Short update about me

Sunday October 23rd 2016.

Short update about me: I decided to take an other gap year from my master studies (in composition) at Malmö Academy of Music. I'm living in Helsinki and working as a freelance composer. At the moment I have five commissions: three choral pieces, one opera for children and one accordion concerto. I'm also studying my last year piano pedagogy of my second bachelor at Tampere University of Applied Sciences. Moreover I have started a new "hobby": musicology at Helsinki University. (And bought a gym card to Unisport as well, after an 8 years break of no sports! So proud of myself!) I'm also planning a super cool contemporary music festival for August 2017 with my friends from Tampering! 

My parents are now starting their "putkiremontti" (plumbing service) and are emptying their flat (with loads of my stuff in it). And soon (in November) I’ll also get a “putkiremontti” as well. Then (in January) I will move to a new flat (within Helsinki) and in September 2017 I will move back to Malmö to complete my masters in composition!

So if my friends don't see me during the next year or two I am either composing, practising piano, travelling by train to Tampere, sitting in a lecture of musicology, writing an essay, preparing for some exam, writing a grant application, doing yoga, or cleaning up some flat. 

So please don't be offended if I'm super terrible at answering messages and emails or just generally am a lousy friend, I'm sorry already!

Hope to see all my friends at my graduation, either in 2017 (piano, Tampere/Helsinki) or in 2018 (Master of Music, Malmö)! Until then, take care! 

Yours sincerely,

Cecilia xx

P.S. Also have some sunny days in sight: In December I’m going to Spain, as my new suite for accordion solo commissioned by Janne Valkeajoki will be premiered on his tour in northern Spain, which is super exciting!

A Dream came true: Unborn premiered!

Saturday the 16th of January 2016. This week was the premiere of my orchestra piece Unborn, and it was absolutely wonderful!

I went by train to Jyväskylä already on Monday 11 January in the afternoon, and to my surprise quite many trains were fully booked, but I managed to get there before the snow storm broke out. (It wasn’t such a bad storm, but for some reason the trains in Finland stop working when there is a slight increase of snow… Which happens every year!) 

Jyväskylä town orchestra aka Jyväskylä Sinfonia had booked a room for me at the four star hotel Yöpuu. In the hotel every room is different and I had a really pretty room with beautiful wood furniture from the 19th century. For breakfast I had a hard time choosing what to eat, so I ate basically everything for not missing out on anything. It was really nice being in such a nice hotel, the only downside was that I felt like I was going bankrupt every time I ate something (a Sandwich, lunch or even a cup of tea!) that wasn’t included and paid for by myself. 

Dinner at Hotel Yöpuu in Jyäskylä 11.1.2016

Being a composer is so paradoxical. Without composers there wouldn’t exist any music to be played, but still it seems like composers are the ones who earn the least all of their life, even if they some day may get famous… I guess that is why so many composers try to be conductors as well, for surviving. And some also very successfully do both, like Gustav Mahler or Esa-Pekka Salonen. But there seems to be about one of them in every century.

The first rehearsal that I came to listen to (which actually was the third rehearsal for the orchestra) on Tuesday morning on the 12th of January was already a really good rehearsal and my piece sounded almost as I wanted it to sound. The conductor Ville Matvejeff had done a great job with my piece during the first two rehearsals. With only a few comments like “at rehearsal marks E and I the emotion should be more “hysterically energetic” and the woodwinds should maybe play fortissimo instead of forte” everything fell at once much better into place. I also had to ask all my glissandi to be played more slowly. But I have to say I was so relieved when I heard how well the first clarinet Gocho Prakov played his solo and all glissandi, because most people commented on my score when they saw the clarinet part “Are you sure this can be played?” and I said “Well, Martin Fröst played a Sörensen concerto with almost only glissandi in both directions” on which everyone responded “Yes but Fröst is Fröst…!”. So I was really happy that Prakov didn’t seem to have any difficulties either. After the orchestra had rehearsed my piece I told them the underlying story to the piece, and the whole orchestra said in one sad voice “aaaw“ (like the audience of the tv-show Friends). After my rehearsal I stayed and listened to the rest of the rehearsal, Sibelius Violin Concerto played by Petteri Iivonen and Brahms Third Symphony, while following the scores from my laptop (gotta love IMSLP!).

