pianist. Life Kaski was born in Pielisjärvi into a cantor’s family. His father taught him the violin, and was generally supportive: when Kaski dropped out of secondary school to study music full-time in Helsinki, he did not object. Kaski first studied at the Helsinki Cantor-Organist school, then entered the Philharmonic’s Orchestra School. There, he continued studying the violin, but was also tutored in theory (by Ilmari Krohn) and composition (by Erkki Melartin). In 1911, on Jean Sibelius’s recommendation, Kaski received a grant that enabled him to study for four years in Berlin, under Paul Juon. In 1914 he returned to Finland; one of his larger works, Symphony in B minor, was composed in 1914–1919 under partial guidance from Selim Palmgren. The symphony was performed on October 2, 1919. The same year, Kaski went to Europe again, to study under Otto Taubmann in Berlin, and then traveled and studied in Italy and France. He finally returned to Finland in 1924, and since then worked as music teacher in various schools. He gave nine composition concerts and in 1950 was awarded the Pro Fin

Helvi Leiviskä

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Helvi Lemmikki Leiviskä (25 May 1902 – 12 August 1982) was a Finnish composer, writer, music educator, and librarian at the Sibelius Academy. Life Helvi Leiviskä was born in 1902 in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, and in 1927 graduated in composition from the Helsinki Music Institute (now the Sibelius Academy), where she studied with the Finnish composer Erkki Melartin. She continued her studies in Vienna, and then returned to Finland where she studied with the Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja. Selected works * Piano Concerto, 1935 * Triple Fugue for Orchestra, 1938 * Symphony No. 1, 1947 * Symphony No. 2, 1954 * Symphony No. 3, 1971 * Sinfonia Brevis, 1962 * Folk Dance Suite (Kansantanssisarja), 1934 * Hobgoblin of Darkness (Pimeän peikko), 1942 * The Lost Continent (Mennyt manner) for choir and orchestra, 1957 * Juha (film music), 1937 * Violin Sonata, 1945 * Piano Quartet, 1926 Discography * Helvi Leiviskä: Violin Sonata / Piano Quartet / Symphony No. 3. Finlandia Classics. (FINCLA-1, 2012). historical recordings from Finnish Radio, 1950s–1970s * Helvi Leiviskä: Piano Concerto / Symphony No 1. , Staatskapelle Weimar, and (piano). Hänssler Classic (HC23050, 2023). * Helvi Leivis

Herman Rechberger

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Herman Rechberger (14 February 1947 – 11 January 2022) was an Austrian-born Finnish composer, conductor and musician. Life and career Born in Linz, Allied-occupied Austria, Rechberger studied classical guitar at the Bruckner-Konservatorium in his hometown and later continued his musical studies in Zürich and at the Brussels Conservatory. In 1970 he moved to Finland to attend the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, graduating in recorder, guitar and composition. Rechberger’s compositions spanned different genres, including operas, symphonies, happenings, sonic sculptures, electronic music, orchestral compositions as well as reconstructions of ancient music. He was also active as a recorder player, touring with and The Poor Knights, and as a conductor. He died on 11 January 2022, at the age of 74. References External links * * *

Ida Moberg

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Ida Georgina Moberg (13 February 1859 – 2 August 1947) was a Finnish composer and conductor who particularly focused on choirs and orchestras. She was also heavily influenced by anthroposophy and theosophy, and was active in those circles in Finland. Early life and education Ida Georgina Moberg was born on 13 February 1859 in Helsinki. Her father was an instrument maker. She attended the Svenska fruntimmersskolan i Helsingfors, an alternative Swedish-language girls’ school from 1870 to 1877. Composer and teacher Anna Blomqvist worked at the school, and became a lifelong mentor of Moberg. She also studied with pianist Alie Lindberg and singer Marie Collan. Moberg then studied composition from 1901 to 1905 under Felix Draeseke at Dresden Conservatory, before finishing her musical education at the Dalcroze Institute in Berlin, which she attended from 1911 to 1912. !! Instrumentation - Symphony 1905 Orchestra (lost) - Kalevala fantasy n/a Orchestra (lost) - Awaken / Vaknen! 1900? Male choir and orchestra - Before the struggle / Före striden n/a Choir and strings - Life’s struggle / Lifskamp n/a Male choir and orchestra - Amor mortis n/a Voice and organ - Asiens ljus 1910–1945 Opera (un

Ilmari Hannikainen

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Toivo Ilmari Hannikainen (19 October 1892 – 25 July 1955) was a Finnish composer and virtuoso pianist. Life Hannikainen was born in Jyväskylä, the son of Pekka Juhani Hannikainen and the brother of Väinö Hannikainen, both of whom were composers and of Tauno Hannikainen who was a cellist and conductor. After studying at the University of Helsinki (1911–14), he became a pupil of Franz Schreker at the Musikakademie in Vienna, and continued his studies with Alexander Siloti in Saint Petersburg (1915–17) and with Alfred Cortot in Paris (1919). Returning to Finland, he taught piano at the Helsinki Conservatory and later gained a Professorship at the Sibelius Academy. Hannikainen steered Finnish classical music from late Romanticism towards Impressionism. In addition to his piano miniatures, which best illustrated this development, he composed one opera, one piano concerto, one piano quartet, lieder, and film scores (notably, the 1934 Swedish film Sången om den eldröda blomman). Hannikainen drowned during a sailing trip in Kuhmoinen in 1955. Some musical colleagues, like Aarre Merikanto, considered his death a suicide. He is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki. In the 1970s, the

Jaakko Kuusisto

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Jaakko Ilkka Kuusisto (17 January 1974 – 23 February 2022) was a Finnish violinist, composer, and conductor. Kuusisto studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, majoring in violin, as well as at Indiana University under Miriam Fried. Career As a violinist, Kuusisto has appeared in 30 recordings, of which at least 17 credited as a primary artist, performing works from composers such as Sibelius, Prokofiev, Kalevi Aho and Armas Järnefelt; as a conductor, he has recorded a dozen times. After an early career as violinist, Kuusisto increasingly turned his attention to composing and conducting. He composed approximately 40 works in total, including several operas, film scores and stage music, 15 pieces of chamber music, and numerous other compositions, as well as various orchestrations and arrangements. Before these, he served as the concertmaster of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra for many years, where he was personally invited by the orchestra’s chief conductor Osmo Vänskä. Personal life Jaakko Kuusisto came from a musical family: his father was opera composer Ilkka Kuusisto, his brother musician Pekka Kuusisto, and his grandfather composer and choirmaster Taneli Kuusisto. Outside music

