Recording Minna with RSO

 Two days of recording DONE! Feeling super happy to have been given the opportunity to record my piece “Minna-Pictures from the Life of Minna Canth” with the amazing musicians from the Radio Symphony Orchestra ! This was my first “Kantanauha” (“Archiv Recording") EVER! 🤩 

Feels also special that such an amazing experience was my last “in person” event here in Finland for a while! Because *drumroll for announcement* in three weeks I will be moving to GERMANY for a one year artistic residency in Bamberg (Bavaria)!! 🤩

Composer Cecilia Damström

So if you know anybody who would like to rent my furnished two-room flat in Helsinki (Taka-Töölö) from May to March, let me know! 😅

FFF week 8: Earth hour

I would like to contribute to FFF (Fridays for Future) in my own way: by sharing one concrete action per week that YOU can do, and which I have done, for combating climate change. 

FFF week 8: Earth hour

WHY: Started by WWF and partners as a symbolic lights-out event in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour is now one of the world's largest grassroots movements for the environment. Held every year on the last Saturday of March, Earth Hour engages millions of people in more than 180 countries and territories, switching off their lights to show support for our planet.

WHAT CAN I DO: Switch off your lights at home during Earth Hour. Earth Hour 2021 will be on Saturday the 27th of March at 20.30 - 21.30. My Finnish friends can also go to WWF Finland’s created list of “Things I will do for my planet” that you can fill online (link in my bio and also in the bio of @wwfsuomi) . The list will be sent to our government, showing them what we are ready to do as a challenge for them to do as much as the climate as well.

P.S. The premiere of “Requiem for our Earth” by the choir Lyran was released yesterday! If you want to see the video recording of my 30 min lament to our planet, here it is!

Composer Cecilia Damström. Photo by Tuuli Solhagen

Links:

https://wwf.fi/earthhour/tee-lupaus-planeetalle/
https://www.earthhour.org/take-part/virtual-spotlight
https://wwf.fi/earthhour/
https://youtu.be/-qgzZMPQKAo

FFF week 7: Take care of your clothes

I would like to contribute to FFF (Fridays for Future) in my own way: by sharing one concrete action per week that YOU can do, and which I have done, for combating climate change. 

FFF week 7: Take care of your clothes

WHY:As mentioned last week, the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of the wastewater of the world, and also accounts for about 10% of global carbon emissions. Therefore each piece of clothing has an enormous impact on the climate, and should be taken care of for prolonging its “life”.

WHAT CAN I DO: Wash less, wash inside out and wash at low temperatures. Pay attention to care labels and cut down on dry cleaning. Use eco-laundry powders and detergents. Air dry and store properly. And very importantly: Alter clothing to fit or refresh the style and always repair damaged clothes! If you aren’t good at repairing yourself you can always ask professionals to do it. I warmly recommend EspooMending! Check out in what cool ways EspooMending both repairs clothing and also makes alterations to clothing to give them a longer life! Swipe and see for yourself!😎

Tuuli Solhagen from EspooMending and composer Cecilia Damström

Links to EspooMending on @EspooMending s bio

Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200310-sustainable-fashion-how-to-buy-clothes-good-for-the-climate
https://eco-age.com/resources/how-care-your-clothes-and-keep-them-longer/

Last weeks sources are still relevant as well:
https://www.nrdc.org/issues/encourage-textile-manufacturers-reduce-pollution
https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2021/03/10/ar-det-battre-for-miljon-att-handla-klader-pa-natet-eller-i-en-butik-expert-var
https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2021/03/08/kladerna-du-shoppade-och-returnerade-kan-brannas-upp-i-irak-vi-satte-sandare-i
https://arenan.yle.fi/1-50677550
https://arenan.yle.fi/1-50183627

FFF week 6: Avoid “Fast fashion”!

I would like to contribute to FFF (Fridays for Future) in my own way: by sharing one concrete action per week that YOU can do, and which I have done, for combating climate change. 

FFF week 6: Avoid “Fast fashion”!

