Epitaph Premiere!

Very happy with pianist Ville Hautakangas’ world premiere of my new piano solo piece Epitaph!

The premiere took place in Tampere Hall in the Small Auditorium. Before the concert composers Tuomas Turriago, Ilari Laakso and I, as well the star of the evening, Ville Hautakangas, were all interviewed by concert producer Suvi Leinonen at a pretalk session. We talked about our inspirations for our pieces, about how we compose, and our upcoming projects. The pretalk was well attended.

Pretalk at Tampere Hall. Suvi Leinonen, Ville Hautakangas, me and Ilari Laakso.
Photo by Lea Antola.

This was the program note for Epitaph:

Epitaph for piano solo is written for Ville Hautakangas and to commemorate our friend Jouni Kaipainen. Jouni was a particularly positive and intelligent personality. If you ever met Jouni and had the chance to talk with him, you won’t forget him. He was a very quick-witted man, and his knowledge didn’t only encompass music, but almost everything in this world, and it was so immense that you couldn't help but admire it. But this didn’t ever make Jouni snuffy, rather the contrary. He encouraged both young aspiring musicians and composers as well as colleagues more warm heartedly and genuinely than anyone else I know. His passing away one day before his birthday was a shock to me - the in my eyes, immortal Jouni was suddenly gone. He is not only missed as a prominent role model of Finnish cultural life, but above all as a friend.

The concert consisted of four world premieres;

Epitaph by Cecilia Damström

Häivä by Ilari Laakso

Somber by Tuomas Turriago

Inner by Matilda Seppälä

The concert was short and stylish, and very well attended. Light designer Ville Syrjä had made a separate light setting for each piece, which made up a beautiful entity.

Ville Hautakangas premiering my piece Epitaph at Tampere Hall 6.3.2019

It was a pleasure to see so many familiar faces in the audience, and so many people who also knew Jouni personally. The composition students from my former University TAMK as well as my former professor Doctor Hannu Pohjannoro were there along with other former study colleagues. Also the musicians from the ensemble Tampere Raw (who are also musicians in Tampere Philharmonic) were there, which was great.

We ended the lovely evening with delicious food and wine at the Tampere Hall restaurant Tuhto.

Tuomas Turriago, Ville Hautakangas and me after the concert 6.3.2019.
Photo by Lea Antola

Very much looking forward to share with you the video and sound recording by Tero Koski.

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.

My concerts 2017

This spring has already contained many great concerts, but as I update my blog (too) rarely, I’ll write all performances of my music (that I know of) here in one post. You are most welcome to come and listen if you happen to be in the region!

17.1 Konzertsaal, HMDK Stuttgart, Germany

Sydänlaulu played by Prof. Andra Darzins (viola)

Poster for the concert 17.1.17

6.2 at 7 PM - Pyynikkisali, Tampere Conservatory, Tampere

Summer Memories (13 min pianotrio) played by Elina Seppänen (violin), Jyri Häkkinen (cello) and me (piano)

Jyri Häkkinen (cello), me (piano) and Elina Seppänen (violin) after the
performance of my piece "Summer Memories" on the 6th of February 2017

9.3 at 6 PM - House of Nobility, Helsinki

Paradiso (4 min for wind orchestra) played by Aava Winds and conducted by Eero Lehtimäki


31.3 at 7 PM - Organo, Music Center, Helsinki

Shapes (16 min for accordion) got it’s Finnish premiere by Janne Valkeajoki as part of his Master’s Recital. Video coming up soon!

