Muntra Musikanter’s 140 year Anniversary Concert

The whole story begins two years ago when Christer Lindberg asked me if I would be interested in composing a new piece for the male choir Muntra Musikanter’s 140 year anniversary concert in 2018, which I of course was! My grandfather Göran Damström sang for a large part of his life in this very same choir, so it was an honour to be asked to compose for them. I asked the musical board if it would be possible to commission a new text for the piece, which they thought was a good idea, and I commissioned the Swedish speaking Finnish poet Oscar Rossi to write something for this purpose.

Just as with composition commissions, it is a lottery when you commission a new text and it was very existing to see what Oscar would come up with. And indeed: Oscar wrote something very different from anything I had read of him previously. But it worked out really well!
During the composition process I had regular contact with the conductor Henrik Wikström and checked with him in how many voices I could write and many similar questions. Henrik gave me very free hands which was nice.

In August 2017 I delivered the ready piece to the choir and in January 2018 I heard the first time a rehearsal of the piece. Two days before the premiere I heard a second rehearsal and what a big difference it was! But the best version of the piece (so far) was luckily the premiere itself, with which I was very happy!  Small things like the indication “weight on the front part of the foot, hit the ground with one heel at a time (quietly), according to the given rhythm”, which hadn’t sounded so great in rehearsals (when the choir was wearing sneakers or winder shoes) got just the sound I was looking for with the formal black shoes on stage. Many sang even by heart!

Muntra Musikanter 140th anniversary. Photo © Cata Portin

The choir Muntra Musikanter kept their 140 year anniversary in the Finlandia Hall for an audience of over 1000 people. Due to the anniversary, they also had an organised formal dinner party after the concert, which around 400 people attended. Most of the audience was dressed in evening gowns and suits, which made both the concert and dinner party very festive.

Me in my new evening gown at Muntra Musikanter's 140th anniversary concert.

The program was:

Ór Ymis hold (Finnish premiere) by Sunleif Rasmussen to a text from the Edda

Pauli Ord (world premiere) by me to a text by Oscar Rossi

Vem är du? by Andreas Lönnqvist to a text of Zacharias Topelius

Under rönn och syrén by Herman Palm to a text of Zacharias Topelius

Sandels by Jean Sibelius to a text of Johan Ludvig Runeberg

-intermission-

Sure On This Shining Night by Morten Lauridsen to a text of James Agee

MLK by U2 arranged by Hanna Kronqvist

Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen arranged by Hanna Kronqvist

Hand i hand (world premiere) by Vytautas Miskinis to a text of Henry Parland

Dig är en törnkrans by Lille Bror Sönderlundh to a text of Gunnar Björling

Iltapilviä by Toivo Kuula to a text of V. A. Koskenniemi

Kejsarhymnen by Alexej Feodorovtij Lvoff to a text of Vasilij Zhukovskij

Gammalt porslin by Erik Bergman to a text by Carl Snoilsky

Sjöfararen vid milan by Selim Palmgren to a text of Gustaf Fröding

Muntra Musikanter 140th anniversary © Cecilia Damström

The choir was accompanied in a few songs by the eminent pianist Folke Gräsbeck. Gräsbeck has recorded all of Sibelius piano music, a total of 24 records, and he wrote his PhD dissertation about the music of Sibelius, so he was by far the most qualified choice for accompanying the choir when it came to Sibelius. The solos in the concert were sung by Adam Newman (in Pauli ord and MLK), Dennis Holmlund (MLK) and Janne Sandström (MLK and Hallelujah)

Muntra Musikanter 140th anniversary. Photo © Cata Portin

The concert was accompanied by a visual show made by the designer and visual artist Stefan Lindfors and his assistant. Lindfors used something as simple and fascinating as the “old school” over head projector, water and different elements that he combined with water. I also liked his overhead strategy of how he had planned the visual elements.