Ville Matvejeff conducting my piece Unborn, while I follow in my score.
Photo by @jklsinfonia 12.1.2016

Ville Matvejeff conducting the rehearsal of Jyväskylä Sinfonia, January 2016. 

After the rehearsal I had lunch with Matvejeff and Iivonen at the hotel restaurant and the rest of the afternoon and evening I spent composing my Melodrama which should be ready as soon as possible, and after that I went early to bed.

Wednesday the 13th of January, the day of the concert it was about ten degrees below zero (Centigrades) and quite a snow storm. The final rehearsal took place at the concert venue, which actually isn’t a concert venue at all but the main stage of the town theatre. Jyväskylä Sinfonia is one of the few town orchestras (along side with Lappeenranta town orchestra) that doesn’t have an “own” venue. The main hall of the town theatre only fits about 550 people, which means that the concerts of Jyväskylä Sinfonia are always sold out. This despite that the acoustics in the venue are terribly bad for classical concerts.

Final rehearsal of Unborn 13.1.2016. Ville Matvejeff conducting Jyväskylä Sinfonia.

 Jyväskylä is quite far away from other cities, it’s about a four-hour train ride from Helsinki. So this was the reason that my boyfriend was the only close person and family-member who came to listen to my premiere.

When I arrived at the concert venue I was happy to see one familiar face, the music critic Wilhelm Kvist from the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet. He had come by train all the way from Helsinki for listening to this concert, which was very flattering!

My boyfriend and I had places on the third row at the end of the row, so that it was easy for me to go on stage and bow after the piece. I was very nervous during the premiere, but it went really well and I was so happy! I went up on stage and bowed once, the audience applauded politely long enough for me to bow and walk off stage.

My piece was followed by Sibelius Violin Concerto, which obviously was more in the taste of the audience, and Iivonen got to play two encores. In the break my boyfriend asked me “How do you feel now after the premiere??” and I honestly answered “…well, it feels a bit weird that I just had enough time to walk off stage before the applause ended…” and Janne answered “…well… you are a contemporary composer, you have to get used to it, that you aren’t as popular as Sibelius…” And I said “yeah, I guess my music has mainly been played at “contemporary concerts” and “contemporary festvals” where the audience likes contemporary music and even clap the composer back on stage, so I have just been living in my own little bubble”. With this said, it felt SO good when a random lady whom I walked by stopped me and told me that she really liked my piece, and her friends all agreed with her. While I was having a cup of tea a man was talking with his teen-age daughters and they were giggling and looking embarrassed and tried to stop the man, who also came up to me and thanked me for the piece. Maybe the daughters thought it was embarrassing to talk to a stranger? Maybe people think we composers “hear it all the time” that we compose well, that our music is good. But NO, WE DON’T! Too seldom people dare to come and give compliments to other people (at least in Finland), so dear readers; we composers for sure do need your encouragement! Because we are composing for YOU! I remember every one of the five people who came up to me after the concert and thanked me, every one of them warmed my heart and gave me one more reason to keep on composing.

After a nice second half with Brahms and a very short photo shoot, Iivonen, Mavejeff, Janne and I had a nice dinner at Restaurant Figaro. Even though Mavejeff has a career that is completely unbelievable for a conductor under the age of thirty, he is still a very humble and extremely nice person, so I’m not surprised that many like to work with him. Matvejeff was going to conduct an opera rehearsal the next morning in Turku, so he excused himself and didn’t join us for a drink at the bar but instead left, as he still had a 300-kilometre drive left to Turku in the snowstorm.

Petteri Iivonen, me and Ville Matvejeff after the concert in Jyväskylä 13.1.2016.
Photo by @jklsinfonia

I on the other hand had a good night’s sleep, went by train to Tampere, had lunch there and taught my pedagogical student, and then took a train back to Helsinki. (It was so much nicer to split up the four-hour train ride from Jyväskylä to Helsinki in two parts!) It feels funny that everything is already over, the premiere, it’s all over. Most of all I feel thankful and relieved everything went so well; that my scores were clear and the musicians were happy, the premiere went well, and I will have a review in Hufvudstadsbladet! What more could I wish for?