Janne Valkeajoki playing the Finnish first performance
of my piece "Shapes" at his Master's Recital
31st of March 2017. Photo © Cecilia Damström

11.4 at 7 PM - Pyynikkisali, Tampere Conservatory, Tampere
Characters (6 min for solo piano) will be performed by me, along side the first movement of  Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2 

14.4 at 3 PM - Heinola Church - Heinola

Via Crucis (22 min for string-quartet) will be performed by the Felis Quartet on Good Friday

19.4 at 12 PM - Pyynikkisali, Tampere Conservatory, Tampere
Characters (6 min) for solo piano will be performed by me as part of my Piano Bachelor’s Recital 

13.5 at 3 PM - Turku Concert Hall - Turku

World premiere of “Sailing to Windward” for male choir, performed by Brahe Djäknar conducted by Ulf Långbacka. Music by me and text by Michael Binnie

20.8 - Kokonainen Festival - Hämeenlinna

World premiere of my piano quintet "Minna"

25.8 at 8.30 PM - Tampering-Festival - Tampere
Shapes will be played by Janne Valkeajoki at Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri

26.8 at 7 PM - Tampering-Festival - Tampere
Unborn (version for chamber orchestra) will be performed by the Tampering Ensemble and Maja Metelska in the Small Auditorium of Tampere Hall.

The next upcoming concerts:

12.10 at 7 PM - Finländska pinnar - Linköping, Sweden
At Teasdale's will be performed by Linköping Studentsångare, conducted by Christina Hörnell. Music by me and text by Sara Teasdale.

21.10 at 7 PM - Linköping Studentsångare's 45th Anniversary - Linköping, Sweden
At Teasdale's will be performed by Linköping Studentsångare, conducted by Christina Hörnell.


10.11 at 6 PM - Dumma Kungen - an opera for children - Kauniainen, Finland
My opera "Dumma Kungen", commissioned by Musikinstitutet Kungsvägen will get it's world premiere at Uusi Paviljonki in Kauniainen, Finland. Text by Monica Vikström-Jokela, directed by Seija Metsärinne and composed by yours truly. Performed by the students of Musikinstitutet Kungsvägen. The premiere is already sold out two month ahead!

Illustration by Nina Haiko

11.11 at 4PM and 6PM - Dumma Kungen - an fairytale opera for children - Kauniainen, Finland
Second and third performance of my fairytale opera Dumma Kungen.

11.11 at 6 PM - Jubilate Choir 50 years anniversary - Helsinki
World premiere of my "Missa Brevis", commissioned and performed by the Jubilate Choir for their 50 years anniversary, conducted by Edward Ananian-Cooper.

13.11 at 10AM and 12PM - Dumma Kungen - an opera for children - Kauniainen, Finland
Fourth and fifth performance of my fairytale opera Dumma Kungen. The performance at 10 AM has already sold out.

14.11 at 10AM and 12PM - Dumma Kungen - an opera for children - Kauniainen, Finland
Sixt and seventh (also last)  performance of my fairytale opera Dumma Kungen. The performance at 10 AM has already sold out.

Lied concert

This autumn I have taken part in the Lied seminar of Tampere University of Applied Sciences together with my lied partner, soprano Katarina Olkinuora. This seminar is part of my bachelor in piano. The theme of this autumn has been Nordic lied and we have all together had five 60 minute lessons together with the professors Ulla Raiskio and Risto Kyrö. Katarina and I have done lied by Grieg and it has been great fun! On Thursday the 24th of November 2016 we had the final concert for this course. We performed three songs in the Hiekka Art Museum (Hiekan taidemuseo). 

Singer Katarina Olkinuora and I before our lied concert 24.11.2016.

Living 36 hours in the Composition Studio!

Tuesday the 27th of May. All I can say is: I MADE IT! I managed to finish and hand in my 10 min orchestra piece Unborn!!! And I feel like every juice of energy that I ever had in me has been squeezed tightly tightly out, ever so thoroughly…

Title page of my piece Unborn for symphony orchestra.

So what happened after the 14h party? On Sunday 25th of May, after sleeping for 6 hours I got up again at 16 o’clock, ate lunch, went to evening mass then went home, picked up a blanket, food and everything I needed for composing and headed of to the composition studio. I arrived at about 20.30 o’clock and started composing. I had been invited to a party, I had even brought a dress in case I could make it there as well, but now the earnesty of the situation was catching in on me: I HAVE to get everything done within this month so that I can graduate next month, and I HAVE to graduate next month in case I want to begin with my masters at the Academy of Music in Malmö in September 2014! There will come several parties, but to graduate I have to do NOW! So I didn’t go anywhere else except for eating and toiled in the next 36 hours!

