Piano Quintet Minna coming to Tampere

Was mentioned (at the very end) in this Sunday article by Helsingin Sanomat! My first Piano Quintet "Minna - Pictures from the Life of Minna Canth" will be performed by TampereRaw on March 24th in the Tampere Hall and will be broadcast by the Finnish Broadcasting Company! The concert also contains the work Hele by Lotta Wennäkoski and Naisen muotokuva by Minna Leinonen. Very much looking forward to the concert! And for Finnish speakers; here is a good chance to test which work by Minna Canth you could read in the meanwhile! Welcome!

Minna Canth, Minna Leinonen, me, Lotta Wennäkoski and conductor Maria Itkonen

Opera Rehearsals Have Begun

Rehearsals for my children opera "Djurens planet" have begun a week ago! Absolutely love the wonderful cast, the musicians, the director Martina Roos, the stage designer Anna Kontek, the children's choir, the story by Monica Vikström-Jokela, basically EVERYTHING about this project! All music by yours truly. (In this pic posing in the National Opera for Svenska Folkskolans Vänner's magazine.) 

The premiere 15.3.19 is already sold out so be sure to book your tickets asap for one of the two remaining shows on Saturday the 16th of March at the National Opera! 

Photo by Anna Kujala for @svenskafolkskolansvanner Magazine 

Thank You 2018!

2018 was an amazing year! It started well off with the prize for best children opera of the year followed by a commission by the Finnish National Opera, three orchestral premieres, having music performed in about 30 concerts and winning the award for young composer of the year in Sweden. Being selected by Hufvudstadsbladet to their list "40 under 40 who have already made a huge impact on our society" was quite an fun and extraordinary way to end the year 2018!

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2019 filled with love and joy!

Proud of my Friends

Very happy and proud of my composer friends Jonne Valtonen and Roger Wanamo who this year both won the Pirkanmaa Cultural Prize for their lifework in orchestrating game music for symphony orchestras around the world (LSO, Tokyo Phil, Stockholm Phil etc)! And now they have also been invited by the president to his Independence Day Celebration in the Presidential Palace!

Roger Wanamo and Jonne Valtonen at the President's Independence Day Celebration 2018

Finland became independent 100 years ago and has grown from a poor country to one of the richest in the world, so we are quite proud and thankful of our independence and celebrate it in a respectful way. Every year the president of Finland organises a Independence Day Celebration in the Presidential Palace, where he invites the people he has met during the past year. Politicians and sports people are often invited but sadly cultural people and musicians are seen more and more rarely. The president shakes hands with every one of the around 2000 guests which are invited, and the official part of the party is broadcast on national TV and is the most watched program of the year! So to be one among the invited is a very big honour!

Very proud of my two friends, who were invited! And I think it’s quite ironic that the independent composition program at Tampere University was put down, officially due to that people didn’t get “employed” after graduating (but mainly due to money being cut in educational sectors), but people who have studied in Tampere have done better career wise and become more known in the world than maybe any other students in the whole Tampere University of Applied Sciences! I already mentioned Jonne’s and Roger’s enormous successes and also composers such as Paavo Korpijaakko have been commissioned by the Finnish RSO and Tampere Phil, composer Minna Leinonen is now doing her doctorate in composition (after studying in Tampere) and is making her living as a freelance composer, Jouni Bäckström has in addition to singing also composed a lot of new music and I’m also quite proud about having been commissioned by the Finnish National Opera before turning 30 and having signed with a publisher before having officially graduated from my masters.

Commission by the Finnish National Opera

Very happy to finally share with all of you: the Finnish National Opera has commissioned me to compose their next children opera "Djurens planet" to the libretto of Monica Vikström-Jokela! Premiere on March 15th 2019 and going on tour around Finland autumn 2019! Performed by five professional musicians (three singers, a keyboardist and a electric guitarist) and a children choir! Very honoured, happy and excited about this project! Read more about it on the National Operas website and in Hufvudstadsbladet!

Music: Cecilia Damström

Libretto and original story: Monica Vikström-Jokela

Director: Martina Roos

Costume design: Anna Kontek

Lights: Vesa Pohjolainen

Choir conductor: Anna Schultz

Cast:

Joy, mezzo soprano: Elli Vallinoja / Katariina Heikkilä

Jack, soprano: Hedvig Paulig / Saara Kiiveri

Tin, Dragon, Businessman, baritone: Tiitus Ylipää / Riku Pelo

Children choir: Åshöjdens musikklasser årskurser 3-6

Photo by Marthe Veian

Intense Concert Week Ahead

In about one weeks time "Sof godt!" for mezzo soprano, baritone and orchestra will get it's world premiere on the 8th of October at 6PM in Vaasa City Hall! The piece will also be performed in the Schauman Hall in Jakobstad on the 9th of October and in Helsinki at the old concert hall of Sandels Music Institute on the 11th of October, both concerts at 6PM!

In exactly two weeks time my second piano quintet "Aino - Emotions from the Life of Aino Sibelius" will get it's Swedish premiere in the Berwald Hall in Stockholm on the 13th of October at 1 PM!

For this reason I would like to share the recording of the last movement "Iron" from Aino, recorded at the world premiere last June at the amazing Kokonainen Festival! Please have a listen!

All concerts, just as the streaming of this recording, for free!

https://soundcloud.com/ceciliadamstrom/aino-iv-rautaa-iron

What a day!

Today my second string quartet "Letters" will be premiered by the amazing Brodsky Quartet at the wonderful Stift Festival in The Netherlands.

Today my orchestra piece "Lurcum" will also get it's Finnish premiere by Jyväskylä Sinfonia in Jyväskylä.

Today I got an email telling me that my blog "A Composer's Diary" had been chosen by a jury among the top 15 music compositions blogs by Feedspot. Being dyslectic and writing the blog not in my mother-tongue, I must say I'm quite proud!

Today I got an email about more great things that are coming up in the future.

Today has been a quite an awesome day and the premieres haven't even begun!

I would say "I'm living the dream", but I never ever even could dream of a life like this!

Thank you Daniel Rowland​, the Brodsky Quartet, Ari Rasilainen,  Jyväskylä Sinfonia and Feedspot for making THIS day so great! And very thankful to ALL people who have helped me in so many ways over so many years, and who make my life THIS awesome!

Wishing you all an as awesome day as I'm having today!

Photo credit to Marthe Veian Andreassen​