Stefan Lindfors at Muntra Musikanter 140th anniversary. Photo © Cata Portin

As the choir is a Swedish speaking choir, and the Swedish speaking minority (to which also my family belongs) of Finland is quite small, there were very many familiar faces in the audience, which was nice. I was very happy that my sister, both of my parents, my both grand mothers, and two of my aunts could attend. When I was young I thought that you would “grow out of it”, but it seems that I’m still like a 5-year old who is very happy when my family will come to my concerts. And my grandmother said she was sure that my grandfather Göran would have been very proud that I had composed a piece for “his” choir. I was also very happy that my friend Lucy McKnight and her friend could make it to the concert.

Me and my family after the concert

After the concert I was invited by the choir to join their anniversary dinner party. I want you to imagine: over 400 guests of which most sing or have sung in choirs their whole life, singing familiar drinking songs together in four voices! Yes, it DID sound amazing!

I had the honour of having the dinner company of the pianist Folke Gräsbeck and the conductor Henrik Wikström. Folke has been my piano teacher at music camps around 2001-2006, so I have know’n him for over half of my life. At the dinner I also got to meet the composer Sunleif Rasmussen from the Faero Islands and the actress Christina Indrenius-Zalewski, widow of Muntra Musikanter’s former conductor (1951-1978) and eminent composer Erik Bergman.

Photo together with actress Christina Indrenius-Zalewski

Photo together with composer Sunleif Rasmussen

After the dinner, a band was playing dance music and I had the opportunity to talk to a few more choir members, and I had a wonderful evening. And could there be a better way to round up the evening than by having an awesome review of the concert and my piece in today’s edition of the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet?

Thank you! (The flower I received from the choir)

Our Graduation Party

Sunday the 29th of June my sister Jacintha and I celebrated our graduation! Both of us are now Bachelors of Music, she (in flute) after 3 years at the Sibelius Academy with 184 ECTS credits and I (in composition) after 6 years at Tampere University of Applied Sciences with 315 ECTS credits… Quite funny, isn’t it?

My sister Jacintha got her Bachelor of Music on the 18th of June, I'm so proud of her!
Photo © Cecilia Damström 

We had invited both friends and relatives, altogether over 100 people were invited and about 50 were able to come (but scattered all over the day). Our mother had baked lovely strawberry cakes and made lots of salad and other food for the guests. It was a really nice party, and I enjoyed both seeing lots of relatives whom I meet too seldom, as well as old school friends and getting to know Jacintha’s friends. The first guests arrived at about 3 PM (while I still was blow-drying my hair…) and the last guests left at about 4 or 5 AM. So once again a great party!

At our gradution party

Mum had baked lovely strawberry cakes.

Getting ready to serve sparking wine! Photo © C.Damström

Happy and proud parents! Thank you for all your support throughout the years!
Photo © Cecilia Damström

Grandmother with her newly graduated grandchildren, all in green!

Suvisoitto

On the 26th of June I went by bus to Porvoo for listening to a concert of the “Summer Sounds-Avantti!” Festival. The festival always also has a composition masterclass and workshop called “Sävellyspaja” (which more or less means “composition workshop”), nowadays lead by Jouni Kaipainen, Jukka Tiensuu and Tomi Räisänen. The students (from all around the globe) who are elected to the course are asked to compose a work for some constellation of the Avantti! chamber orchestra. The works are rehearsed during the course and performed at an official concert at the end of the course. All students get two private sessions each with every teacher, where they usually use one lesson for talking about the work that they have composed for this project and one lesson usually showing other compositions. I attended this course in 2011 and have to say it was a marvelous experience!

This year my friends Matilda Seppälä and Henri Sokka, both from Tampere, were attending the course, Sauli Zinovjev (from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki) and more peculiarly, my friend Bin Li from Indiana University (United States, originally born in China). I met Bin in 2012 at a composition course in Berlin held by Doctor Samuel Adler, and last winter I mailed all my former colleagues about this master class, so he applied and came! It was great seeing Bin again after two years!  

