Permafrost at the 70th International Rostrum of Composer

 Last week the live recording of my piece Permafrost, premiered by accordionist Sonja Vertainen and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jan Söderblom, was selected by the Finnish Broadcasting Company to represent Finland in the 70th International Rostrum of Composers, a.k.a. "Eurovision contest of contemporary classical music"! The recording of Permafrost was added to a selected list recommended for broadcasting and concert presentation!

The International Rostrum of Composers (IRC), organised by the International Music Council, is an international forum of representatives of broadcasting organisations who come together for the purpose of exchanging and broadcasting contemporary music. Currently, over 30 national radio networks participate in the Rostrum presenting some 60 works composed within the last five years. After the listening sessions, the assembly of delegates selects and recommends the most important works. The IRC continues today to be the most important platform for the promotion of contemporary music via radio broadcast.

I feel baffled and thankful! And endlessly thankful to everybody involved:  Thank you Raimo Vertainen on behalf of the Winter Accordion Festival and Marjukka Puutio on behalf of the Ostrobothnian Chamber orchestra for giving me this commission and opportunity to write this piece. Thank you Sonja Vertainen for being a wonderful supportive collaborator, ready to test all my ideas and ready to bring yourself to all limits for the sake of this concerto. Thank you to the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and Jan Söderblom for scrupulously performing the piece together with Sonja. A big thank you to my music engraver Kari Vehmanen and to my publisher Gehrmans Musikförlag for making sure my scores are as clear as possible. Thank you to everyone at the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle who made an absolutely marvellous recording of my piece the live concert and thank you for believing in me and letting me represent Finland with this piece. And although the video projections couldn't be included at the IRC, I would anyway like to thank Irene Suosalo for being such a wonderful collaborator and for making an absolutely stunning video projection to “Permafrost” that was performed at the world premiere 16.2.2024!

Permafrost was radio broadcast again during the announcement of the Finnish representation for IRC, and is available online until 1st of June. The program also includes an interview in Finnish about Permafrost conducted by the wonderful Ainomaija Pennanen as well as one of my favourite orchestral pieces, Andrew Norman’s “Play”.

I’m so thankful for all the wonderful people that make all these wonderful things happen and equally thankful to everyone who has supported and believed in me throughout my composer journey so far. A heartfelt thank you!

Composer Cecilia Damström Photo by Jukka Lehojärvi for Keskipohjanmaa

Wasteland Finnish Premiere

Last week my 20 minute orchestra suite, my own “Rite of Spring” got its Finnish Premiere by the fantastic Tampere Philharmonic and Olari Elts in my beloved Tampere, where I studied and lived for almost a decade! Once again I have needed a whole week to recover from this wonderful and overwhelming experience. So happy I got to share the concert with so many friends and family! 

Cecilia Damström with Tampere Philharmonic and Olari Elts. Photo by Maarit Kytöharju for Tampere Biennale 2024.

Wasteland is a piece composed about how the recycling industry works a.k.a doesn’t work well enough yet. In this piece we follow the recycling process of three pieces of clothing from usage, to tossing, sorting, burning and handling of the ashes (and green washing). Obviously, in a piece about recycling I am recycling different pieces of music, representing a piece of clothing each, everything from Für Elise to the Magic Flute and from Catholic Mass Chant to Finnish pop artist Maija Vilkkumaa’s “Ei”.

So happy that the concert was reviewed by three different critics! As my aim is to make people think and feel through my music, I found the review by Aamulehti quite intriguing: It is simultaneously easily approachable and irritating music. 

Jari Kallio wrote for Adventures in Music following:

“The opening movement, Wear, comes off as hyperactive Academic Festival Overture, as Damström presents us with a hectic party montage, featuring orchestral costume changes at increasing speed. In the course of the two ensuing movements, Toss and Sort, used clothes are transferred to large sorting halls via an Andante orchestral transportation. At the end of the ride, the ensemble pans out with piled layers of repetition, mounting to vast tutti canvases and gazing upon the sheer mass of waste. Furioso furnaces are lit in Burn, conjuring up symphonic auto-da-fe par excellence. In the concluding Flow the orchestra sails down the river of greenwashing, rendering its final parody before vanishing beyond the horizon.