I composed the first night until from 20:30 until 5 AM, then spread out my blanket on the floor and slept for 2 hours. At 7 AM I had my alarm ringing again and composed until lunch. I had quite a long (2h) lunch break, then I continued composing all afternoon and night until 4 AM. The second night I slept 3 hours, again on the blanket on the floor. At 7 AM again my alarm rang, and I was still quite worried, I had only got 8:30 minutes so I had to write an other 3-4 minutes before the deadline at 14 o’clock. So I wrote and wrote, and decided to cut out some of the ostinato in the strings, and make a 10 minute piece in stead of a 12 minute piece. At 11 AM I finally was ready! I knew there were typos and mistakes and missing slurs, but at this point I have to say I didn’t care anymore. (There wasn’t any orchestra hungrily waiting for my piece anyway…)

So for comparison; here is a pic of the original drawings of my piece, dated 21.5.
© Cecilia Damström

And here is a pic of the score of the same part of the piece.
(See the glissandos and French horn cluster?)
© Cecilia Damström

So after 36 hours in the composition studio I was finally free to leave. It was very ironical, it was like if the time of the year had changed while I was those 36 hours in the studio. I had arrived in a summer dress and sandals, it had been +26°C, and now it was suddenly +10°C and hailing! I walked home on shaky legs (both of tiredness and cold, wearing sandals while it’s hailing isn’t my sport…), showered and changed to some warmer clothes, headed to the main building for printing the score and having lunch, and then headed off for the final hour of doom, my composition class with Hannu Pohjannoro.

I can’t describe how proud and happy I was, despite the exhaustion, when I lay down the score of Unborn infront of Pohjannoro. He looked at the schore, listened to the midi of the Sibelius file and looked at the score again. I could see relief in his face, which made me very happy. After a long silence he finally said: “The piece works. There are still a few small things that should be corrected, but the piece in it’s entirety works. Congratulations on that. For being honest; I was very worried and wondered how on earth you would manage to get the piece ready on time, I didn’t think it was possible. But your choice to start over again (with the dialogue) was good, the new material you have worked much better than your previous material. Sometimes you just have to have the courage and throw everything away, even at a late stage, so it was good that you did that. Oh well, I guess this was it, this was our last lesson.”

This news struck me with surprise, I hadn’t even thought this far! But yes, it’s the end of May, of course this was my last lesson! But I told him I will be back, for private lessons, so this is not our last lesson. I will be back, as they say...

Review of My Concert in Aamulehti

Review in Aamulehti 16 May 2014.

Translation of the review:

Sensitive atmospheres

Music
Cecilia Damström’s compositions concert
***
Pyynikkisali 14.5 
The first concert of the young and promising composer Cecilia Damström, was characterized by a wonderful positive atmosphere filled with smiles, which isn’t quite the standard within the field of contemporary music.

Damström has a genuine ability to touch the listeners, although at times her compositional technique leaves a slightly unfinished and naivistic impression (especially in the piece Flying High).

The music she has composed so far is carried by soft harmonies, romantically spiced ambience and by melodicnes. Richer rhythmic and more dramatic power remains still to be wised for.

The theme of the consert Landet som icke är (The Land Which Is Not), is also her break through piece, in which the music, just as the language of Edit Södergran, keeps moving forward by the yearning for an other world. The bilingual mirroring of the sensitive texts generates a tension that easily keeps the piece together.

Damström had an opportunity to sink into her personal feelings with her piece Dagbok, in which the aphoristic poems also are a proof the composers verbal talents. The sister of the composer Jacintha Damström interpreted the small songs touchingly with her expressive soprano voice. In the second half of the concert the chamber choir Näsin Ääni sang three choral works while conducted by Markus Yli-Jokipii. The multi-lingual Han som du älskar finns inte mer (The man you love doesn’t exist anymore) was the most interesting and varying of these works.

The new choral premieres Visheten and Min Gud (for mixed choir) were slightly squat due to their seriousness, even though they are very idiomatic choral music.

Harri Hautala (free translation by Cecilia Damström)