Sakari Oramo takes responsibility for music
Sakari Oramo is one of Finland’s international star conductors and is known for his extended engagements with orchestras and for his sense of responsibility. [- -] His new job as Professor of Orchestral Training and Orchestra Conducting with the world-famous conducting class of the Sibelius Academy has kept him busy.
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A timeless tale of identity and displacement at Our Festival
Finding the right tuning
In July 2021, the audience of Our Festival will be able to witness the six-member international working group of the festival and the Globe Art Point artist residency telling a story of European identity and migration in drama and music – or at least that is the plan. The inspiration for this production comes from the life story of Finnish-Iranian musician Marouf Majidi and Virgil’s Aeneid.
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On my music and beyond:
Engawa, listening out
"During my three-month teaching period [in Japan], I learned greater respect for individuals who build bridges between cultures that are distant from each other, both geographically and mentally," writes composer Juha T. Koskinen. This column is part of the series where composers and musicians write about their music.
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FMQ Special Feature 1/2021:
It’s just music. Or is it? - Music as a means of political and social influence
FMQ Special Feature 1/2021 focuses on the multiple relations between music, politics and social activism. What is the role of music in political campaigns? Should or could a modern-day musician and composer make political statements? Do they have a responsibility to do so? What if an entire genre is harnessed to a particular ideology? Our writers also discuss the political dimensions of music history and historiography.
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Composer Maija Hynninen found courage in California
Composer Maija Hynninen works extensively with new technology, but this does not diminish the importance of the traditional craft of a composer, quite the opposite. A composer’s work is about listening and processing, and that takes time, she says. For Hynninen, every work is a new process of exploration. She discovered a new kind of courage while studying in California.
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On my music and beyond:
Hypnotic and captivating, not dusty antiquities
“Although I have delved deep into archives and particularly into the traditional music of the Suistamo area through my research, the fact is that modern folk music finds its inspiration absolutely anywhere, not just in dusty antiquities,” writes Anne-Mari Kivimäki, a composer and the developer of the modern Karelian accordion trance style, who is also known as a member of the band Suistamon Sähkö.
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Review of Alma! - a kinetic opera by Minna Leinonen:
The fantastic tapestry of a woman’s life
"Minna Leinonen manages to pull off the most important requirement in writing an opera: to write music that perfectly merges with the other elements surrounding it but nevertheless retains its own voice. [- -] I would not hesitate to describe Alma! as a major breakthrough for Leinonen."
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From the Archives (1985–2005)
FMQ began life as a printed magazine – the Finnish Music Quarterly – in 1985. Until 2005, its articles were only available in hard copy.
Selected articles from our back catalogue have been posted online, and the selection is continuously being added to.
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