Jaakko Mäntyjärvi

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Jaakko Mäntyjärvi () is a Finnish composer of classical music, and a professional translator. Early life Mäntyjärvi was born in Turku. He studied musicology, English language and literature and linguistics at the University of Helsinki, graduating with the equivalent of an MA degree in 1991. In 1987, he was accredited as an Authorized Translator from Finnish to English and English to Finnish. He also studied theory of music and choir conducting at the Sibelius Academy. Professional life Mäntyjärvi is a professional freelance translator and composer, and also an amateur and semi-professional choral singer and conductor. He is one of Finland’s internationally best known composers of choral music, with a catalog of some 150 works published to date. He has given talks on his works at various choral events in Europe, the USA and Australia, and has occasionally given a course on the history of choral music at the Sibelius Academy. Compositions As a composer, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi describes himself as an eclectic traditionalist: adopting influences from a number of styles and periods, and basing his musical idiom largely on traditionally oriented materials. Because he is himself active in mak

Jean Sibelius

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Early years#

Sibelius was born on 8 December 1865 in Hämeenlinna () in the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous state within the Russian Empire. He was the son of the Swedish-speaking medical doctor Christian Gustaf Sibelius and Maria Charlotta Sibelius (née Borg). The family name stems from the Sibbe estate in Eastern Uusimaa, which his paternal great-grandfather owned. Sibelius’s father died of typhoid in July 1868, leaving substantial debts. As a result, his mother—who was again pregnant—had to sell their property and move the family into the home of Katarina Borg, her widowed mother, who also lived in Hämeenlinna. Sibelius was therefore brought up in a decidedly female environment, the only male influence coming from his uncle, Pehr Ferdinand Sibelius, who was interested in music, especially the violin. Pehr Ferdinand gave the boy a violin when he was ten years old and later encouraged him to maintain his interest in composition. For Sibelius, Uncle Pehr not only took the place of a father but acted as a musical adviser. From an early age, Sibelius showed a strong interest in nature, frequently walking around the countryside when the family moved to Loviisa on the coast for the summer months. In his own words: “For me, Loviisa represented sun and happiness. Hämeenlinna was where I went to school; Loviisa was freedom.” In Hämeenlinna, when he was seven, Sibelius’s aunt Julia was brought in to give him piano lessons on the family’s upright instrument, rapping him on the knuckles whenever he played a wrong note. He progressed by improvising on his own, but still learned to read music. He later turned to the violin, which he preferred. He participated in trios with his elder sister Linda on piano, and his younger brother Christian on the cello. (Christian Sibelius was to become a psychiatrist, still remembered for his contributions to modern psychiatry in Finland.) Sibelius soon began playing in quartets with neighbouring families, furthering his experience performing chamber music. Fragments survive of his early compositions of the period, a trio, a piano quartet and a Suite in D Minor for violin and piano. Around 1881, he transcribed a short pizzicato piece Vattendroppar (Water Drops) for violin, possibly as an etude or musical exercise. The first reference he made to himself composing is in a letter from August 1883 in which he writes that he composed a trio and was working on another: “They are rather poor, but it is nice to have something to do on rainy days.” Despite having to repeat a year, he passed the school’s final examination in 1885, which allowed him to enter a university. As a boy he was known as Janne, a colloquial form of Johan. However, during his student years, he adopted the French form Jean, inspired by the business card of his deceased seafaring uncle. Thereafter he became known as Jean Sibelius.

Joonas Kokkonen

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Joonas Kokkonen (; 13 November 1921 – 2 October 1996) was a Finnish composer. He was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius; his opera The Last Temptations has received over 500 performances worldwide, and is considered by many to be Finland’s most distinguished national opera. Life Kokkonen was born in Iisalmi, Finland, but spent the latter part of his life in Järvenpää at his home, which was known as Villa Kokkonen, designed by architect Alvar Aalto and completed in 1969. He served in the Finnish army during World War II with great distinction. He received his education at the University of Helsinki, and later at the Sibelius Academy, where he afterwards taught composition; his students there included Aulis Sallinen. In addition to his activities as a composer, he made a significant and powerful impact on Finnish cultural life, serving as a chairman and organizer, heading organizations such as Society of Finnish Composers, the Board of the Concert Centre, and others. His purpose was always to improve music education, as well as the status and appreciation of classical music as well as Finnish music. In the 1960s and early 1970s

Jouni Kaipainen

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Jouni Ilari Kaipainen (24 November 1956 – 23 November 2015) was a Finnish composer. Kaipainen was born in Helsinki to the physician and politician Osmo Kaipainen, and his wife, the author Anu Kaipainen. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under Aulis Sallinen and Paavo Heininen. He died on 23 November 2015, the eve of his 59th birthday. Compositions Stage *Konstanzin ihme (The Miracle at Constance), opera in two acts, Op. 30 *Hämäränmaassa, music play for children, Op. 69 (2004) *Taikakivet, musical fantasy for actors, dancers and orchestra (2013) Orchestral *Symphonies **Symphony No. 1 Op. 20 (1985) **Symphony No. 2 Op. 44 (1994) **Symphony No. 3 Op. 72 (2004) **Symphony No. 4 Commedia, Op. 93 (2012), with TTBB choir, baritone and soprano soloists *Apotheosis Op. 7 (1975), for chamber orchestra *Sisyphus Dreams Op. 47 (1994) *Accende lumen sensibus, concerto for small orchestra, Op. 52 (1996) *Millennium Fanfare, Op. 60 (1999) *North by North-East, Op. 63 (2001) *Erik (…jag hör det ständigt…) Op. 78 (2006) *Notkea Keaton - The Ghost of Buster Op. 86 (2008–09) *Aubade beninoise (2009) Concertante *Concerto for two pianos Ladders to Fire, Op. 14 (1979) *Clarinet Conce

