Hear This, I′m a Composer

During the Children′s Music Week (March 6–24), the Sibelius Academy, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (the principals of the Musiikkitalo Helsinki Music Centre) and the Finnish National Opera are continuing their collaboration with the New York Philharmonic′s Credit Suisse Very Young Composers. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Finnish Consulate General in New York are acting as international liaison in both development and promotion of the project.

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 from professional orchestras. The composers involved in this project are Olli Kortekangas, Jukka Linkola and Jovanka Trbojevic from Finland and Jon Deak and Ilari Kaila from from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Sibelius Academy students of music education, composition, and orchestral instruments will be assisting the composers and the participating children.

This collaboration began with a planning and demonstration session at the Musiikkitalo in November 2011. The first children′s composition concert was held before a capacity audience in the main foyer of the Finnish National Opera on Thursday, 10 November 2011.

The “Hear This, I′m a Composer” Credit Suisse Very Young Composers′ programme enables children to write and hear their very own musical compositions performed by a professional orchestra. This collaboration is based on the interest that the Education Department of the New York Philharmonic takes in Finnish projects for music education, training, and audience outreach and education. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra has been conducting the Credit Suisse Very Young Composers programme in New York with great success since 1995, reaching tens of thousands of children and audience members. This programme was created by composer and musician Jon Deak, a former member of the Orchestra and now the main coordinator of the programme. The patron of the project is composer Magnus Lindberg, who is also the composer-in-residence of the New York Philharmonic.

Finnish music education has been well presented in the US during the early months of 2012. Dr. Eija Kauppinen, Counselor of Education at the Finnish National Board of Education, visited the 2012 Face to Face conference and presented the Finnish arts education system. The conference was organized by The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable. Dr. Kauppinens interview can be read for example in www.educationnews.org/international-uk/the-global-search-for-education-the-arts-face-to-face.

“Hear This, I′m a Composer” concert

will be held in the Helsinki Music Centre at 4 p.m. on 22 March 2012.
The general rehearsal for Group I is from 11.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., and the general rehearsal for Group II is from 1.30 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. Admission to these events is free.

For further information:
Juha Ahonen, Events Coordinator, Musiikkitalo Helsinki Music Centre, tel. +358 20 707 0406
Riitta Tikkanen, Lecturer, Sibelius Academy, tel. +358 40 738 5412
Tuula Jukola-Nuorteva, Senior Producer, Finnish National Opera Education Depart