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

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

November Concerts

November is here with a sparkling variety of concerts and me trying to keep up with them! 😅  This month my music is traveling to Germany, Canada, USA and different cities in Finland. 

November began with a pang: an excerpt of my string orchestra piece Fretus was performed during the Nordic Council Prize Ceremony. The event was streamed live to all Nordic Countries and can be seen online under this link. The exerpt of Fretus, a piece dedicated to all the oceans of our world, is performed before and after announcing the winner of the Nordic Council Enviroment Prize.

4th of November: The second movement Rädda mig from my choral suite Min Gud composed to Psalm 22 will get it's Canadian premiere by the Vancouver Chamber Choir conducted by the genious Kari Turunen. The piece Min Gud composed in 2010 is a very important work for me, and quotes from this work can be heard in several of my later works, so I'm very thankful for this performance.

10th of November: my playful duo Groove for flute and accordion is getting its German premiere at Klangwerkstatt Berlin Festival für Neue Musik. Groove is a piece which combines a fusion of jazz, progressive rock, latino rhythms and contemporary music elements and I can't wait to hear it again!

17th of November: Very happy about the Danish premiere of my piano solo pieces Characters and Under Stjärnhimlen, performed by the magnificent Xenia Frederiksen at Viborg Musikforening in Viborg Musiksal. You can find more information about the event here and find tickets here.

18th of November: Very happy that my music is returning to the United States and an other US premiere, with nothing less than my 20 minute Piano Quintet Helene - Nuances from the Life of Helene Schjerfbeck , inspired by paintings and the life of the most famous Finnish modernist painter Helene Schjerfbeck.

23rd of November: The third movement Athena from my duo Celestial Beings will be performed at the opening concert of the RUSK festival in Jakobstad, Finland.  Link to the festival’s program here.

25th “Aphrodite” and “Persephone”from “Celestial Beings” will be performed at RUSK at the concert ”Souls of Ill Repute” at 6PM

28th of November: My piano solo piece Epitaph will be released on the splendid Ville Hautakangas’ debut album 12 Premieres! Soon avaiable on streaming platforms! The concert is part of the Pirkanmaa Piano Festival.

Moreover I will also be travelling thanks to these concerts to Berlin 9-12th of November, to New York 13-15th of November, to Winchester Virginia 16-19th of November, to Princeton University 20th of November as well as within Finland to Jakobstad 23-26th of November and Tampere 28th of November, so please feel free to reach out if you are in the vicinity.

Composer Cecilia Damström. ©Photo by Ville Juurikkala

Happy International Women’s Day!

Happy International Women’s Day! Very honoured that the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto has chosen to highlight my music alongside the music of 15 other talented composers in their article. I hope music can bring you hope also in these difficult times.

Infirmus with Tapiola Sinfonietta

The new year has sadly begun with some cancellations but this week I’m super happy about making my debut with Tapiola Sinfonietta and the fantastic Tabita Berglund on Friday! The concert will unfortunately not be able to have an audience this time, but I’m super happy my piece Infirmus from 2015 will finally get it’s radio debut with the Finnish Radio Yle.

Welcome to listen live to the radio premiere of Infirmus on Friday the 14th at 7PM Finnish Time (UTC+2) and will be available for 30 days after as well!

Photo by the fantastic Maria Svidryk for Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia

ICE video premiere!

What an incredible day!

Photo of composer Cecilia Damström and architect Erkko Aarti. Photo © C. Damström

Today 6.8 my piece “ICE” commissioned by Green Capital Lahti got its video premiere, recorded by Lahti Sinfonia and conducted by Finland’s star conductor Dalia Stasevska (who is still in the UK as she conducted the opening of the Proms!)! The video premiere was on the big screen of Helsinki Music Centre at 12 PM, and is now available online in 100 cities threatened by rising sea levels. 

Sinfonia Lahti on the screen of Helsinki Music Centre 6.8.2021. Photo © C. Damström

After the video premiere, the Mayor of Lahti Pekka Timonen officially cut the ribbon and opened the monumental visual piece I.C.E by Erkko Aarti and his team. The piece can be seen in front of Helsinki main library Oodi for the next 10 days, and all these days from 10 AM to 5 PM my piece ICE can be heard in the Wood Paviljong (on repeat).

The Meyer of Lahti opening the wood pavilion 6.8.2021 Photo © C. Damström

When I was asked in December 2020 if I would like to compose the piece, I immediately had a “vision” of how this piece should sound, it was clear from the beginning to the end. Due to it’s important topic (the climate crisis) this piece is really special to me. My humblest thank you to Green Capital Lahti, Sinfonia Lahti and Dalia Stasevska for your trust in me, and giving me this enormous and amazing opportunity to be part of this!

Air photo of I.C.E by Erkko Aarti. Photo ©Juha-Pekka Huotari / Lahden kaupunki

Photo of I.C.E by Erkko Aarti. Photo © C. Damström

Also a great honour to get the opportunity to collaborate with the super talented Erkko Aarti and his team! Its not everyday a composer gets to collaborate with a prize winning architect and his team! (Well, no part of this project happens “often” in a composers life, to be honest! 😀 )

Still find it hard to believe this all happened today and is real! ❤

Composer Cecilia Damström 6.8.2021.

#greenlahti #greenlahti2021@greenlahti2021 #sinfonialahti@sinfonialahti #daliastasevska@daliastasevskaofficial#ceciliadamström #ceciliadamstrom@ceciliadamstrom #ICE #icemusic#ympäristöpääkaupunki #climatecrisis

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

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.