Conceived with meme-like wittiness and inventive instrumental craft, Wasteland is both fun and serious, its musical designs being both accessible and thought-provoking, without succumbing to fast fashion takes on the Berio Sinfonia (1968-69). Performed with dedication and zeal by the Tampere Philharmonic under Elts, Wasteland was given a powerhouse Finnish premiere.”  

If you want to make up your own opinion, the concert is available world wide for an other three weeks (until the 12th of May) on the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s website Yle Areena. My Wasteland begins at 17 min, although I warmly recommend listening to the whole concert including music by Kalevi Aho, a world premiere by Eetu Lehtonen and a fantastic virtuoso Piia Komsi singing music by Unsuk Chin!

Listen here!

Permafrost World Premiere

Last week was the busiest week of my 2024 so far, including a performance of “Fretus” with Hyvinkää Orchestra, travelling to Kokkola and back, giving two lectures and being part of one panel discussion about equality in music, one press conference, the world premiere of my accordion concerto “Permafrost” and participating as a nominee in the Emma Gala (equivalent to “The Grammys” in Finland) for the first time! Quite a week!

It has been such a pleasure to bring “Permafrost” to this world! I got to work together with virtuoso accordionist Sonja Vertainen already in the compositional phase, I got to work with the amazing video artist Irene Suosalo in the past two month and last week got to work with the wonderful Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and Jan Söderblom leading up to a superb premiere, which can be heard online on demand on Yle Areena until the 17th of March! It was wonderful to share such a large part of the journey with Sonja and Irene, finding people with whom you work easely closely together with, is a rare and valuable gift!

And what a reception and review Permafrost got! Anni Saari wrote in Keskipohjanmaa yesterday:

Top-notch at Kokkola Winter Accordion – “Permafrost” is a Supreme Masterpiece with Sonja Vertainen Shining as Soloist. The composition commissioned from Cecilia Damström by Kokkola Winter Accordion and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra stands out as a remarkable achievement from the composer.

Damström exhibits a remarkable command in handling the orchestra and exploring its sonic capabilities. At times, she seamlessly integrates the accordion into the string section, requiring meticulous focus to discern the origins of the sound. Naturally, the composition also allocates distinct solo segments for the accordion. In the second movement, Damström demonstrates the artistry of how a top-tier composer uses extended playing techniques: a tap of the wood side of the bow on the strings evokes imagery of a drop falling or a bubble bursting. The accordion has serene, heartrendingly beautiful, simple melodies in the tranquil second movement, melodies that one could listen to endlessly. And what an ending Damström presented!

Permafrost stands as a truly exquisite and masterful creation, impeccably crafted with no superfluous elements. Its accessibility is remarkable; making it a true pleasure to listen to. I dare say, it’s a musical gem that is bound to grace many stages in the years to come. The commission by Kokkola Winter Accordion and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra is an unsurpassed success!

The next morning after the premiere I headed straight back to Helsinki to the Emma Gala where Ville Hautakanga’s masterpiece album “12 Premieres” was nominated for the award “Classical Emma of the Year”. Was such a pleasure to be part of the gala and the afterparty! Congratulations to the Classical Emma Winner, the album Reconnaissance – Kaija Saariaho: Choral Music by Helsinki Chamber Choir & Nils Schweckendiek !

This week: time for Linda Suolahti’s Album Release Concert on Saturday at 6pm, including music by Leiviskä, Hannikainen and yours truly! Welcome! And next week my ICE will be performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Collon! Welcome there as well!