Juhani Komulainen

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Juhani Komulainen (born 22 April 1953) is a Finnish composer of modern classical music. He lives in Helsinki. Biography Juhani Komulainen was born in Jämsänkoski, and has studied composition at the University of Miami in the U.S., and with Einojuhani Rautavaara in Finland. He gained a reputation in the 1990s through his successful participation in several Finnish and international competitions. The compositions of Juhani Komulainen are performed at international music festivals, choral competitions and workshops. He is working extensively with Finnish choirs and vocal groups creating a wide range of new choral compositions which have been recently premiered at concerts and recordings by numerous choirs including Academic Female Choir Lyran, The EOL Chamber Choir, Vocal Ensemble Fiori, Jubilate Chamber Choir, Kampin Laulu chamber choir, Vocal Ensemble Lumen Valo, Tapiola Choir and Liiton Miehet. Selected works Choral Works: Mixed Choir *Salve, flos et decor (Tervehditty ollos, armoitettu) *Cat Morgan Introduces Himself. 1st prize in the South Coast Choral Society Composition Competition, California, U.S., 1986 *Sade (Rain). Text by Leena Saarisalo ( in Finnish ) *Three sonnets of Sh

Jukka Immonen

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Jukka Immonen (born 14 April 1978) is a Finnish musician, record producer and composer. Career beginnings Immonen started to develop an interest in music as a teenager when his parents bought him a computer. Although his family was not especially musical, his father knew some people from music industry, and Immonen got advice to get him started. In the late 1990s, he started to work mostly on hip hop music, and soon Immonen and Jan Zapasnik founded a record company Fried Music Oy. The first album produced entirely by Immonen was Punainen tiili by a rapper Asa in 2001. Current work During his career, Jukka Immonen has worked with a number of domestic and foreign artists, such as Jenni Vartiainen, Anna Abreu, Anssi Kela, Mariska & Pahat Sudet and Margaret Berger. Immonen has also composed music for Finnish films and television. He received a Jussi Award for Best Score in a Dome Karukoski film Tyttö sinä olet tähti (2005), and later worked with Karukoski again for his television series Veljet (2010). As a music producer, he received an Emma Award in 2010 for his work with Jenni Vartiainen, Mariska & Pahat Sudet, Anna Puu and Lemonator. Immonen is the co-writer of the Roberto Bellarosa

Jussi Jalas

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Jussi Jalas (23 June 1908 – 11 October 1985) was a Finnish conductor and composer. Biography Jalas was born as Armas Jussi Veikko Blomstedt in Jyväskylä in 1908. His father was Yrjö Blomstedt, an architect known for his National Romantic Jugend architecture. He studied at the Helsingfors Conservatory 1923–30 (later renamed the Sibelius Academy), and then in Paris 1933–34, under Wladimir Pohl, Pierre Monteux and Rhené-Baton. He had further study in Germany, Austria and Italy before returning to Finland. He changed his surname to Jalas in 1943. He taught at the Sibelius Academy from 1945 to 1965, and was the music director of the Finnish National Opera from 1945. He conducted the Finnish premieres of Benjamin Britten’s operas Peter Grimes and The Rape of Lucretia. His wife Margareta née Sibelius was the daughter of Jean Sibelius, and virtually every one of his concerts included a work by his father-in-law. His own works included orchestral works, piano music and songs. He died in Helsinki in 1985, aged 77. Recordings His discography includes a complete recording of Leevi Madetoja’s opera, Juha, with Jorma Hynninen, as well as, for Westminster, Norman Treigle’s two recital albums, “Ar

Kaija Saariaho

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Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; 14 October 1952 – 2 June 2023) was a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the BBC, the New York Philharmonic, the Salzburg Music Festival, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and the Finnish National Opera, among others. In a 2019 composers’ poll by BBC Music Magazine, Saariaho was ranked the greatest living composer. Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg, and Paris, where she also lived since 1982. Her research at the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM) marked a turning point in her music away from strict serialism towards spectralism. Her characteristically rich, polyphonic textures are often created by combining live music and electronics. Life and work Saariaho was born in Helsinki, Finland. She played violin, guitar and piano growing up, and received her primary and secondary education at a Steiner school. In university she studied first splitting her time between studying graphic design at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architect

Kaj Chydenius

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Kaj Oskar Chydenius (16 October 1939 – 20 April 2024) was a Finnish musician and composer, probably best known for his left-wing political songs interpreted by various artists. Biography Chydenius studied at the Sibelius Academy, the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki School of Economics, starting his career with avant-garde music, happening, instrumental theatre, and the aesthetics of John Cage. Some of the best-known works by Chydenius are Lapualaisooppera (1966) and such songs as ‘Sinua, sinua rakastan’, ‘Nuoruustango’ and the children’s song ‘Magdaleena’, which are all evergreens in Finland. Chydenius was one of the founding members of KOM-teatteri in 1971, together with Kaisa Korhonen who was his wife then. The younger son of Kaj Chydenius, Jussi Chydenius is a member of the vocal ensemble Rajaton. Many works by Chydenius are released on Love Records. Kaj Chydenius was related to Anders Chydenius (1729–1803), a Finnish Lutheran priest and a member of the Swedish Riksdag; this was his great-great-uncle in the fifth generation. Chydenius died in Helsinki on 20 April 2024, at the age of 84. His former wife Kaisa Korhonen died only five days later. Selected discography *Laulu

Kalevi Aho

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Kalevi Ensio Aho (born 9 March 1949) is a Finnish composer. Early years Aho began his interest in music at the age of ten, when he discovered a mandolin in his home and began to teach himself how to play it. He soon was taken under the tutelage of Martti Loikkanen, the boy’s 4th grade teacher and founder of a local youth mandolin ensemble in Forssa. After learning how to read sheet music, Aho immediately started composing. Aho progressed so fast on the instrument that Loikkanen suggested he study the violin as well, with Loikkanen giving him private lessons. Aho also began to learn violin at an incredible speed, with him later recalling, “Martti taught me at home for free until I started skipping him out of my playing skills and he suggested changing teachers.” Aho’s parents were quite supportive of his musical hobby, encouraging him to compose and giving him a piano at the age of 15. Music Known principally as a composer of large-scale works, Aho has composed eighteen symphonies, forty-five concertos, five operas and several vocal works. His chamber music includes several quintets, quartets, sonatas and solo works. He first came to fame with his first symphony (1969) and second st

Karl Rautio

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Karl “Kalle” Rautio (; 20 November 1889 – 15 December 1963) was the composer of the Anthem of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic and one of the founders of professional musical art in Karelia. Biography An ethnic Karelian, Karl Rautio was born into a peasant family in the Vaasa region of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1889. The Rautios immigrated to the United States in 1903, where he made out a living as a miner, along with studying music. In 1922, he immigrated to the Soviet Union, settling in Karelia. References External links * The first page of Rautio’s First Symphony