Composers Bin Li, Kosmas Giannoutakis, Pang Chun-Ting and Reuben Jelleyman
at the Summer Sounds Festival in Porvoo! Photo © C.Damström

The programme of the concert by the composition masterclass 2014 was:

Instructors: Jouni Kaipainen and Jukka Tiensuu

Jaakko Kuusisto, conductor

Essi Luttinen, mezzo soprano

Pang Chun-Ting: The Flowers Appear on Earth

Léo Collin: The Desire

Kosmas Giannoutakis: The Vanishing

Reuben Jelleyman: Expanse

Bin Li: Lighted Fools

Shuying Li: Truth is Singular

Matilda Seppälä: and the vines with their tender grape

Henri Sokka: Dusty Tales

Sauli Zinovjev: Jum

The task of this year was to compose for a singer as a part of the orchestra, but the participants were given three texts to chose from. As the previous years Jouni Kaipainen was moderating the concert and was also interviewing the participants about their piece, which always is very interesting. The concert was really nice and I especially liked Matilda’s piece “and the vines with their tender grape” and Komas Giannoutakis “The Vanishing”.

Léo Collin and Jouni Kaipainen at Summer Sounds 2014

Bin Li and Jouni Kaipainen at Summer Sounds 2014

The concert of the young composers was quite early (at 5 PM), so it was followed by an other concert by Avantti!, including the chamber version of Stravinsky’s  A solider's tale. There was also a orchestra piece by the composer in residence Gerald Barry. But the absolutely most memorably number was when the festivals artistic director Barbara Hannigan sang AND conducted the famous coloratura aria from Ligeti’s Le Grande Macabre while dressed in black latex, a black wig and high heels! She was absolutely outstanding!

Barbara Hannigan after the concert at Summer Sounds 2014.
Photo © C.Damström 

After the concerts I hang out with Matilda and the other masterclass members until the late morning hours, and the next day I and a few others got a ride back to Helsinki by Sauli.

Feedback session of the composition masterclass Sävellyspaja 2014. Photo © C.Damström

Composer Henri Sokka Photo © C.Damström

Composers of the masterclass Sävellyspaja 2014 getting ready to go home.
Photo © C.Damström

Two Composition Prizes at VocalEspoo!

Sunday the 1st of June 2014. Slept once again about 5 hours and up again for the final spring meeting of the composer’s association Korvat Auki. We checked through the finance of this year, went through what’s happening next year and who will be on the board of next year.

Checking the financial situation of this year at the Korvat auki!-meeting 1.6.2014.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

After the meeting I hurried home, because I had to get ready for the concert of the evening; the prize winners concert of the international choral composition competition at the VocalEspoo vocal festival!

In Januray I sent in my scores to the composition competition. I sent in my ready piece “Credo “ (for mixed choir) and wrote a new piece for children's choir in my 4 spare days of Christmas “holidays” called “El jardín de las morenas”. In composition competitions you very often have to participate with an emblem and I really enjoy inventing silly emblems. So this was the case also of this competition, where I decided to call my self “Hurri”, which is a racist word for Swedish speaking Finns in Finland. I love self irony and being a Swedish speaking Finn my self I feel I have the right to call my self this. (The same way some black people in the US talk about them selves as “nigga’s”  among them selves but don’t want to be called it by others, also I as a Swedish speaking Finn find it okay to call my self a “hurri”).

Usually how ever this emblem is only read by the jury, and as soon as the winner is elected the real name of the composer is announced. This time how ever it wasn’t so. Instead I was notified by the secretary of the competition that both my pieces had won some kind of prize in the competition, but she couldn’t say which prizes and they would be announced when the emblem’s were revealed at the end of the concert! And the concert is going to be broadcast on the national radio as well!

I arrived on good time to the welcoming ceremony an hour before the concert, where we were served salads, warm food and dessert and sparkling wine of course. I met again the music critique Mats Liljeroos, who was writing a review of the concert for the Swedish daily paper of Finland called Huvudstadsbladet. But I was surprised how few people I knew at the reception.