Autumn 2015

January 5th 2016. After a hectic spring and summer 2016 I have tried to do some downshifting and this laid back autumn has been exactly what I needed! 

So what have I been up to? I decided to take a gap-year from Malmö Academy of Music, because I couldn’t cope anymore with studying two degrees in two countries (a bachelor of piano in Finland and Masters in composition in Sweden). So this autumn I have pursued  my piano pedagogue degree in Tampere University of Applied Sciences while living in Helsinki at my parents place (for saving on living costs) and working on my freelance composition work. This autumn I have been working on my orchestra piece Unborn (2012-2015) that will be premiered by Jyväskylä Sinfonia on the 13th of January 2016 and also composing a melodrama commissioned by John Storgårds for the festival Sång och musikfesten 2016 to be premiered on the 11th of June 2016 in Kokkola. 

In the beginning of the autumn I also produced one concert for the festival Ung Nordisk Musik together with my friend and composer Dante Thelestam. And in November I was 12 days in Malmö for taking part of and helping to organise the contemporary music festival “Connect 2015 - The Apocalypse” organised by the composition department of Malmö Academy of Music. So I have been more or less in one place the whole autumn, which has been a really nice and welcome change. More over I have begun to sleep about 8h per night, which has correlated with feeling better and being a bit less ill, but also is a part reason to less blog posts.

Hoping to write more about all the events in separate blog posts, so once again being positive (or maybe just unrealistic?) about being back soon with my next post!

TampeRinging 2015 - The Programme

The Programme of the contemporary music festival TampeRinging 2015 organised by the composer association Tampering ry.

Thursday 20.8.

19:00

Opening concert of the festival: Secrets & Scandals

Tampering Ensemble conducted by Okko Kivikataja

Pyynikkisali, F.E Sillanpään katu 9

Matilda Seppälä: and the vines with theirtender grape (2014)

Ilkka Hammo: Seeking flow (world premiere)

Jouni Kaipainen: Gena (1988)

Tero Lanu: Birds Are Great Escape Artists (world premiere)

Jami Kianto: Absentiikka (world premiere)

Arnold Schönberg: Kamarisinfonia nro. 1 E-duuri, Op. 9 (1906-7)

21:00

Etkot (The Pre-Party)

Telakka, Tullikamariaukio 3

Philippe Geiss: Sax hero - Suvi Linnovaara, saxophone

Cecilia Damström: Groove op. 38 - JanneValkeajoki, accordion; Jacintha Damström, flute

Sauli Zinovjev: Arco - Elisar Riddelin, violin

Timo Kittilä: Harmonikkasonatiini - Pasi Raukola, accordion

Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata for two violins - Amelie Wünsche, violin; Veera Hölsö, violin

Sampo Haapamäki: Power - Janne Valkeajoki, accordion

Magnus Lindberg: Jeux d'anches - JanneValkeajoki, accordion

Friday 21.8.

13:00

Improvisation workshop with Oxke Fixu

Keltainen talo, Vellamonkatu 1

19:00

Suvi Linnovaaran Saxophone Recital: Créations

Ylioppilasteatteri, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12

Cecilia Damström: Dorfman trio op.33 (2014): I Lost II Lonely III Forward (Finnish premiere)

Matti Carter: Waves (world premiere)

Annika Granlund: Viikon lopusta (world premiere): I Sunnuntai II Lauantai III Perjantai

Paolo Griffin: Deflection (world premiere)

Jacob TV: Grab it! (1999)

21:00

Tampering-klubi:

Oxke Fixu (FR)

Mikkoman

Telakka, Tullikamariaukio 3

Saturday 22.8.

12:00

Chamber Music Concert: L'après-midi d'un tétras

Pietiläsali, Main Library Metso

Cecilia Damström: Expressionen, op. 27 - Lukas Stasevskij, cello Janne Valkeajoki, accordion Helmi Malmgren, clarinet

Sauli Zinovjev: Arco - Elisar Riddelin, violin

Elisar Riddelin: Minne on mennyt - Hanna Kronqvist, soprano Tuomas Honkkila, piano