Composer Cecilia Damström Photo by Jukka Lehojärvi for Keskipohjanmaa

Extinctions World Premiere

 It’s one week since the premiere of my “Extinctions” and I'm slowly recovering from this overwhelming experience. What a journey it has been! Four years ago, in the beginning of 2020 I received an email from Tuula Sarotie that the new chief conductor Nicholas Collon would like to commission a new work from me, and since then this piece has been growing inside me. I wanted to write a piece in one movement, and building a 22 minute arch was a new and wonderfully challenging experience. In composing it is possible to keep constantly evolving and trying out new things, and this is both the best about my job and at the same thing very nerve wracking, and you never know how it will work out. For instance, 5 days before the premiere I was changing some of the parts, because I had been slightly optimistic about how fast it would be possible to play, but we agreed with the musicians in question on 16-notes per second. The two rehearsals went very well and it was such a pleasure to get to work with both the wonderful Chloé Dufresne as well as the magnificent Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. I am so happy with everything!! This was also the first time a professional orchestra performed my music for a live audience in my hometown, so it was so nice to be able to share this moment with so many friends and family members and all the 1693 audience members in the hall (in addition to everyone who watched online).

Composer Cecilia Damström, Conductor Chloé Dufresne, Pianist Alexander Malofejev 26.1.2024

I was also so happy and honoured by all the wonderful reviews my new piece received!

“Damström has created a fascinating score, full of exciting sounds, captivating colors, and evocative orchestral effects. "Extinctions" represents Damström at her most modernist, simultaneously maintaining a highly expressive approach that is by no means devoid of dramatic pauses or tonal landmarks. The lion's share consists, in fact, of meditatively charged, almost mysteriously vibrating, and quietly probing passages, lending the few discharges all the more effective relief. This is a relatively rare case of imaginative tonal painting in domestic contexts, emphasizing the stark but dramatically resilient rather than the sensually inviting.” wrote Mats Liljeroos, Hufvudstadsbladet 28.1.2024

“Damström's music is like a spontaneously ignited and rich soundscape of life. If her Teosto Award-winning composition "ICE" in 2022 reflects the ethereal soundscape of icebergs, "Extinctions" is characterized by the earth's resonant rumble.

The composition cleverly utilizes different instrumental groups and colors in depicting evolution, from dense strings in the forest to the clarinets' erratic frogs and the Jurassic brass. Pressure waves and dust clouds come to life in the percussion section.

The music is colorful and visual but never merely illustrative. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra executed the piece excellently under the confident direction of Chloé Dufresne.” wrote Nuppu Koivisto in Helsingin Sanomat 28.1.2024

And Jari Kallio wrote in “Adventures in Music” following: “A gorgeous rendition from the orchestra and Dufresne, Extinctions was given a flying start upon its premiere. Regarding the overall organic form, Damström’s orchestral designs bear some family relationships with those by Anna Thorvaldsdottir – without imitation – whereas her way of leading each instrument their own sonic narratives is something quite unique. Figurative without resorting to mere Mickey Mousing, Damström’s scoring serves as story-teller par excellence, as resoundingly demonstrated by the inspired accounts of the FRSO players. Shaped and balanced with keen attention and organic sensitivity by Dufresne, Extinctions was received with rousing enthusiasm by the sold-out hall.”

Thank You once again to everyone who came and listened! And for anyone who still wants to hear it, you can find the concert including a live interview and the premiere, here:

https://areena.yle.fi/1-67584262

Composer Cecilia Damström and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra 26.1.2024

Wasteland Reviews

Two weeks since the premiere of Wasteland with the fantastic Norrlandsoperan and superb Ville Matvejeff!

Here the heart warming reviews:

"The premiere of the Finnish-Swedish composer Cecilia Damström’s work Wasteland in five short movements was probably the work I was really looking forward to the most. The music was characterized by strong dynamics, shifting richness of colour and, not least, sharp contrasts. Here, the orchestral outfit is really used for a striking rhythm. With its themes around the clothing industry and greenwashing, the work also conveyed something as unusual as a sharp post in the ongoing climate debate. Norrlandsoper’s symphony orchestra really played at its peak and the conductor Ville Matvejeff’s way of leading the orchestra really celebrated triumphs. It also reminds me what a spectacular “instrument” the symphony orchestra is in capable hands."