The general atmosphere was slightly nervous at the opening ceremony, because none of us composers had heard a single rehearsal of the pieces (of course) nor did we know exactly what to expect of the occasion. Also the arrangers (except the secretary) didn’t know who of us was who.

Opening ceremony of VocalEspoo 2014 on the 1st of June. I'm in the pink dress.
Photo © Maarit Kytöharju

I couldn’t publicly invite people on Facebook, as I normally would have done, because I wasn’t allowed yet to tell people I had won any prize, but I had invited my relatives, so my both grandmothers and two of my aunts came to listen, and of course my parents, which made me very happy.

When the Tapiola Choir started my piece “El jardín de las morenasI” a wave of shock ran through me. In the beginning of the piece I have written “smack your lips”, without further explanation, thinking of the kind of smacking sound when you eat food (with your mouth open). Now how ever they were making loud smacks like fish or horse hooves! But after the first 5 second’s when the feeling of bewilderment and chock slowly began to leave me, I noticed that it actually sounded really good the way they way they did it. (As a composer usually everything that is “different” from the way you imagined it is “wrong”, but when you get used to it you notice it isn’t that bad after all.) 

The Tapiola Choir conducted by Pasi Hyökki at VocalEspoo 1.6.2014.
Photo © Maarit Kytöharju

After the lip-smacking incidence when the youth choir began to sing everything sounded actually even better than I had imagined. The conductor Pasi Hyökki had chosen very fast tempos, so the piece was almost 1:30 minutes shorter than I had composed it, but it was fine like this as well. The teenagers sang with so much energy and dedication and pronounced the Spanish texts so well that it was touching. I was so happy!

The Tapiola Choir taking a selfie. VocalEspoo 2014 Photo © Maarit Kytöharju

In the intermission I went to the bathroom and in the bathroom one of the girls from the Tapiola Choir was singing a movement from my piece. It felt very absurd sitting on the toilet while hearing some one actually singing your song, just for fun, on the toilet! So while washing my hands I asked the four about 13 year old girls, who were mirroring them selves, what it had been like to be part of this project, in which they had to learn four new (and contemporary) pieces for the concert. They at once got a bit stiff, because they guessed I was one of the composers, but didn’t of course know which piece was mine. So they answered politically very correctly and told about the process. They also told it had been quite a tiresome project because they had just a few weeks earlier been on tour in Japan with a completely different repertoire and had been in quite a hurry to learn the new songs for this concert.

My piece Credo was the last piece in the concert. The commentator for the radio was enjoying to read out my emblem, on which there always came a small giggle in the audience. He always read out my emblem both before and after the piece (as next we have/you just heard Hurri’s piece …) and on the last time he added “This is probably the first time in Finnish radio history that this word has been used in a neutral context” on which the audience laughed.

My Credo was performed by the chamber choir Key Ensemble conducted by Teemu Honkanen. Honkanen kept the tempo’s very much like in my score and everything was exactly like I expected it to be, so I was very happy also with this performance!

Key Ensemble at VocalEspoo 2014. Photo © Maarit Kytöharju

After this performance it was time for the revelation of the emblems and prize winners. I got a third prize in the children's choir category with “El jardín de las morenas” and a joint second prize with my “Credo” in the mixed choir category! So I was very happy! My family had places at the very front, so they were happily taking pictures with their phones.

The prize winners of the international VocalEspoo choral composition competition.
Photo © Maarit Kytöhaju

After the concert, when finally all names had been revealed, there were so many people to talk to. (I wish people wouldn’t always be in such a hurry home, so that you would have time to speak to more people after concerts, before all disappear…) Both Pasi Hyökki and Teemu Honkanen came to thank me for the piece and asked if their version was “at all right”, and I told about the smacking incident, but that Hyökki's solution had been great as well. Both of them asked “But you are Swedish speaking, aren’t you?” on which I answered “Yes of course, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the right to call my self Hurri”.

