Pekka Olavi Kostiainen (born March 16, 1944) is a Finnish composer and choral conductor. [1]
Kostiainen was born in Jyväskylä, Finland, and graduated from the Sibelius Academy in 1968. He continued his composing studies with Professor Jouko Tolonen and completed his composing diploma in 1973. He completed postgraduate studies with Einar Englund, Joonas Kokkonen and Einojuhani Rautavaara.
He served as a cantor at the Pohja Finnish Parish from 1969 to 1971, and as a lecturer at the University of Jyväskylä from 1971 to 2000. Since 2000 he has worked as a composer and choral conductor. [1]
He is widely known abroad, especially as a choral music composer. In Jyväskylä, from 1977 to 2018 Kostiainen led the Musica Choir, which he founded, and from 1994 to 2008 he was director of the Vox Aurea children's choir. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Jyväskylä. Kostiainen was elected Chief Choir of the Year in 2005. Alba Records has released eight CDs with Kostiainen conducting his own works with his own choirs. Kostiainen is a relative of Finnish author Ilmari Kianto.
The music of Finland can be roughly divided into folk music, classical and contemporary art music, and contemporary popular music.
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, he announced his resignation from the San Francisco Symphony upon the expiration of his contract in 2025.
Einojuhani Rautavaara was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara wrote a great number of works spanning various styles. These include eight symphonies, nine operas and fifteen concertos, as well as numerous vocal and chamber works. Having written early works using 12-tone serial techniques, his later music may be described as neo-romantic and mystical. His major works include his first piano concerto (1969), Cantus Arcticus (1972) and his seventh symphony, Angel of Light (1994).
Eric Gustaf Ericson was a Swedish choral conductor and influential choral teacher.
The Sibelius Academy is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki. The Academy is the only music university in Finland. It is among the biggest European music universities with roughly 1,400 enrolled students.
Atso Almila is a Finnish orchestral conductor, music director, composer, trombonist and teacher.
Jorma Juhani Panula is a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher of conducting. He has mentored many Finnish conductors, such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Klaus Mäkelä and Tarmo Peltokoski.
Fredrik Melius Christiansen was a Norwegian-born violinist and choral conductor in the Lutheran choral tradition. He is most notable for his many a cappella choral arrangements, and for founding The St. Olaf Choir in 1912.
Kullervo, Op. 7, is a five-movement symphonic work for soprano, baritone, male choir, and orchestra written from 1891–1892 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Movements I, II, and IV are instrumental, whereas III and V feature sung text from Runos XXXV–VI of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic. The piece tells the story of the tragic hero Kullervo, with each movement depicting an episode from his ill-fated life: first, an introduction that establishes the psychology of the titular character; second, a haunting "lullaby with variations" that portrays his unhappy childhood; third, a dramatic dialogue between soloists and chorus in which the hero unknowingly seduces his long-lost sister; fourth, a lively scherzo in which Kullervo seeks redemption on the battlefield; and fifth, a funereal choral finale in which he returns to the spot of his incestuous crime and, guilt-ridden, takes his life by falling on his sword.
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi is a Finnish composer of classical music, and a professional translator.
Toivo Ilmari Hannikainen was a Finnish composer and virtuoso pianist.
Ilkka Taneli Kuusisto is a Finnish opera composer, conductor, choirmaster and organist.
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Pekka Juhani "P. J." Hannikainen was a Finnish composer and the head of the musical branch of the prominent Hannikainen family. His uncle was the writer and journalist Pietari Hannikainen.
Vytautas Miškinis is a Lithuanian composer, choral conductor and academic teacher. He is artistic director of Ąžuoliukas, a boys' and youth choir and music school, and of other ensembles, performing internationally. He has taught choral conducting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre from 1985. His groups have won prizes at international competitions, where he also served as member of the jury. His compositions are part of international standard choral repertoire.
Peter Gregory Rose is a conductor, composer, arranger, and music director. He has conducted orchestral, choral and ensemble premieres throughout Europe and the Far East.
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Jutta Seppinen is a Finnish conductor and mezzo-soprano.
Babel is a neoclassical religious cantata composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1944.
Daniel Troen Moe was an American choral conductor, composer, and pedagogue. He was director of choral organizations for the University of Iowa, professor of choral conducting at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and founding music director of Key Chorale in Sarasota, Florida. He was a published composer and author. He was once hailed by The New Yorker music critic Andrew Porter as "that dean of choral conductors."