by Bengt Hultman, Västerbottens-Kuriren, 2nd of September 2022

"Now we got to enjoy a piece of very entertaining orchestral music, where Damström enhances as much sound effects as she can, supported in an exemplary manner by the conductor Ville Matvejeff. It becomes a patchwork of colorful contrasts where Damström weaves in quotes from “Den blomstertid nu kommer”, a snippet from “Carmen”, a couple of teasingly familiar schlager refrains, resounding trombone glissandos, clinks, thumps and plink-plonks from the percussionists, well, anything you can wish for. "

by Gunnar Wiklund, Folkbladet, 2nd of September 2022

Big thank you to Norrlandsoperan and Ville Matvejeff for the fantastic premiere and to Erik Mikael Karlsson, Dan Turdén, Stefan Holmström and Gene Kindell for having me and for a great week in Umeå!

Have good start into the new week everyone!
Cecilia

Composer Cecilia Damström. Photo by Ville Juurikkala

Photo: Ville Juurikkala 
Makeup: Maria Boucht Makeup
Jacket: MIAM Clothing
Music Publisher: Gehrmans Musikförlag

Wasteland

 This week it's time for the world premiere of Wasteland with Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra and Ville Matvejeff! This 20 minute orchestra piece in five movements is the craziest piece of music I have written so far, my own "Rite of Spring". The rehearsals sounded fantastic and I can't wait for the premiere on Thursday the 1st of September!

Wasteland is inspired by some very complex issues, and because complex issues can't be explained with a few words, hence long program note below:

Every year an average Swede will buy 13 kilograms of clothes and throw away about 7.5 kilograms of clothes. About 60 percent of the clothes that are thrown away are whole and clean, but only 3.8 kilograms of textiles per person are annually collected by charity organisations. At least 0.13 kilograms of clothes per person are sold second hand. In Finland the numbers are even higher. As much as 19 kilograms of clothes are bought and 13 kilograms are thrown away annually per person.  For producing one kilogram of cotton you will need 7 000 – 29 000 litres of water and 0.3 –1 litre of oil.  To produce one kilogram of cloth generates about 10-15 kilograms of  greenhouse gases.

In recent years second hand clothes have become increasingly popular in Scandinavia, and bringing your clothes to a collection is considered a way to “have a clean conscience”. But according to a report by the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle only around 20 percent of the collected clothes can be sold in shops in Scandinavia. Around 10 percent are burnt immediately and up to 70 percent are sent further to sorting units, usually situated in the Baltic countries or Germany. At this point a small part is used for upcycling, such as fillings for car seats. But most of the clothes are sent to some of the poorest countries in the world, like for instance Mozambique. The black market of cheap bad quality clothes disrupts these countries’ own textile industry. As a large part of the clothes are of too bad quality to wear anymore, they end up in landfills.

The first movement “Wear” is about how we use different clothes for different occasions, like for instance certain clothes for christmas parties, maybe other clothes for concerts and again something else when we are going out partying with friends. The clothes might be bought second hand and be used several times, but everything at an increasing tempo.

The second movement “Toss” is the journey the clothes make together with their owner to collection containers where they are tossed in, and from where they are collected by a lorry. The third movement “Sort” is a description of collection and sorting halls. The movement is like a slow “zoom out” during which you slowly begin to realise what a large amount of “Christmas- and party clothes” there are intended to be recycled: in Finland annually around 14 million kilograms and in Sweden around 38 million kilograms, an overwhelming amount.

The fourth movement “Burn” is about what happens to at least 80 percent of all textile waste: it is burned with mixed waste. In best case the waste burning can be used for generating new energy, but it is not a sustainable way to use resources.

The last movement “Flow” is about what we call “Greenwashing”, in other words marketing something as sustainable even though it actually isn’t. In an investigating article by Yle a factory plant of the Finnish firm Fortum is viewed in detail. The factory refines salts from environmentally hazardous APC ashes (APC = Air Pollution Control) from incineration waste. Then these salts are rinsed out together with the wastewater of the process, straight into the Baltic Sea, as there is “lack of proof that it would be harmful for the environment”. The regulations which state that ashes from incineration waste should not be used unrefined, due to environmental risks, are circumvented in this way. 

