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

Review of Science Frictions in Helsingin Sanomat

The new conferment cantata Science Frictions that I composed to a new text by Cia Rinne, got such a great review by Nuppu Koivisto in the largest Finnish tabloid Helsingin Sanomat, so I translated the whole review which you can read below.

Helsinki now celebrates doctors and masters - The ceremony includes a own composition, and this year it's very special

The message of the commissioned composition is universal: the role and importance of science in society is not just for university students, but for all of us.

Cecilia Damström (music) and Cia Rinne (text): Science Frictions for countertenor, choir and orchestra at the conferment ceremony of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Helsinki on 19 May 2023. David Hackston (countertenor), Dominante Choir (conducted by Seppo Murto), Aku Sorensen (conductor) and Helsinki University Symphony Orchestra

THE CONFERMENT CEREMONY is a three-day academic tradition celebrated every few springs. At its heart is the conferment ceremony, where the university inaugurates its masters and doctorates in a spectacular display of laurel wreaths, master rings, swords and doctoral hats. The Finnish tradition of the conferment ceremony has originally been imported from continental Europe to the Turku Academy, from where it has since become established and has spread to the various universities in Finland.

The tradition has always included music arranged or composed for the occasion. In Finland, since the late 19th century, it has been customary to commission special graduation cantatas from Finnish composers to be sung and played at master's and doctoral inauguration ceremonies. Although some parts of the conferment compositions and cantatas have survived outside universities, complete cantatas are rarely heard as such in the repertoires of non-academic choirs and orchestras.

An exception is Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus, which he composed for his 1972 doctorate at the University of Oulu. He replaced the traditional choral part with recorded bird song, and the work has since received dozens of performances each year around the world.

Cecilia Damström's seven-part work Science Frictions (op. 84, 2022), commissioned by the University of Helsinki in honour of the Jubilee Year of the Conferments and premiered in March 2023, to a text by poet Cia Rinne, successfully refreshes a long-standing continuum of conferment cantatas. It is recommendable that the cantata should also be performed at non-university events in the future.

Although it is a commemorative poem for a conferment act, its message is universal: the role and importance of science in society is not only for university students, but for all of us.

The Science Frictions cantata, scored for countertenor, choir and orchestra, could be dramaturgically conceived as a journey in which the researcher engages in an endless, cyclical dialogue with the scientific community. In a speech on the website of the conferment's anniversary year, Rinne describes the character of Olympe, the cantata's soloist, as a kind of seeker who "embarks on a Faustian expedition in search of language, logic, science and consciousness - while the choir comments on and encounters these discoveries".

Damström's musical language and Rinne's text material, which includes nine different languages, emphasise playfulness and inventiveness, language games and paradoxes, and a balanced dialogue between the soloist and the choir.

The philosophers quoted in the text, from Socrates to Hannah Arendt and Paul Valéry, also engage in dialogue. In this sense, the cantata gets to the heart of science: knowledge is built together, in polyphony and in interaction with others.

The canon successfully weighs up universal issues such as the nature and ethics of scientific knowledge and the relationship between man and community, without being frivolous, platitudinous or pompous. It is typical that an interesting and evocative work of art will tempt you to experience it again and again, and this is also the case with this conferment cantata.

The wonder of discovery and exploration is present in the work: the ear always picks up something new and interesting from the multilayered texture.

Science Frictions' rich soundscape and the varied characters of the sections contain, in miniature, all the wonder and anguish of science - from the pressure and thumping of Arguing with Logics to the mysterious harmony of the spheres of the second and sixth movements, which peer beyond empiricism. Both the ideals and the harsh realities of the scientific world are revealed, and the future and responsibilities of the scientist are weighed. Damström's musical intertextuality is very elegant, with stylistic references in the conferment tradition, from church music to fanfares and the student song fragments of the last movement.

The role of Olympe was written for David Hackston's expansive countertenor voice, which sounded magnificently in the University’s Great Hall. Hackston's vocal instrument is used to its full potential in the cantata, ranging from spoken “sprechgesang” and "vocal fry" to soaring glissandos. In her introduction text, the composer says that the broad ambitus and the countertenor vocal range also expresses the important point that science belongs to everyone - regardless of gender or background. The interpretation by the Dominante choir, prepared by Seppo Murto, and the Helsinki University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aku Sorensen, in my opinion conveyed an enthusiastic impression, although the acoustics of the Great Hall has some issues, particularly with regard to balance when performing from the gallery.

In terms of form, Science Frictions could be described as symmetrical or cyclical, which fits perfectly with the harmonious and carefully thought-out sequence of steps in the conferment act.

For example, in the second movement the downward sliding whole tone scale in the woodwinds - like a cosmic nebula - is mirrored in the penultimate movement, where it starts to ascend again from below, perhaps towards Parnassus. Or is it the stone of Sisyphus, which is again being rolled towards the summit? In any case, the final movement, which fades into a luminous C major harmony, leaves the listener feeling hopeful: at last, Science Frictions is driven by a joyful and outward-looking science, the joy of discovery.

Particularly in the current climate, where the prestige and funding of research are at stake, this message seems exceptionally valuable.

The conferment cantata can next be heard streamed at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Philosophy's conferment ceremony on 26 May from 10 a.m. The work can be followed on the university's social media channels and on the screen of the Helsinki Academic Bookstore.

Nuppu Koivisto - Helsingin Sanomat 26.5.2023

April adventures

What a wonderfully crazy week it has been! Went to Stockholm for two nights and held a guest lecture for the composition department of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm on Friday afternoon and attended TampereRaw’s concert at Konserthuset Stockholm in the evening, including an amazing performance of my Piano Quintet "Minna - Pictures from the Life of Minna Canth".

