Sauli Zinovjev

Classical music continues to define the Finnish identity. This year’s Emma nominees show that this year that identity is being shaped by poetry settings by Saariaho, sizzling live technology, awareness of biodiversity loss and international quality.

“Composing is for me largely a matter of random meandering, and writing down the notes is only the tip of the iceberg in my process. My composing does not adapt to office hours, does not progress in a linear fashion and is not easily predictable; instead, it is variable and fragmented, and largely a complete mystery to me,” writes composer Sauli Zinovjev. This column is part of the series where composers and musicians write about their music.

"Sauli Zinovjev has an excellent command of collaboration with musicians and an advanced understanding of sound and of drama."

War, prison camps, famine and death are rather less than cheerful topics to feature at a music festival. Sibafest 2018, organised by the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, managed to find optimism within its chosen theme of #civilpeace – a message of peace, future, reconciliation and coexistence.

We have come a long way from the days when audiences at concerts of contemporary music consisted of a tiny handful of dedicated professionals. This was the inevitable conclusion when looking at the size and structure of audiences at this year’s Musica nova Helsinki festival. There were several concerts where people actually had to be turned away, and the audience base ranged far beyond the diehard contemporary music enthusiasts.

Finland’s largest contemporary music event, Musica nova Helsinki, isn’t the product of one person’s vision, or even one organisation’s. It is an ecosystem that draws and depends upon most of Helsinki’s major musical institutions, which might explain why the German conductor André de Ridder was an astute choice to be the festival’s new artistic director.

Guitarists are unusually keen to commission new compositions. The guitarist, composer and audience all benefit, because the guitar, being a popular instrument, lowers the threshold to listening to new music. Finnish guitarists Petri Kumela, Otto Tolonen and Patrik Kleemola rank among the most active champions of new guitar repertoire.