Kosti Vehanen

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Kosti Vehanen (31 August 188713 March 1957) was a Finnish pianist and composer. As a pianist he performed in more than 3,000 concerts on four continents. While he did perform as a concert soloist with major symphony orchestras and performed in recitals, he is best remembered for his prolific work as an accompanist with some of the most important singers of the first half of the 20th century. As a composer, he produced piano pieces, arrangements of folk songs, solo songs, two ballets, and a violin and cello fantasy. In addition, Vehanen also penned several memoirs, including 1941 book chronicling his decade long experience serving as Marian Anderson’s accompanist. Life and career Born in Taivassalo, Vehanen entered the Helsinki Music Institute in 1905. He studied at the institute through 1910 where he was a pupil of Sigrid Schnéevoigt. He then pursued further studies in Berlin and Paris, and with Giovanni Sgambati in Rome. In 1912 Vehanen gave his first performances as a concert pianist in Turku and Helsinki. He was soon after engaged as a soloist with major symphony orchestras through Scandinavia and in Great Britain. He became a popular accompanist who was sought after by many fam

Leevi Madetoja

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Leevi Antti Madetoja (; 17 February 1887 – 6 October 1947) was a Finnish composer, music critic, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely recognized as one of the most significant Finnish contemporaries of Jean Sibelius, under whom he studied privately from 1908 to 1910. The core of Madetoja’s oeuvre consists of a set of three symphonies (1916, 1918, and 1926), arguably the finest early-twentieth century additions to the symphonic canon of any Finnish composer, Sibelius excepted. As central to Madetoja’s legacy is Pohjalaisia (The Ostrobothnians, 1923), proclaimed Finland’s “national opera” following its successful 1924 premiere and, even today, a stalwart of the country’s repertoire. Other notable works include an Elegia for strings (1909); Kuoleman puutarha (The Garden of Death, 1918–21), a three-movement suite for solo piano; the Japanisme ballet-pantomime, Okon Fuoko (1927); and, a second opera, Juha (1935). Madetoja’s fourth symphony, purportedly lost in 1938 at a Paris railway station, never materialized. Acclaimed during his lifetime, Madetoja today is seldom heard outside the Nordic countries, although his music has in recent decade

Leo Funtek

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Leo Funtek (August 21, 1885 – January 13, 1965) was a Slovenian violinist, conductor and arranger. He is best known for work as a music professor and for his 1922 arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition. Funtek was born in Ljubljana, Austria-Hungary. He received his musical education at the Leipzig Conservatory (now the Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre) and Leipzig University. He was concertmaster with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1906 to 1909, and then was orchestra director of the Viipuri orchestra from 1909 to 1910. He is credited with the introduction of orchestral training into the conducting class. and the composer Usko Meriläinen. As an arranger, Funtek is best known for his orchestral arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition, which he published in July 1922, just months before an orchestration by the French composer Maurice Ravel, of whose project Funtek was seemingly unaware. He died in Helsinki. References

Lotta Wennäkoski

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Lotta Annukka Wennäkoski (born 8 February 1970) is a Finnish composer. Wennäkoski was born in Helsinki. She studied the violin at the Béla Bartók Secondary Grammar and Technical School of Music in Budapest, Hungary, in 1989–1990 and music theory and composition at the Sibelius Academy between 1994 and 2000 under Eero Hämeenniemi, Kaija Saariaho and Paavo Heininen and in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague between 1998 and 1999 under Louis Andriessen. Wennäkoski began her career as a composer by composing for radio plays and short films. A major landmark on her career was a concert at the Musica Nova Helsinki festival in 1999. Her notable works include Sakara for orchestra (2003), commissioned by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the string quartet Culla d’aria (2004), commissioned by the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Hava for chamber orchestra, the flute concerto Soie (2009), one of the recommended works at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in 2012, Verdigris for chamber orchestra (2015), commissioned by The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Flounce for orchestra, commissioned by the BBC and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2017. As a composer, Wennäkoski has been described a

Magnus Lindberg

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Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg (born 27 June 1958) is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was the New York Philharmonic’s composer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 and the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s composer-in-residence from 2014 to 2017. Early life Lindberg was born in Helsinki, where he studied at the Sibelius Academy under Einojuhani Rautavaara and Paavo Heininen, beginning with piano. He attended summer courses in Siena (with Franco Donatoni) and Darmstadt (with Brian Ferneyhough). After graduating in 1981, he traveled widely in Europe, attending private studies with Vinko Globokar and Gérard Grisey in Paris, and observing Japanese drumming and punk rock in Berlin. Compositions and style Lindberg’s juvenilia include the large orchestral work Donor, composed at age 16. Quintetto dell’Estate (1979) is generally held to be Lindberg’s first opus. His first piece performed by a professional orchestra was Sculpture II in 1982, the second part of a trilogy whose first and third sections were long unwritten. His first great success came with “Action-Situation-Signification” (1982), the first work in which he explored musique concrète. This piece was written for and premiered by the ne

Martin Segerstråle

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Martin Segerstråle , born August 31, 1984, in Turku, Finland, is a Finnish music director, pianist, conductor and composer. Segerstråle studied Musical Direction and Coaching at the Royal Academy of Music in London and choral conducting and piano at the Sibelius Academy. He also studied musicology at Åbo Akademi University. Segerstråle has conducted several choirs in Finland and was artistic leader of the Studentkören Brahe Djäknar student choir in 2010. Segerstråle was one of the founding members and first artistic leader of the chamber ensemble Ensemble Vida. He was also the bass principal of the internationally acclaimed chamber choir Key Ensemble for many years. Segerstråle received the Finlands Svenska Sång- och Musikförbund conducting prize, Kurt-Erik Långbacka-priset, in October 2014. In the spring of 2015, he was awarded the Svenska Kulturfonden annual culture prize for outstanding contributions to the music life of Finland. Segerstråle was the MD for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats in Tampere, Finland in 2017-2018 and also MD’d a production of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the same venue in 2019-2020. He has also worked at the Finnish National Opera and the Sw