TampereRaw at Stockholm Concert Hall. Photo © Ville Hautakangas

Pianist Ville Hautakangas, composer Cecilia Damström,
violinist Anna Angervo and cellistMaija Juuti at Stockholm Concert Hall.

Stockholm Concert Hall by night. Photo © C.Damström

Bassist Juha Kleemola, Anna Angervo and Cecilia Damström in Stockholm.

Cecilia Damström infant of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm 21.4.2023.

Hautakangas, Damström, Angervo, Juuti and Tatevik Ayazyan

After the concert and a wonderful 2,5h sleep I headed straight to the Finnish National Accordion Competition “Minä soitan harmonikkaa…” where the different movements from my new suite “Renewables” were the obligetory pieces for ages 10-16. Got to hear some of the players aged 10-13, and was absolutely amazed by the high standard of performing in the competition and so many wonderful interpretations of my “Renewables”.

Cecilia Damström at "Minä soitan harmonikkaa..." accordion competition 22.4.2023

Had 2 hours at home to change into evening gown and headed to the 185th anniversary of Akademiska Sångföreningen at Musiikkitalo, where they performed an absolutely mind-blowing version of my “Sailing to Windward” (composed to a poem by my grandmother's cousin Michael Binnie). This was followed by a dinner party with a lot of singing in four part harmony.

Choral conductor Kari Turunen and composer Cecilia Damström at the 185th anniversary concert of Akademen Male Voice Choir in Helsinki 22.4.2023

And a refreshing 3,5 hour sleep later I was back listening to “Renewables” at the Accordion competition at 9 AM. From there I headed by bus to Turku, where I listened to the finals of the Pirkanmaa Pinna Composition Competition, in which I had the honour to be part of the jury.

Cecilia Damström 23.4.2023

Many congratslations to the winning work “The Fiddler's Quest” by Benny Ojala and the shared second prize winners Laraine Kaizer-Viazovtsev: Ajam Suomessa, Tomi Räisänen: Kalalle and Robert Ruohola: Hangen värit.

With this timetable I sadly missed the performance by Vaasa City Orchestra and Seinäjoki City Orchestra, who played my Infirmus in Seinäjoki and Vaasa, conducted by Henri Sigfridsson. The performance was apparently splendid as the reviews were raving in both newspapers:

“Cecilia Damström's eerie string orchestra work Infirmus delivered the listeners to a completely different world. The work is dedicated to those who suffer from severe pain caused by an incurable disease. The work cuts, throbs, grabs, hits, oppresses. The world of endless pain has transcribed to the form of music in a really impressive way. An absolutely wonderful, breath taking and merciless piece, which was brilliantly played by the string orchestra.”

Hanne Orrenmaa, Ilkka-PohjalainenSaturday 22nd of April 2023

and

“Cecilia Damström (b.1988) is a fantastic composer. Her work Infirmus from 2015 lacks melodic motifs, instead she exploits the string instrument's ability to create atmospheres. The title means illness or weakness and the listener is given the opportunity for their own personal interpretation. I just closed my eyes and could experience images like pain, worry, hopelessness, hope, aggressiveness...

The work is excellent proof of music's ability to evoke thoughts and feelings.”

Per-Håkan Jansson, Vasabladet Sunday the 23rd of April 2023

This week’s Thursday I had the honour of being the head of the jury for Teosto Award and hand out the award alongside my amazing colleagues Yona, Linda Fredriksson, Gita Kadambi and Miikka Maunula. Big congratulations to this years Teosto Award Winners: the orchestral work “Water” composed by Sanna Ahvenjärvi and Tapio Lappalainen, Mikko Sarvanne Garden's jazz album “Heräämisen valkea myrsky” composed by Mikko Sarvanne and the rap album “Draama-Helmi kuistilla” by Helmi Kajaste and her work group. It was an amazing experience to get to listen to music from so many different genres and talk about it with my colleague jury members, all experts from many genres.

Teosto Award Jury 2023. Photo by Jussi Hilttunen

Ending this week by attending my friends wedding and celebrating Vappu (Finnish first of May) with a friend visiting from the US. Wishing you all a wonderful Vappu!

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

ICE nominated for the Teosto-Prize!

In the midst of everything terrible happening in the world, one amazing thing happened in my life that I would like to share with you: my piece ICE is nominated for the Teosto-prize alongside 11 other amazing works of music by colleagues! ICE was commissioned by Lahti Green Capital of Europe 2021 and was premiered by the world's first carbon neutral orchestra Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by their fantastic chief conductor Dalia Stasevska.

Teosto-Prize nominees 2022. Photo by Jussi Helttunen

About the piece ICE: The piece is inspired by melting ice and in the piece we can hear how landscapes and winter become ever shorter, in the end while alarm signals are chiming and all possible breaks are put into action. Through this piece I try to express how global warming as well as the collapse of ecosystems and the ever faster growing tempo of the world, is killing the beautiful snow and ice structures of millions of years, and how the heart of the earth is fighting for its existence through each beat. In this piece I have also tried to describe what happens if we WILL take action: you can hear a rewind, how action has an impact and can make us go back to winters. The name ICE stands both for ice and for “In Case of Emergency”.

Cecilia Damström: ICE. Photo by Jussi Helttunen

The whole launch event of the Teosto Prize can be watched (in Finnish) online under this link. The nominees have been mentioned the Finnish media by Helsingin Sanomat, YLE, Hufvudstadsbladet, Soundi, Rumba, Keski-Uusimaa and Etelä-Saimaa.The Teosto-prize will be awarded on the 19th of May 2022, but as cheesy as it sounds: I feel already like a winner for having been nominated for this prize. 

If you haven’t yet heard ICE, have a listen here via the link below! (And you can of course always also listen a second or third time!  )

ICE by Lahti Symphony Orchestra

About the Teosto-prize (in Finnish)

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