I was flattered by all the nice comments I got to hear from so many people, but the most memorable comment I got from the four teenage girls I had spoken to in the bathroom in the intermission. They came running to me, extremely happy and started talking eagerly all at the same time “Congratulations! We thought your piece was the best! We are so sorry you didn’t win! We actually voted among us choir members, and we would have chosen your piece to be the winner. But congratulations anyway! And the text were so nice, we really the choice of your text. And the pieces were really nice as well, not too long and pleasant to sing and not too easy but not too difficult either. And we guessed you were one of the composers, but we didn’t want to say anything, as we didn’t know which of the pieces was yours. But we were so happy when you walked on stage and we saw it was your piece!  I was singing it in the batroom, you noticed it didn’t you? Oh I really liked it, especially that part I was singing. Oh but congratulations once more to your prizes! Bye!”

I think that was the nicest feed back I have ever got in my life, and it seemed to be one of the most honest ones as well, every word from the bottom of their sweet hearts, they truly made my day!

Me, a very happy composer! A third and a joint second prize at the
VocalEspoo International Choral Composition Competition 2014.
Photo © Damström

After this I was extremely tired, but of course I went to have a drink at the musicians stamping ground Urkki with a few friends. We of course ran in to other musicians there, a few pianists. At about midnight I moved on to my composer friends Matei Gheorghiu’s and Sebastian Dumitrescu'sbirthday party at Clavis, from where I walked home at dawn and finally at 4 AM went to bed.

The sun is rising at 4 AM over Huopalahti (in Helsinki).
Photo © Cecilia Damström

Recollection - Matei Gheorghiu's Concert

Saturday May 31st. After handing in my compositions for my final exam last Tuesday I can’t really remember very much. I think I have mainly been "dead"? Anyway, today my rabbit Viljo moved to our summer cottage. We took a train together from Tampere to Helsinki, and of course I had to take an obligatory “Traveling with my rabbit”-selfie. My father was so nice and got Viljo (and my other luggage as well) from the train station and brought him straight to our summer cottage.

My rabbit Viljo and me traveling from Tampere to Helsinki by train. 31.5.2014

After this I met up with my friend Leo and we went and looked at my friend Matei Gheorghiu’s composition concert. The concert took place at “Balderin sali” on Aleksanterinkatu and he organized it together with the photographer Octavian Balea and painter (artist) Elina Nissinen, so an interartproject in it’s full meaning.

The concert was structured with some arrangements of Mussorgsky’s “pictures at an art exhibition” for two accordions, that were played in between Matei’s own pieces.

The programme of the concert Recollection 31.5.2014 was:

Matei Gheorghiu: Experiment for 2 accordions

Modest Musorgski: Pictures in an exhibition – Gnomes  (accordion)*

Matei Gheorghiu: Piano Sonata no. 2**

Modest Musorgski: Pictures in an exhibition – Old Castle (accordion)*

Matei Gheorghiu: Ihana surullinen ilta (soprano and piano)***

Modest Musorgski: Pictures in an exhibition: Market place (accordion)*

Matei Gheorghiu: Ratio Spei and Good Freedom (French horn and piano) **

Modest Musorgski: Pictures in an exhibition: Baba Yaga* and The great gate of Kiev (accordion)*

* Projections of artworks by Elina Nissinen

** Projections of photographs by Octavian Balea

*** Live-painting by Elina Nissinen and Octavian Balea

________________________________________________

Break: Nissinen exhibition in the cafeteria

________________________________________________

Little Memory Stories

- Text and photographs by Balea

- Musical direction and performance by Matei Gheorghiu and The Korvat Auki ensemble.

