Jukka Tiensuu

The professional profile and operating environment of Finnish composers of classical music have become increasingly international at a rapid rate in the past three decades. Back in the day, few composers spent extensive periods of time abroad, and any trips they did take were mainly for study or for inspiration and did not necessarily involve immersion in the local music scene. This started to change in the 1990s, as the Finnish music industry began to integrate into the international music industry.

"Kromos is a rewarding listening experience. This is, naturally, due to Eskelinen’s splendid musicianship, but also much to the diversity of styles and ideas in the chosen six works."

Harpsichord, viol, recorder... many instruments are associated with a specific epoch and its music. Why could they not be contemporary instruments?

Viitasaari, in central Finland 350 km north of Helsinki, is the home of the Time of Music festival. Founded in 1982, it is Finland’s oldest annual festival of contemporary music. But that is not all: it is also a continuing education event with a legendary reputation. Today, the courses given at the festival attract more top-notch foreign participants than the town can accommodate. Is this Finland’s Darmstadt – or something even better than that?

The Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) emerged as a pioneer in its field in Finland. Now, this nimble ensemble is adopting a new, democratic leadership model. With two artistic planners and an executive director, the orchestra aims to become a tighter-knit team competent not only in performance but also in audience outreach.

A few years ago two new events, the RUSK festival in Pietarsaari, founded by composer Sebastian Fagerlund and clarinettist Christoffer Sundqvist, and Pasimusic, composer Pasi Lyytikäinen’s own festival in northern Savo, appeared on the autumn festival map of Finland, brightening up the darkening months with their innovative offerings.

Jukka Tiensuu has, like the music he composes, always defied classification in a single category. The most fitting words to describe him might be "a universal musician" or "the best-kept secret in Finnish music". Hence Tiensuu, if anyone, is the person par excellence to open the discussion about Finnish avant-garde today.

Jukka Tiensuu – composer, harpsichordist, pianist and musician: “I feel equally at home with music of all periods, and with different musical genres. If you want to get to the very essence of music, you cannot stick to just one type of music only. I see music as something eternal yet closely rooted in its own era and environment. So studying, say, Renaissance or Baroque dance steps, architecture or cultural modes has been just as relevant to myö career as the use of a computer, an ‘autonomous colleague’, for examining and determining the micro-organisms of sound or composing itself.”