Wasteland is a shout out that recycling can’t be “one option of many”, as it has to be the only viable choice for our resources to be sufficient. The responsibility for recycling shouldn’t lie solely with consumers, but should also be mandatory for producers. With this piece, I want to make people understand that if we can “afford” to consume, we must also be able to afford to take care of the waste we are creating. This must be regulated by law so that the responsibility cannot be shifted to poorer and / or corrupt countries.

Photo by the fantastic Ville Juurikkala

ICE wins the Teosto Prize 2022

I have been so overwhelmed the past week since winning the Teosto Prize* from all the positive responses and wonderful greetings!

Teotso Prize Winners 2022. Photo Jussi Helttunen

Now I would like to share with you a few pictures from the event. It feels unbelievable that I was given the chance by Dalia Stasevska and Lahti Symphony Orchestra to compose a work for them and the European Green Capital Lahti 2021, a work about climate change, and it feels even more unbelievable that this for me so important work also now won the Teosto Prize 2022! Huge thank you to both the pre-jury, who selected my work for nomination as well as the final jury who awarded me the prize!

Also a big congratulations to the other three winners, Yona , Linda Fredriksson and Evil Stöö as well as to all the other amazing nominated composers!

Cecilia Damström with conductor Dalia Stasevska after ICE winning the Teosto Prize 2022

I would also like to give a huge thanks to my family and friends who have been there for me and have supported my choice to become a composer, in both good times and bad. Never once did my parents question my decision to become a composer, on the contrary: it was my mother who suggested I’d study composition in the first place, so an extra huge thank you to my dear mother, who suggested this path that has felt right ever since.

Teosto Prize Winners 2022. Photo Jussi Helttunen.

I’m very honoured, happy and proud to be the first woman within classical music to win the Teosto Prize (which has been handed out since 2003). However I would like to draw attention to the fact that I’m by no means the first woman who could have won the prize. I would like to thank all the amazing women within history who have composed amazing music and have been part of the slow transformation toward a more diverse cultural field. A special big shoutout to Kaija Saariaho who has inspired the whole world through her personal music. Looking forward to an even more diverse future within culture as well as in general!

*Teosto is the Finnish copyright organisation for music creators, composers, and publishers. The Teosto Prize is awarded since 2003 to “bold, original and innovative musical works” and it is one of the biggest art awards in the Nordic countries.

KRAFT - A world premiere with Akademen

What a concert! What a night!

Last night the Academic Male Voice Choir Akademen together with their conductor Elisa Huovinen gave an outstanding world premiere to my piece Hav, which they had commissioned. Due to a movement in the piece, where the choir is required to clap and stomp, the choir sang the whole 17 minute accapella piece by heart! This in a time when covid-19 has made regular choir practises impossible for over 2 years! I was so impressed!

The whole concert took place in a former steam power plant Kattilahalli, which felt like a industrial cathedral (to borrow the music criticque Mats Liljeroos words).

Hav was one of three commissions by the choir around the theme renewable energies interwoven by preludes and interludes by soundartist Joel James Ward and the whole concert was visually orchestrated by light artist Alexander Salvesen. After Ward’s opening soundscape, Andrea Eklund’s meditative piece Aeon Breath to a poem by James Gilbank filled the domelike hall while the smoke lay heavy and the light scape was hazy. During Ward’s water-inspired interlude soundscape, while the choir re-essembled in the dark.

KRAFT Akademen Photo by Melinda Schultz

Out of the dim light and haze the intimate beginning of my Hav began to rise, while Salvesen made spectacular visual landscapes through enormous water projections of light upon the ceiling. Hav consists of a total of ten movements which are sung attack after each other. The first movement in Swedish is meditative and describes the sea and how tremendous it is while the second very energetic movement in English discusses the possibilities of wave power plants. Example of the lyrics of the second movement:

There is an enormous energy potential 

that is available around the clock and free of charge. 