Cecilia Damström: Characters, op. 37 - CeciliaDamström, piano

Jami Kianto: Kolme laulua - Maija Halme, soprano Tuomas Salokangas, piano

Roope Mäenpää: String Quartet Nr 2 - TEMA-kvartetti: Lotta Laaksonen, violin Emma Kuosmanen, violin Marjukka Manner, viola Aino Palosaari, cello

14:00

Lauluyhtye Fiori

Pietiläsali, Main Library Metso

Tero Lanu: Herbaario: 1. Leskenlehti 2. Punakoiso 3. Sinikello 4. Harmaaröyhelö 5. Valkolehdokki (world premiere)

Cecilia Damström: Estampas del mar: 1. Nocturno 2. El mar 3. Dos estrellas del mar (world premiere)

Makedonian folk song, arranged by Michael Parsons: Nani Mi Mariče

Romanian folk song, arranged by Michael Parsons: Auzi, Mîndro

Pekka Kostiainen: Merkillinen mies

Cecilia Damström: El jardín de las morenas: 1. Pórtico 2. Acacia 3. Encuentro 4. Limonar

Pekka Kostiainen: Peipposen pesä: 1. Pitkittyi moni yö 2. Peipposen pesä 3. Kesä irtoaa

Janne Salmenkangas: Kuningattaren ääni: 1. Tämä on lauma 2. Kuningattaren selkä 3. Yksi pieni valkoinen lehmä 4. Elisabet, Emilia (world premiere)

19:00

Caprico Orchestra conducted by Elisar Riddelin

Alexander Church

Matilda Seppälä: Aaltoja joista kirkkaus sarastaa (world premiere)

Ilkka Hammo: Fall Folliage (world premiere)

Timo Kittilä: Towards the Delta - Maija Anttila, bass clarinet (world premiere)

Paavo Korpijaakko: Nebula - Concerto for guitar, Lotta Kosola, guitar

Cecilia Damström: Infirmus (world premiere)

Elisar Riddelin: Ja kun muinaiset katosivat -Concerto for cello and strings, Sirja Nironen, cello (world premiere)

Henri Sokka: Silence Fiction (world premiere)

Sunday 23.8.

19:00

Esa Toivolan Organ Recital

Tampere Cathedral

Torsten Stenius (1918–1964): Partita över en finländsk andlig koral

Timo Kittilä: Preludi Meditaatio Musica dopo il Credo

Pauli Marttinen: Briaɥsklárs (world premiere)

Edgar Arro (1911–1978): Kolme virolaista kansansävelmää

Lasse Kallioniemi: Organic Metal (world premiere)

Naji Hakim (s. 1955): Mariales (1993)1. Incantation (Mater admirabilis) 2. Pastorale (Regina cœli) 3. Antienne (Salve regina) 4. Hymne (Virgo Dei genitrix) 5. Danse (Ave maris stella)

Timo Kittilä: Toccata (world premiere)

Summer 2015

”So what are you doing this summer?” I get this question quite frequently, so I decided to write about what’s happening this summer in my life!

May
2-9.5 visiting Würzburg
Visited my friend Janne Valkeajoki in Würzburg for discussing and working on his commissioned piece Groove, which will be premiered in Sysmän Suvisoitto 2015.

10.5 Concert in Lund with Ton Generation. Composition class of Malmö made a concert, and I gave my piano solo piece Piano Delirium it’s Swedish premiere. (More about the concert: click here)

20.5 Concert in Malmö Academy of Music, and the pianist Linn Bertland gave my piano solo suite Characters its world premiere.

21.5-26.5 in Finland:

21.5 arrived at 14:45 in Finland, got picked up so I managed to go home and in the evening I went to the Finish Cultural Foundation Annual Celebration in Siuntio

22.5 piano lesson in Helsinki with Risto-Matti Marin

25.5 Played the Finnish premiere of my piano piece  "Characters" at 6 PM. in the Korvat Auki concert at the Aino Ackté Hall

26.5 Flight to Stockholm at 16 o'clock.

26-30.5 Stockholm

27-28.5 Rehearsals with the Swedish Wind Ensemble

29.5 Concert with Swedish Wind Ensemble, premiere of my wind orchestra piece Paradiso, conducted by Michael Bartosch. (More about the concert: click here)

30.5 Travelling by train back to Malmö

June

31.5-17.6 in Malmö

4.6 Playing the second movement of Hummel’s Piano concerto and my piece Characters at the Horn class concert in Malmö Academy of Music
5.6 The Spring Party of Malmö Academy of Music
7.6 To hospital due to acute infection, I however felt fine after I got antibiotics
8.6 deadline for first songs of the opera “Schnitzler’s Dreams” (composing all night and morning)

9-12.6 Cleaning out the flat and moving most of my stuff (to a friend’s attick) although I took six bags with me.