WHY: Textile mills generate one-fifth of the world's industrial water pollution and use 20,000 chemicals, many of them carcinogenic, to make clothes.Most of the world's textile factories are in developing countries where governments can't keep pace with the industry’s massive pollution footprint.

WHAT CAN I DO: First of all: buy as little clothes as possible and use them for as long as possible. Seek for high quality clothes and look for sustainable clothing brands. Buy secondhand clothes and prolong in that way the life of clothes. Also when secondhand shopping I seek for high quality clothes that are in good shape, because if the piece of clothing has lasted the usage of one person and still looks good, that is for me an indication of high quality and hopefully a long lifespan for that piece of clothing. 

If you order on the internet: only order that what you REALLY plan on keeping, DON’T use your “home as a fitting room”, because all the unnecessary sending of clothes leaves a carbon footprint. Moreover sent back items are often more hard to sell, and can result in ending up in non EU countries for burning, which is a waste of clothing (and vaste of carbon footprint that went into making that piece of clothing). In Scandinavia Finland is the country that sends most back Internet purchased products, up to around 40% of all purchased items. Please think before ANY purchase you make, if you really need this item. <3 

Cecilia Damström 

In this selfie I’m wearing a dress I bought from a second hand store (UFF).

Links to several TV programs in Finnish and Swedish about this topic:

https://arenan.yle.fi/1-50677550

https://arenan.yle.fi/1-50183627

Sources:
https://www.nrdc.org/issues/encourage-textile-manufacturers-reduce-pollution

https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2021/03/10/ar-det-battre-for-miljon-att-handla-klader-pa-natet-eller-i-en-butik-expert-var

https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2021/03/08/kladerna-du-shoppade-och-returnerade-kan-brannas-upp-i-irak-vi-satte-sandare-i

https://arenan.yle.fi/1-50677550

https://arenan.yle.fi/1-50183627

Some thoughts on International Woman's Day!

Happy International Woman's Day!

International Woman's Day is a slightly "different" concert day compared to other concert days. Why? Because this is usually the only day in the year where you are likely to come across concert programs consisting of only female composers, while all other days of the year it is the norm to come across concert programs with only male composers.

If you would make every week a concert, and only this week included female composers, that is more or less also what the statistics for the world would be, around 1.9 percent. According to a survey of the 22 largest American orchestras, women composers accounted for only 1.8 percent of the total pieces performed in the 2014-2015 concert season. In the last years the numbers have gone slightly up, so maybe like adding a second all female concert on Mother's Day.

After knowing these not so encouraging numbers, it is therefore heart warming to see everyone who is trying to bring change. Thank You!

Thank you to 

Kokonainen

 for making concert series striving for equality. Thank you to the founders and artistic directors 

Linda Suolahti

 and 

Mari Viluksela

 for keeping up this wonderful work for already 5 years now! Thank you to 

Hbl - Hufvudstadsbladet

 and 

Wilhelm Kvist

 for questioning these norms and lifting these uncomfortable discussions up to light, and asking the questions about representation. Thank you to the research association 

Suoni ry

 , which seeks to advance musical practices and music research as a site for societal discussions. Thank you to the Swedish organisations 

KVAST

 and 

Konstmusiksystrar

 who have have had an enormous impact on that the Swedish music scene for the better. Thank you to every single person and organisation, who is working for a more equal concert music scene. Thank you! 

Very happy to this year be performed in an online concert by 

Den akademiska damkören Linnea

 conducted by the fantastic 

Merete Ellegaard

. This concert consists of compositions composed by both women AND men, just as it should be, today and also all other days of the year. We are in this together. 

The piece "hjärteblad" is the third movement of my cycle "Vidkänning", composed to amazing poems by 

Henrika Ringbom

 and can be heard at the very end of the concert (at 58:25 min). If you understand Swedish, I of course strongly recommend you to listen to the whole concert!

https://youtu.be/BKX6dUh9nc8?t=3504 

Composer Cecilia Damström. Photo by Marthe Veian 2017.