Musicians: Kiril Kozlovski and Maritta Manner: piano, Annami Hylkilä: soprano, Julian Leslie French: horn, Josip Nemet and Mia Cojbasic: accordions, The Korvat Auki ensemble

Artist Elina Nissinen, composer Matei Gheorghiu and pianist Maritta Manner
at Recollection 31.5.2014. Photo © Cecilia Damström

Artist Elina Nissinen, photographer Octavian Balea and composer Matei Gheorghiu
at Recollection 31.5.2014. Photo © Cecilia Damström

I was very happy I got to see the piece “Little Memory Stories” a second time, after having seen it once at the RRR!!–Festival two weeks earlier. This time I had time to look at the pictures, as I had read the text the previous time, and I really liked it. An other piece that I liked especially much was Matei’s piano sonata, which can be heardunder this link.

After the concert we of course went for a few drinks, and then a small number of us rounded of the great evening once again at Siltanen’s.

Elina Nissinen, Sergio Castrillón and my friend Leo. Photo © Cecilia Damström

The 14,5 hour party!

So Friday May 23rd I spent the whole day composing! Absolutely the whole day, from about 10 in the morning until 5 at nigh. Today again (Saturday May 24th) I got up at 9 AM and started cleaning. My room has been an absolute mess, as I never am home nor have time to clean... But today I'm hosting my "Thank you and Farewell" Party so I have to get this place into shape somehow!

It was a lovely warm early summers day and about 26°C and sunny. I cleaned without eating from 9-16.30 o'clock. Then I rushed with my roll cartridge to Lidl for shopping food! I bought all together about 18 liters of soft drinks and loads and loads of food back home, all alone! (Still don't know how I managed to carry it all...)

I arrived home at 18 o’clock, the time I had written the party was supposed to begin, and I hadn’t even showered yet. But people usually don’t arrive exactly at the given time, so I went and had a shower anyway. And as in all films, the doorbell rang while I was in the shower, and as expected, the first guests were of course male guests, who slightly embarrassedly asked me “wasn’t the party supposed to start at 18 o’clock?” when I opened the door in only a shower robe. I replied “yes, yes, I’m just always a bit time optimistic, but go to the kitchen and have some drinks, there is lot’s to chose from!”. So while my first guests had to keep each other company I got dressed, but still had a towel around my wet hair for the next hour or so (while the next 6 or 7 guests arrived). I made punch, salad, put some frozen pizzas in the oven, cooked some Indian stew and rice and baked a mud cake while my guests were arriving one by one. After the first round of food was done I had time to finally blow dry my hair. Then I continued with baking more cake.

All food was very popular and was happily eaten up by my guests. I was so happy to have so many lovely friends who came over and the party was really great!

After 2 AM many people left, but there were a few tough warriors that happily stayed at the party throughout the night, which was really nice.  But at 8.30 AM (after 14h of party) I was getting tired and had to be a rude host and tell my last guests: sorry but the party is over, I need to go to sleep so that I can continue composing as soon as possible for being able to graduate. So my guests, who still weren’t tired went off and decided to have a swim in the lake close to my house (and also did so, I was told afterwards)! So at about 10 AM I got to bed, after 25h awake (and 14,5 h party)!

Siltanen

Saturday 17th of May 2014. I had never been to the bar Siltanen before. It is a redbrick building that looks like an old magazine or factory, which has been turned into a club, just like so many cool places in Berlin (like for instance Tresor). It was really full, but we had a great time! After Siltanen closed we went to the club next to it called Kaiku, which reminded me maybe even more of Berlin, due to it’s over loud techno music and dimmed lights.

After that my one friend made some calls and the three  of us headed of to a after-party. When arriving at the after-party I noticed the guy we were going to was my sisters friend, what a coincidence! We invited two random drunk guys from the street, who sat with us for a while, then they left again. A few of us, including me, stayed over at the party place, because I didn’t feel like going home at 6 AM. Instead I slept until 10 AM, got a green tea, headed home, repacked my bags at turbo speed and ran off again for catching the regional train to Tampere together with Matilda.