12.6. Moving out
12-15.6 composing Sirens for brass ensemble, premiere at Blekinge International Brass Academy

17.6 By train to Stockholm, and by ferry back to Finland, with 6 bags and a total of 91 kg!

17-21.6 in Helsinki

Composing night and day my part of the collaborative opera Schnitzler’s Dreams for Fredrikstad, Norway.

21.6 flight to Copenhagen, stayed the night at a friend in Malmö
22-28.6 Karlskrona, BlekingeInternational Brass Academy

Composer in residence the whole week, rehearsals 24-26.6

26.6 Premiere of my new piece Sirens for brass ensemble

28-30.6 Staying at my friends place in Malmö while composing the opera
29.6 meeting with composer JonatanSersam and Martin Dahlin-Volsing and planning the contemporary music festival Conncet 2015 taking place 13-22.11.2015 in Malmö.
30.6 Flight back to Helsinki

July
30.6-23.7 Finland
Composing opera, deadline 3.7

2.7-8.7 Sysmän Suvisoitto
3.7 Sent off 70% of my part of the opera, the other 30% must still wait…

4.7 Premiere of my flute & accordion piece by Janne Valkeajoki and Jacintha Damström

8-13.7 composing my string orchestra piece (premiere 22.8) at my parents summer house.
13-20.7   I will then compose the last 30% (15min) of my part for the opera Schnitzler’sDreams
 

23.7 Flight to Stuttgart, Germany
24.7-7.8 International SummerAcademy of Music, Ochsenhausen
24-31.7 composing a piano trio

August
1-7.8 composing a commissioned melodrama (composition to be continued later) at Ochsenhausen

8-13.8 small vacation in Germany
14.8 travelling to Fredriksstad, Norway

14-21.8 Fredrikstad, Norway

Rehearsals for the installation opera Schnitzler’s Dreams
17.8-19.8 quick stop in Helsinki for a conference 18.8 for a theatre project I am involved in, back to Norway on the morning of 19.8.

20.8 premiere of the installation opera Schnitzler’s Dreams in Fredrikstad. (More performances 21-23.8, but no time to stay…)

21.8 Flight to Finland

21.8 more or less permanently in Finland

21-23.8 in Tampere at the TampeRinging festival, many premieres of my pieces, please feel welcome to listen!
20.8 at 21 o’clock Groove at the restaurant bar Telakka, Tampere
21.8 at 19 o’clock The Dorfman Trio at Ylioppilas teatteri, Tampere
22.8 at 12 o’clock Expressionen at Pietiläsali, Metso Library, Tampere
             19 o’clock the premiere of my string orchestra piece Infirmus!
23.8 at 19 o’clock Under Stjärnhimmelen, premiere of the organ version

But if everything goes according to plan then I will be quite happy with the outcome: composed Sirens (7 min.), a string orchestra piece Infirmus (7 min.), a piano trio, part of a melodrama and a 45 min. part of a chamber opera Schnitzler’s Dreams. All of the previously named pieces (minus the melodrama), Groove, Characters and the organ version of Under Stjärnhimmelen have their premiere this summer and also older pieces like The Dorfman Trio, Sydänlaulu and Expressionen will be played again in concerts! So quite a summer!

Music for String Orchestra

Saturday 11th of July. Sitting at my parents summer cottage and composing my new piece for string orchestra. It will be premiered by the Caprico Orchestra, conducted by Elisar Riddelin, on the 22nd of August at the contemporary music festival TampeRinging 2015. I have written about 5:30 minutes so far, and now trying to come up with something nice to end the whole piece, which I plan to be about 7 minutes. The whole piece is very much inspired by the Polish composers Witold Lutowslawski and Krzysztof Penderecki, so I will share below some of the music I have been listening to lately.