Martin Wegelius

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Martin Wegelius (10 November 1846 – 22 March 1906) was a Finnish composer and musicologist, primarily remembered as the founder, in 1882, of the Helsinki Music Institute, now known as the Sibelius Academy. Wegelius studied in Leipzig, Vienna, and Munich. He had intended to pursue a career as a composer and wrote a handful of orchestral works and a significant number of chamber and vocal works. He was a particular admirer of Wagner but wrote predominantly in the Romantic style. After founding the Institute, he had little time for composing and appears to have concentrated exclusively on teaching. Graduates of Wegelius’ Institute include Jean Sibelius and Agnes Tschetschulin. He is often compared with his contemporary and rival Robert Kajanus, founder of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (initially the Helsinki Orchestral Association), the first professional symphony orchestra in the Nordic countries. He is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki. Publications * Grunderna i allmänna musikläran (1887) * Lärobok i allmän musiklära och analys (1888-89) * Hufvuddragen af den västerländska musikens historia från den kristna tidens början till våra dagar. 1-3 (1891-93) * Kurs i ton

Mikko Heiniö

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Mikko Kyösti Heiniö (born 18 May 1948) is a Finnish composer and musicologist. Life Mikko Heiniö was born in 1948 in Tampere, and studied composition with Joonas Kokkonen and piano with Liisa Pohjola at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki from 1971 to 1975, and then studied composition with Witold Szalonek in West Berlin from 1975 to 1977 while at the same time beginning studies in musicology at the University of Helsinki. He earned a diploma in composition from the Sibelius Academy in 1977, and a doctorate in musicology in 1984 from the University of Helsinki, where he lectured between 1977 and 1985 (Murtomäki 2001). He was appointed professor of musicology at the University of Turku in 1986–2005 and he is composer-in-residence of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra since 1997. Heiniö has been a member of the Board of Teosto (the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Bureau) and he has served as Chairman of the Society of Finnish Composers in 1992–2010. Heiniö’s compositions include nine piano concertos, three symphonies and numerous chamber works for various instrument combinations. He has written four operas: the church opera Riddaren och draken (The Knight and the Dragon, 2000), Käärmeen hetk

Mikko Tarmia

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Mikko Tarmia is a Finnish video game music composer known for working with Codeblender Software, Frictional Games, and Wolfire Games. He founded the independent record label The Sound of Fiction. His first work was with the Macintosh developer Codeblender Software, and between 2002 and 2005 worked on four games with them. He is most well known for making the music for the Penumbra series. His record label released the soundtrack for the games in January 2010. He also worked with Frictional Games for their game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, with a feature about him being included with the games special features. Tarmia’s work is also featured in the 2023 Frictional Games release of Amnesia: The Bunker, another installment in the Amnesia survival horror game series. He has worked on Frictional Games’ SOMA and with Wolfire Games for their game Overgrowth. Games credited *Amnesia: The Bunker * Amnesia: Rebirth * SOMA * Overgrowth * Amnesia: The Dark Descent * Penumbra: Necrologue * Penumbra: Requiem * Penumbra: Black Plague * Penumbra: Overture * Pools * Deep Trouble 2 * Rally Shift * Epsilon Tahari: Reign of the Machines * DeepTrouble * The Designer’s Curse * The Designer’s Curse Chapter

Milla Viljamaa

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Milla Viljamaa (born 1980) is a Finnish musician, composer and producer known for her creative works in various fields ranging from folk music, tango, rock, pop and chamber music to theatre, opera, ballet and film productions as well as different kinds of concerts. Her work as a composer received significant recognition when she was given the 2012 Teosto Prize from her solo album “Minne”. The prize, awarded by the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto, is one of the biggest art prizes in Nordic countries and aims to highlight new works that are fresh, original and innovative. She have been playing in the following ensembles: Lauri Tähkä Revohka, Duo Milla Viljamaa & Johanna Juhola, Las Chicas del Tango, Milla Viljamaa & Co, Johanna Juhola Reaktori and Hereä. She has also worked with larger groups like Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and Tapiola Sinfonietta. In 2002 Duo Milla Viljamaa & Johanna Juhola won the 1st prize of the International Ástor Piazzolla Competition (Citta di Castelfidardo Award, Astor Piazzolla Music Section) and in 2008 received the Emma nomination for best et

Olli Kortekangas

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Olli Paavo Antero Kortekangas (born 16 May 1955) is a Finnish composer. Kortekangas was born in Turku. His early career in music began at Espoon Musiikkiopisto (Espoo Music Institute) and the youth choir Candomino. He then studied at the Sibelius Academy as a pupil of Eero Hämeenniemi and Einojuhani Rautavaara from 1974 to 1981, and completed his studies in West Berlin with Dieter Schnebel and in San Diego (UCSD) with Roger Reynolds. Later he has held teaching positions at the Sibelius Academy and the National Theater Academy. He was Composer-in-Residence at Oulu Sinfonia from 1997 to 2007. Career He has composed about 150 works covering a broad range, from choral works and instrumental miniatures to orchestral music and operas. He has received commissions from ten countries. Among his recent large-scale works are Seven Songs for Planet Earth, commissioned by the Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Migrations for mezzo-soprano, male voice chorus and orchestra, commissioned by The Minnesota Orchestra and recorded by BIS Records, and the song cycle Songs of Meena, commissioned by The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Kortekangas is particularly kn

Olli Mustonen

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Olli Mustonen (born 7 June 1967) is a Finnish pianist, conductor, and composer. Biography Olli Mustonen was born on 7 June 1967, in Vantaa, Finland. He studied harpsichord and piano from the age of five with Ralf Gothóni and then Eero Heinonen. He studied composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara from 1975 and in 1987 won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, which led to his New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall. His debut solo piano recording for Decca, of the cycles of preludes by Dmitri Shostakovich and Charles-Valentin Alkan, won both the Gramophone and Edison Awards. In addition to Decca, he has also made recordings for RCA and Ondine, notably of works by Beethoven and various modern Russian composers. Mustonen has performed with numerous major international orchestras and is regarded as “one of the internationally best-known pianists of his generation.” He has been artistic director of the Korsholm Music Festival in 1988 and the Turku Music Festival from 1990 to 1992. He is co-founder and director of the Helsinki Festival Orchestra, and since 2003 has conducted the chamber orchestra Tapiola Sinfonietta. He performed the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s P

