Hear This, I'm a Composer

Sibelius Academy, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (The principals of the Musiikkitalo) and Finnish National Opera are launching a collaboration with the New York Philharmonic’s Credit Suisse Very Young Composers in November 2011.

In this project titled "Kuule minä sävellän" (Hear This, I’m a Composer) Finnish children and adolescents will be writing music under the guidance of professional composers for an ensemble made up of members of professional orchestras. The Finnish composers involved in the project are Olli Kortekangas, Jukka Linkola and Jovanka Trbojevic.

The collaboration will kick off with a planning and demonstration period at the Musiikkitalo on 7–10 November. The first children’s composition concert performed by the participating musicians will be held in the main foyer of the Finnish National Opera on Thursday 10 November at 16.00. The young composers for this first stage of the project will come from Central Helsinki Music Institute, Espoo Music Institute and Juvenalia Music Institute. The second stage of the project in spring 2012 will involve more children from various schools in an expanded series of workshops.

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra has been running Credit Suisse Very Young Composers in New York with great success since 1995, reaching tens of thousands of children and audience members to date. Credit Suisse Very Young Composers allows students with little or no musical background to create, notate, and hear their very own music performed by Philharmonic musicians.

"When I compose, I feel like I'm taking part in today's culture. I wrote a piece based on a painting by Piet Mondrian, and a piece dedicated to the earthquake victims in Haiti", a 13 year old composer described his experience in the project.

Jani Sipilä / Fimic
8 November, 2011