Lutoslawski’s String Quartet

Lutoslawski’s Third Symphony (one of my all time favorites, also used in the film Shutter Island)

All time classic (in contemporary music): Penderecki Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima

And today’s new discovery (suggested by YouTube! Actually I must say I'm quite impressed  by YouTube for finding this for me):

The Finnish composer Sampo Haapamäki’s accordion concerto Velinikka

Swedish Wind Ensemble and Stockholm

This week (26-30th of May) I have spent in Stockholm rehearsing with Swedish Wind Ensemble, who premiered my piece ”Paradiso” on Friday 29th of May! It has been an absolutely fantastic week!

I stayed the week in the house of my friend, and it was really nice! Here is a pic of me from outside here house.

At my friends place in Stockholm. Photo © Damström

I flew in on Tuesday 26th of May, rehearsals were on Wednesday and Thursday 10-14:50 o’clock, on Friday we had a dress rehearsal 15-17 o’clock and on Friday evening we had the concert at 19 o’clock at Musikaliska on Nybrokajen 11 in Stockholm.

Having lunch with our orchestration teacher Bjön-Tryggve Johansson
and my class mate Alfred Jimenez from Malmö Academy of Music.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

Having lunch day 2 with composers Olle Sundström
from Gothenburg Academy of Music and Alfred Jimenez
from Malmö Academy of music. Photo © Cecilia Damström

Swedish Wind Ensemble is a wind orchestra with both woodwinds and brass instruments as well as three percussionists. All of us students that were elected for this project were asked to write a 4 minute piece using the whole orchestra (and no particular solo instrument). It was very interesting how different all the pieces were in the concert! It was there fore also interesting to listen to the rehearsals of the pieces by the other composers.

My piece “Paradiso” is a palindrome, so from the middle everything comes again back to front (and kind of “up side down”, so that what was played in the beginning by the highest instrument the piccolo, is played at the end by the lowest instrument the tuba). But after the middle (when the pieces gets mirrored) I had at the beginning some problems with the volume balance, so I had to make some small change in dynamics for the woodwinds and generally ask the brass to play quieter. With this small adjustment the piece worked really well!

Swedish Wind Ensemble rehearsing under the lead of Michael Bartosch.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

The programme of the concert on the 29th of May was:

Jacob Mühlrad | Tekiah

Cecilia Damström | Paradiso op.36

Alfred Jimenez | Two Small but Serious Satires (2015)

Olle Sundström | Punk Duet (2015)
Joseph Howard | Movement (2015)
Felix Axemo | Kårchefen Åstrand
Rosanna Gunnarsson | Dogtown part II
Frej Wedlund | andas, upphör
Mika Pohjola | Wedding March
Jakob Svartengren | 150123

There were so many nice pieces, but among my favourites I must mention Mühlrad’s Tekiah, Wedlund’s andas, upphör and Howard’s Movement.

Presenting my piece Paradiso for the audience at Musikaliska,
Stockholm, 29th of May 2015.
Photo by Joseph Howard

Unfortunately there wasn’t very much audience in the concert, about 50 people, which sadly is quite usual at contemporary music concerts. But my former colleague from work (at sea) and his girlfriend came to the concert, which made me very happy!

After the concert we all went to the spring party of the Stockholm Royal Academy of Music. They had a live band called Funk Attack playing funk and soul, and they were absolutely extraordinary! The lead singer Christopher Lennerbrant had a great voice, sang in perfect pitch and had a great stage charisma and the backup singer/second lead singer Maja Keuc , who sung one solo song, sounded like Beyoncé and was also wonderful on stage! It was incredible! And the band played really well together, so it was wonderful to listen to!

The band Funk Attack with Christopher Lennerbrant and Maja Keuc
playing a gig 29th of May 2015 at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Music.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

The band Funck Attack playing a gig 29th of May 2015
at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Music.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

On Saturday 30th of May I had lunch buffet with my new English friend and composer Joseph Howard and then took a afternoon train back to Malmö. The train ride was once again a perfect place to finish of some adjustments to ready pieces before sending them off to some application deadlines.

Stockholm was wonderful, but now I have to re-focus on composition, because only one week of this term left and there's still lot’s of work to get done!

Me on a sunny day in Stockholm after rehearsals with Swedish Wind Ensemble.
Photo © Damström