Oskar Merikanto

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Oskar Merikanto (; born Frans Oskar Ala-Kanto; 5 August 186817 February 1924) was a Finnish composer, music critic, pianist, and organist. As a composer, Merikanto was primarily a miniaturist, and includes songs and piano pieces (he wrote over 100 of each). Of the latter, he is best remembered for: Summer Evening Waltz (, Op. 1), Romance (, Op. 12), Summer Evening Idyll (, Op. 16/2), (Op. 33), and Idyll (, Op. 73/1). He studied for some time at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany, where his teachers were Carl Reinecke, Theodor Coccius, Robert Papperitz, Willy Rechenberg and Gustav Schreck. He was notable for his variety of talents – he gave concerts all around Finland, performing on the piano and organ, conducting orchestras, and composing original music. Some of his most beloved compositions are Där björkarna susa, the waltz Kesäilta (Summer Evening Waltz) and the Valse lente, Op. 33. Merikanto’s style is reminiscent of Finnish folk songs, but has its basis in Italian bel canto. He died in Hausjärvi-Oitti. Personal life He married Elise “Liisa” Häyrynen in 1892. They had one son, Aarre Merikanto, a noted Finnish composer. Works Source Piano * Concert-Walzer OM 018 * Erinnerung OM

Outi Tarkiainen

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Outi Tarkiainen (b. February 7, 1985) is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music. Tarkiainen grew up in Rovaniemi, the capital and commercial center of the Finnish Lapland region. She studied composition with Eero Hämeenniemi and Veli-Matti Puumala at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, with Ron Miller at the University of Miami, and with Malcolm Singer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. List of works Opera * A Room of One’s Own (2021) * Upcoming project with librettist Aleksi Barrière Orchestra * Midnight Sun Variations (2019) * Songs of the Ice (2019) * The Ring of Fire and Love (2020) * Mosaics (2021) * Polar Pearls (2023) Concertante * Saivo (2016) for soprano saxophone and orchestra * Milky Ways (2022) for Cor anglais and orchestra Song cycles * The Earth, Spring’s Daughter (2015) - for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra * The Lustful Mother (2018) for baritone, piano, and string orchestra Wind ensemble * Joye (2017) Chamber music * Beaivi (2016) * Siimes (2017) * There is more light in this room when you are here (2018) * They Walked Side by Side (2018) * The Lustful Mother’s Heart (2020) * Without a Trace (2020) * Woodland Fanfares (2021) * Tende

Paavo Heininen

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Paavo Johannes Heininen (13 January 1938 – 18 January 2022) was a Finnish composer and pianist. Biography He was born in Helsinki, where he studied at the Sibelius Academy and was taught composition by Aarre Merikanto, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Einar Englund, and Joonas Kokkonen. He continued his studies in Cologne with Bernd Alois Zimmermann; at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City with Vincent Persichetti and Eduard Steuermann; and privately in Poland with Witold Lutosławski. He also studied musicology at the University of Helsinki. Heininen was one of the most important Finnish modernist composers. His works can be roughly divided into two periods: dodecaphonic (c. 1957–1975) and serialist (from 1976 onwards). Due to the hostile reactions to his early works, particularly the First Symphony, his works up to the 1980s can be roughly divided in two groups: more personal and complex pieces and more approachable, audience-friendly pieces such as the Second Symphony, “Petite symphonie joyeuse”. As professor of composition at the Sibelius Academy, Heininen has been highly influential in educating the next generation of Finnish composers and his pupils have included Magnus Lindbe

Panu Aaltio

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Panu Aaltio (born 29 January 1982) is a Finnish film composer. He was educated at the Sibelius Academy and University of Southern California and established himself as a film composer with The Home of Dark Butterflies (2008). He has received the International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for a Documentary three times, for Tale of a Forest (2012), Tale of a Lake (2016) and Tale of the Sleeping Giants (2021). Life and work Panu Aaltio was born in Nurmijärvi on 29 January 1982. Wanting to become a film composer, he studied music technology at the Sibelius Academy in Finland, attended the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program at the University of Southern California and worked as an intern on film and television productions in Los Angeles. After returning to Finland, he became established there as a composer for feature films, television series and video games. The first feature film he composed a score for was The Home of Dark Butterflies (2008), for which he was nominated for the Jussi Award for . Tale of a Lake also received the Jussi Award for Best Music. Selected filmography * The Home of Dark Butterflies (2008) * Sauna (2008) * (2011)

Pertti Jalava

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Pertti Jalava (born 1960) is a Finnish composer who has written numerous works for various chamber ensembles choral groups and orchestra, including five symphonies and a piano concerto. He wrote music for jazz and big band line-ups. Stylistically he keeps these genres separate, he does allow influences to travel between the two. Career Jalava studied composition almost entirely on his own. In 1993, having already created an extensive repertoire influenced by jazz and classical music for his jazz ensembles, he studied theatre composition with the American Craig Bohmler on a six-month course run by the Finnish Music Theatre Association. As his final assignment he composed a chamber opera called Paradise. Having completed this course, a turning point in his career, Jalava embarked on an intensive course of private study and attended composition laboratories held by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Turku in 1994, 1996 and 1998. Pertti Jalava won a number of prizes in Finnish and international composition competitions with works for string orchestra, wind orchestra, chamber ensemble, jazz ensemble and big band. Works by him have been performed by many orchestras an

Robert Kajanus

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Robert Kajanus (2 December 1856 – 6 July 1933) was a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher. In 1882, he founded the Helsinki Orchestral Society, Finland’s first professional orchestra. As a conductor, he was also a notable champion and interpreter of the music of Jean Sibelius. Life Kajanus studied music theory with Richard Faltin, violin with Gustaf Niemann in Helsinki, with Hans Richter, Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn in Leipzig and Johan Svendsen in Paris. His music drew on the folk legends of the Finnish people. He worked in Dresden in the years immediately after his graduation and returned to Helsinki in 1882. He founded the first permanent orchestra in Finland: the Helsinki Orchestral Society (later to become the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finland’s national orchestra). He was also the founder of the Nordic Music Festival in 1919. He received many decorations, including the French Légion d’honneur. Family Kajanus’s parents were Georg August Cajanus and Agnes Ottilia Flodin. Robert Kajanus was the father of harpists Lilly Kajanus-Blenner (1885–1963) and Aino Kajanus-Mangström (1888–1951), and violinist Kaj Kajanus (1908–1994); the grandfather of award-winning Fin

Selim Palmgren

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Selim Gustaf Adolf Palmgren (16 February 1878 – 13 December 1951 ) was a Finnish composer, pianist, and conductor. Palmgren was born in Pori, Finland, February 16, 1878. He studied at the Conservatory in Helsinki from 1895 to 1899, then continued his piano studies in Berlin with Conrad Ansorge, Wilhelm Berger and Ferruccio Busoni. He conducted choral and orchestral societies in his own country and made several very successful concert tours as a pianist in the principal cities of Finland and Scandinavia, appearing also as a visiting conductor. In 1921, he went to the United States, where he taught composition at the Eastman School of Music, later returning to Finland, where he died in Helsinki, aged 73. Palmgren was married to the opera singer Maikki Järnefelt, who had been divorced from her first husband, Armas Järnefelt, in 1908, from 1910 to her death in 1929. Works listed by opus number An incomplete works list (elaborated by Joel Valkila): *Op. 1 - Prelude, Illusion, & Etude and Valse-Caprice for Piano (1898?’ Illusion later arranged for orchestra) *Op. 2(a) - Two Songs (reference: T. Tommila) (1898?) *Op. 2(b) - 3 Pieces for Piano (1898?) *Op. 3 - Suite for Piano (1899?) *Op.

