aRtistic research

The Great Learning
University of the arts helsinki
2020–2024

Since 2020 I conduct a postdoctoral research project at the Centre for Artistic Research at Uniarts Helsinki. I am investigating possibilities for communal learning within the framework of a complete performance of Cornelius Cardew’s large-scale music theatre work “The Great Learning”. The project aims to encourage an interdisciplinary dialogue on the topic of ethically, ecologically and socially conscious and sustainable practises of performing arts. While examining overlapping areas between artistic expression and non-artistic everyday reality we’re searching for healthy alternatives to the hierarchies of mainstream culture.

A study group meets monthly to discuss and try out TGL and related materials. Performances of the seven paragraphs are organized throughout the process. Everyone interested is warmly welcome to participate in the discussions, workshops, rehearsals and performances. You can read more about the project, supported by Kone Foundation, here.

Thus far, paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 have been performed. We continue with paragraph 5 in May 2024 and bring the cycle to a close with the 3rd paragraph in December 2024.

To provide context, other repertoire is examined alongside The Great Learning. Melody, part of Cardew’s Schooltime Compositions, was compiled in the summer of 2020 as an exercise in listening and a commentary on the restrictions posed on musicians by the pandemic. John White’s Newspaper reading machine was performed in April 2022 in Turku.

MANIFESTO OF SOUNDING
sibelius academy, HELSINKI
2006–2013

I began my doctoral studies at Sibelius Academy with the aim to consider alternative definitions for the prevailing sound and use of the cello in the context of Western classical music.

On one hand I examined various experimental techniques developed during the 20th century, often in intense partnership between instrumentalist and composer. This included the use of various electronic sound-shaping devices and merging the cello sound with that of the player’s voice. On the other I examined works by Louis Andriessen, Michael Gordon, Heinz Holliger, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kaija Saariaho and Iannis Xenakis. I also considered a shift in the paradigm of the overall performing situation, reflected in new notational practises that allow the performer to take more responsibility of the outcome. Here my focus was on the music by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and Christian Wolff. Two recorded examples of the aforementioned repertoire are below.

Wanting to develop my voice as composer, I also included my own works in the concert programs. In more or less predictable waveforms a computer program introduces an element of chaotic behaviour to the performing situation, and the performer has to choose an appropriate response to these impulses that can be perceived as disturbances or enhancements, depending on his point of view. In RhythmiCone Jam I revisited Henry Cowell’s early electronic instrument “Rhythmicon”, creating a virtual instrument between Max/MSP and Logic Pro platforms.

During my studies I became increasingly interested in music as a social and psychological phenomenon and began to steer my work towards examining this idea. I then wrote a Manifesto of Sounding in which I argued for music as a communal effort in resonance, with both maker and perceiver engaging and assuming responsibility in the vitality of vibration. Subsequently I have set the manifesto to music twice: in 2014 I created an hour-long radiophonic work for YLE Radio 1, and in 2016 composed a song of being there as a virtuoso piece that explores simultaneous vocal and instrumental expression.

The legacy of AMERICAN avantgarde
Mannes college of music, new york
2004–2005

As a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Mannes College of Music in New York I sought to better understand the cultural and social circumstances under which much remarkable music in the “experimental” tradition has come to be in the US in general and in New York in particular. I considered the legacy of Charles Ives, Henry Cowell and John Cage and worked on the music of Robert Ashley, Mario Davidovsky, Phill Niblock, Pauline Oliveros, Jane Rigler, Matthew Welch and John Zorn.