A potential, that if fully exploited, 

could satisfy 40% of the world wide demand for power. 

This equals the output of 700-800 nuclear power stations. 

This would mean no high-level radio active vaste 

of seven hundred to eight hundred nuclear power stations. 

KRAFT 2022 Akademen Photo by Melinda Schultz

As mentioned, Salvesen had arranged a water basin of about two times 20 meters, with a small motor spinning a pedal that produced fantastic waves that all was reflected on the ceiling, so the energy potential of waves was literally projected on the ceiling and walls.

In the middle of the piece the choir sings partly in unison and partly in three part harmony with a happy melody in major with vibes from Finnish folk music, accompanied by claps and stomps, the following text in Finnish from the Finnish “Economist” (Taloussanomat), here translated:

Only the demand for renewable energy 

will grow this year, 

predicts the International Energy Agency IEA.

The global energy market and emissions

 from energy production 

will see a historic drop this year 

as a result of the coronary virus pandemic, 

the International Energy Agency IEA predicts.

The prognosis says  

that the energy demand 

is going to fall 

the most it has done in 70 years - 

Emissions could fall 

by as much as eight percent, 

the International Energy Agency IEA predicts.

KRAFT 2022 Akademen Photo by Melinda Schultz

After this lighter segment the choir is split up so that soloist came to stand between the choir and the water pool, each with an own lightbulb in front of them. While the choir breathes in and out at a rising tempo like a dying planet, the soloists recite a text about how Finnish firms developing Wave-power haven’t received the needed funding from the state (which somehow just seems incredible to me, and so sad). The ever growing crescendo and accelerando is interrupted by a foghorn, which is followed by some beautiful huge chords by the choir and a lamenting solo sung by one of the first tenors. The choir get’s to whistle and sing overtones as well. The piece ends with my words (in Swedish)

Today wave energy costs 

about twice as much per megawatt hour, 

than electricity produced by wind or nuclear power.

But what is the price for the survival of mankind, 

for the continued existence of our planet? I

magine if you were to invest as much i

n renewable energies as in Olkiluoto 3, almost nine billion. 

What would happen? Where can it take us?

Sea

Oceans

Energy potential

Sea

KRAFT 2022 Akademen Photo by Melinda Schultz

After my piece the hall went almost dark again and while Salvesen made an impressive visualsation of red radar lights moving around the space, Ward filled the space with a morse code telling about the piece and presenting the artists. During this time the choir could collect their note stands and sheet music for the final piece.

It felt like Alex Freeman’s A Field of Sunlight picked up where I had left, and the piece began with an amazing chord with overtone singing, which was absolutely stunning. The piece composed to Galileo Galilei’s poetical texts about the sun, was an all time changing mass of sound. 

KRAFT Alexander Salvesen Photo by Melinda Schultz

During this piece the amazing circular projections of water (projected by old overhead projectors) began to fill up with colours and turn blood red in the front (stage) part of the hall while they turned green and blue in the back part of the hall. A total of 8 overhead projectors were projecting different coloured orbs on to the ceiling and walls, while Salvesen walked calmly between them and adjusting the colours in them. The whole piece ended in semi-darkness with the feeling of rotating stars moving around the room. This was achieved by two simple disco balls placed relatively far behind in the room, a simple but genius work of art by Salvesen.

KRAFT 2022 Akademen Photo by Melinda Schultz

After the last tones of Freeman’s piece had rung out the audience was allowed to clap for the first time in 75 minutes, and clap they did! They audience gave the concert a standing ovation for about 10 minutes. This was an absolutely unforgettable experience, and its with mixed feelings I say: a once in a life time experience. Of course it would be amazing if this whole concert would be put up again, in for instance a festival! But there is also something very beautiful and special in being part of something so huge and visceral.

Joel Ward, Cecilia Damström, Alex Freeman, Andrea Eklund, Alexander Salvesen and Elisa Huovinen after the concert KRAFT 7th of May 2022 at Kattilahalli, Helsinki.