Tapani Puranen

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Tapani Puranen (born 1 October 1957 in Juva, Finland) is a composer, arranger, orchestra conductor, recording engineer, and a producer. Since 2018, Puranen has lived in Benalmádena, Spain. Major works * The most successful composition written by Tapani Puranen is a pop ballad called “Love Like Never Before” (using the alias Joachim Brooks), which had more than 7,000 airplays in France and was number 1 in the Top Dance chart in January 1996. The performer was Jazmine (United States/Finland). Released by Atoll Music, France. * A soundtrack for a TV documentary film Avara Luonto - “Suoerämaa” 2018 * Modern/experimental-style composition Unen ja valveen kuvia (“Pictures of the dreams and being awake”) to a similarly named multi-episode TV program including paintings of Finnish surrealist painters. This program has been broadcast several times in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Director Petri Merta. * Conducted the string parts in the recording session of “Rakkaus on lumivalkoinen” (“Love is White Like the Snow”) by the top selling Finnish rock band Yö. The song was one of the biggest hits in Finland in 2003. Released by Poko Records, Finland. * The symphony orchestra arrangements

Teemu Brunila

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Teemu William Brunila (born 24 November 1976, in Turku) is a Finnish singer, songwriter, musician and producer. Brunila became known as the lead vocalist and songwriter for the pop group The Crash. During their career, the band released four studio albums and one compilation album. Later career After The Crash disbanded, Brunila has concentrated on writing music for other Finnish artists, including Anna Abreu, Saara and Jenni Vartiainen. He has also written songs for British acts like Pixie Lott and JLS and American R&B artist Trey Songz. When a song “Never Again” was featured on Songz’s album Chapter V, Brunila became the first Finn to have co-written a song for an album at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart. Studio Killers In 2011 a new virtual band Studio Killers started to gain success with their single “Ode to the Bouncer” and was said to have members from Finland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. The group has never disclosed the identities of its members, but Brunila has been hypothesized to be the voice of the band’s singer, Cherry. Personal life Teemu Brunila is a graduate of the University of Turku, majoring in law. He has stated, however, that he has no intentions

Tomi Räisänen

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Tomi Räisänen (; born 2 June 1976) is a Finnish composer. Biography Räisänen was born in Helsinki. He studied composition from 2000 to 2006 at the Sibelius Academy under Erkki Jokinen graduating as a master of music. Before entering the Sibelius Academy he read music at the University of Helsinki studying musicology and composition under Harri Vuori. He has also participated in several international composition masterclasses, seminars and workshops under composers such as Louis Andriessen, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Michael Jarrell, Jouni Kaipainen, Magnus Lindberg, Philippe Manoury and Marco Stroppa. Since the early 2000s Räisänen’s list of works has rapidly grown and contains around 100 compositions covering works from solo pieces to chamber and choral music, and includes orchestral works and concertos. Räisänen is one of the most performed composers of his generation in Finland. His music has been widely performed and broadcast in 44 countries across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia. Same year, the youth orchestra work Kalalle won 2nd Prize in Pirkanmaan Pinna Composition Competition. In 2022, choir work Kiire won 2nd prize in the P. J. Hannikainen Ch

Tuomari Nurmio

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Judge Bone, Tuomari Nurmio, is the artist name of Hannu Juhani Nurmio (born 1950 in Helsinki), a Finnish rock singer and songwriter. Work Since his debut album, Nurmio has been regarded one of the most original Finnish singer-songwriters. His lyrics are filled with peculiar and arresting metaphors and expressions, some of which have made their way into the vernacular Finnish language. Especially the first four albums are now seen as classic works. Musically the first albums draw on the traditions of American country, blues and roots music, combining them with new wave quirkiness and energy. The lyrics have romantic, humorous undertones, with occasional glimpses of the dark side of urban life. In the 1990s Nurmio’s sound has moved towards a scratchy, rugged sound somewhat reminiscent of Tom Waits. In the 2000s he has often performed in a duo with a guitar and Markku Hillilä playing drums. In 2005 he collaborated with the Finnish world music band Alamaailman Vasarat. In 2011 Nurmio appeared as a guest singer on Finnish metal band Korpiklaani’s album Ukon Wacka. Background “Tuomari” means a judge in Finnish. Nurmio adopted this nickname, since he has a master’s degree in law and is th

Tuomas Holopainen

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Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the primary songwriter, keyboardist, and founding member of the symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that his songwriting is influenced by harmonic film music. Holopainen has written several songs that have been included in movie soundtracks, including a collaboration with Nightwish bass player and male vocalist Marko Hietala on “While Your Lips Are Still Red”, for the Finnish film Lieksa! in 2007. He also co-wrote the music for Nightwish’s own film, Imaginaerum, released in November 2012. Holopainen released his first solo album Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge in 2014. Early and personal life Tuomas Holopainen was born in Kitee on Christmas Day 1976. His parents were entrepreneur Pentti Holopainen (1940–2021), and Kirsti Nortia-Holopainen, a former music and English teacher in a small elementary school. He has an older sister named Susanna who works as a surgeon-urologist, and an older brother named Petri who is an autopsy assistant. He and singer Elina Siirala are second cousins. His musicality and skill in text expression showed

Tuomas Turriago

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Tuomas Turriago (born February 18, 1979) is a Finnish composer, pianist and conductor. Since 2004 Turriago has served as senior lecturer in accompaniment at Tampere University of Applied Sciences. He is recognized as the first Finnish composer to record his entire piano oeuvre. Tuomas Turriago studied piano under the tutelage of Carlos Turriago at the Central Finland Conservatory and Erik T. Tawaststjerna at the Sibelius Academy. He was awarded first prize at the Kili Piano Competition in Sweden in 1992. Turriago has performed in Finland as a pianist for the Tampere Philharmonic, TampereRaw, St. Michel Strings and the Jyväskylä Sinfonia. Personal life Turriago’s Latin music proclivities are said to derive ethnically from his father Carlos Turriago, who is Colombian. References External links *Official website

Usko Meriläinen

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Usko Aatos Meriläinen (27 January 1930 – 12 November 2004) was a Finnish composer. He was born in Tampere. Usko Meriläinen studied orchestral conducting with Leo Funtek and composition with Aarre Merikanto at the Sibelius Academy. Meriläinen conducted the Finnish Opera Choir from 1954 to1956, the Kuopio City Orchestra from 1956 to 1957, and the Tampere Workers’ Theater Orchestra from 1957 to 1961. He was chairman of the Finnish Composers’ Association from 1981 to 1992 and served as artistic advisor of the Tampere Biennale. In 1954 his Partita for Brass won second prize in the Thor Johnson Brass Composition competition in Cincinnati, Ohio. Meriläinen won an award for Jussi’s film Private Area in 1963. He was also awarded the Pro Finlandia Prize in 1987. Meriläinen was married to choreographer Ruth Matso, who choreographed the premiere of his ballet Arius. Their daughter is actress Lena Meriläinen, and their son is producer Ari Meriläinen, who is the father of writer and politician Rosa Meriläinen. He is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki. Selected works Symphonies * Symphony No. 1 (composed 1953–1955) *Symphony No. 2 (1964) *Symphony No. 3 (1971) *Alasin (The Anvil, Symph

Uuno Klami

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Uuno (Kalervo) Klami (20 September 1900 – 29 May 1961) was a Finnish composer. He is widely recognized as one of the most significant Finnish composers to emerge from the generation that followed Jean Sibelius. Klami was born and died in Virolahti. Many of his works are related to the epic Kalevala. He was influenced by French and Spanish music, and especially by Maurice Ravel, for whom he had a particular esteem. The core of Klami’s oeuvre consists of an assortment of works related to the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, among the most notable being: the five-movement Kalevala sarja (Kalevala Suite; 1933, revised 1943), inspired by Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring; the symphonic poem, Lemminkäisen seikkailut saaressa (Lemminkäinen’s Island Adventures; 1934); and, the unfinished ballet, Pyörteitä (Whirls), which survives as two suites. As central to Klami’s legacy is the six-movement orchestral suite, Merikuvia (Sea Pictures; 1932); the Karelian Rhapsody (1927); and, Psalmus (1936), an oratorio for soloists, mixed, chorus and orchestra. He also wrote two numbered symphonies, in 1938 and 1945, respectively, as well as two piano concerti (1925, 1950), a violin concerto (1943), and

Väinö Raitio

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Väinö Eerikki Raitio (15 April 1891 – 10 September 1945) was part of the small group of composers who appeared in the Finnish art music scene in the 1920s with a new cosmopolitan music style, very different from the dominant conservative National Romanticism. He was born in Sortavala, Grand Duchy of Finland. Raitio’s career as a composer reached its peak in the 1920s when eight large symphonic poems appeared from his pen. Influenced by Alexander Scriabin, his style was too modern for Nordic music circles, and his orchestral work Joutsenet (The Swans, Les Cygnes) of 1919 remained as his sole orchestral piece to be published (in 1938). Raitio’s profile as a composer slipped, as he concentrated on shorter works for smaller ensembles in the 1930s and 1940s. In private, however, much effort was made by the composer to write operatic works. He died in Helsinki. Even today, his five operas are only known from the composer’s hand-written manuscripts. Works Early period (–1919) *Toccata in G minor op. 1 *Violin Sonata in F sharp minor op. 2 *Preludium for cello (or violin) and piano op. 3(b) *Summer Idylls for piano op. 4 *Six Songs for voice and piano op. 5 *Piano concerto op. 6 *Poème for

Vexi Salmi

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Veikko Olavi “Vexi” Salmi (; 21 September 1942 – 8 September 2020) was a Finnish lyricist. He wrote the lyrics to numerous popular songs for several prominent artists, including Irwin Goodman, Jari Sillanpää, and Katri Helena. His career as a lyricist began in the 1960s, and continued until his death. During his prolific career, he wrote the lyrics for over 4,000 songs, more than 2,400 of which have been recorded. He was 77 years old at the time. Popular lyrical works During his career, Salmi has written and translated lyrics for hundreds of songs, including several popular hits, some of which are listed below. * “Seine” (Tarja Lunnas) * “Rentun ruusu” (Irwin Goodman) * “Surun pyyhit silmistäni” (Kirka) * “Elämän valttikortit” (Ahti Lampi) * “Ruusu joka vuodesta” (Reijo Taipale) * “Sydämeeni joulun teen” (Vesa-Matti Loiri) * “Kaduilla tuulee” (Jari Sillanpää) * “Ei tippa tapa” (Goodman) * “St. Pauli ja Reeperbahn” (Goodman) * “Poing poing poing” (Goodman) * “Ryysyranta” (Goodman) * “Lievestuoreen Liisa” (Goodman) * “Huilumies” (Loiri) * “Eviva Espanja” (Marion Rung) * “Mahtava peräsin ja pulleat purjeet” (Solistiyhtye Suomi) * “Vaskikellot” (Antti Huovila) * “Yksinäinen pitkä tie”

Yrjö Kilpinen

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(4 February 18922 March 1959) was a Finnish composer. He was born in Helsinki, and in 1907 he started his studies in the Helsingin Musiikkiopisto (later named Sibelius Academy). In 1910 Kilpinen moved to Vienna to continue his studies and from 1913 to 1914 he studied in Berlin. He travelled extensively in Scandinavia and central Europe, especially Germany. He became an honorary professor in 1942 and was elected to the Finnish Academy in 1948. Kilpinen is most famous for composing 790 works in the Lieder style. Among his other works were six piano sonatas, a violin sonata and a cello sonata. During the 1930s and 1940s he was internationally the most well-known Finnish composer after Jean Sibelius. Kilpinen’s friendship with the German national-socialistic leaders brought him a bad name after the war, after which he was more or less a “persona non grata” in Finland. Kilpinen remains a controversial figure to this very day despite the continuous popularity of his music — him being a Nazi-sympathiser still casts a dark shadow upon his reputation. In April 1999, the North American Yrjö Kilpinen Society came into existence. The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at the Universi