Toimii (Finnish "It works") is an ensemble for new music founded in 1982[1][non-primary source needed] by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg , along with several other young composers and instrumentalists connected with the Sibelius Academy.[2][circular reference] Along with the new-music appreciation group Korvat auki (Finnish "Ears open"), it did much to bring new music to listeners in Finland in the 1980s and 1990s.
Toimii was formed to be a laboratory where composers, instrumentalists, and other artists could work on new ways of creating music and improvising. Toimii was born when Magnus Lindberg, Otto Romanowski, and Esa-Pekka Salonen were preparing a concert performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Plus-Minus. Vinko Globokar and his improvisation group New Phonic Art had a significant influence on the burgeoning ensemble after Lindberg began studies with him in Paris in the autumn of 1981, and it was at the Jyväskylä Summer Festival in 1982 where Lindberg's Action-Situation-Signification and a Globokar work were paired that the ensemble first appeared under the name Toimii.
Apart from performing existing pieces and writing collective pieces Toimii encouraged poets, painters, dramaturgists, and actors to write pieces for its concerts. Each rehearsal period started without a determined program and the rehearsals consisted of combining existing pieces with improvising and last-minute composing and arranging. All of the members had an equal input into every detail of each concert.
Magnus Lindberg's 1985 work Kraft was written as a concerto for Toimii and a Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble has toured around the world performing the piece so far 14 times and has recorded it twice. Toimii visited many festivals in locations as far apart as Uusikaupunki, Tromsø , and Ojai.
Toimii has performed widely in Europe and the US. While its members entered upon their busy careers, they met once or twice each year during the 1980s and 1990s for a period of intensive work. Toimii also performed several very successful children's concerts at the Suvisoitto-festival in Finland, at the Ojai Music Festival , and at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, The last performances of the ensemble to date were in December 2001 at the Related Rocks Festival in London and in 2003 in Helsinki where they also made their second recording of Lindberg's Kraft.
Magnus Lindberg: Action-Situation-Signification for bass clarinet (doubling double bass clarinet), piano, percussion, cello, and live electronics (1982)
Magnus Lindberg: Kiri for clarinet, guitar, cello, percussion, and electronics (1993)
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.
Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was the New York Philharmonic's composer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 and the London Philharmonic Orchestra's composer-in-residence from 2014 to 2017.
The International Rostrum of Composers (IRC) is an annual forum organized by the International Music Council that offers broadcasting representatives the opportunity to exchange and publicize pieces of contemporary classical music. It is funded by contributions from participating national radio networks.
Pekka Kuusisto is a Finnish musician.
Elisabeth Batiashvili, professionally known as Lisa Batiashvili, is a prominent Georgian violinist active across Europe and the United States. A former New York Philharmonic artist-in-residence, she is acclaimed for her "natural elegance, silky sound and the meticulous grace of her articulation". Batiashvili makes frequent appearances at high-profile international events; she was the violin soloist at the 2018 Nobel Prize concert.
Anssi Karttunen is a Finnish cellist.
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Jukka Santeri Tiensuu is a Finnish contemporary classical composer, harpsichordist, pianist and conductor.
Timo Korhonen is a Finnish classical guitarist and is one of the most distinguished classical guitarists in his generation.
The Avanti! Chamber Orchestra is a Finnish ensemble that focuses on contemporary music. The ensemble when it performs varies in size from a solo player to a symphony orchestra. Avanti! Chamber Orchestra won the Gramophone Prize with their first recording. The Orchestra also holds a music festival of its own each summer.
Korvat auki r.y. is a Finnish society, founded in 1977 to advocate and import contemporary music and whose work primarily focuses on younger composers. The founders include Kaija Saariaho, Jouni Kaipainen, Magnus Lindberg, Olli Kortekangas, Eero Hämeenniemi, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. The society organizes concerts and seminars. Initiated by the society, two ensembles have been created to perform new music in Finland: Toimii and Zagros.
Esa Pietilä is a Finnish saxophonist and composer who works diversely on the field of contemporary music. He studied saxophone and composition in Sibelius- Academy jazz department in Helsinki and privately in US with DavidLiebman. In his home country, the Yrjö Jazz award 2016 was given to him for his original, genre-defying work in the field of avant-garde jazz.
The Cello Concerto No. 2 is the second cello concerto by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. It was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in June 2013 to fill the planned premiere date of Oliver Knussen's then delayed Cello Concerto. The work was first performed in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, on October 18, 2013 by the Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen.
The Cello Concerto No. 1 is a composition for solo cello and orchestra by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. It was first performed in the Cité de la Musique, Paris on May 6, 1999 by the cellist Anssi Karttunen and the Orchestre de Paris under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Kraft is a composition for solo ensemble, electronics, and orchestra by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The work was commissioned by the Helsinki Festival and was first performed on September 4, 1985 by the Toimii ensemble and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen. The piece was awarded the International Rostrum of Composers in 1986 and won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1988.
The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is the first piano concerto by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The work was commissioned by the Helsinki Festival on September 4, 1991 and completed in 1994. It is dedicated to the pianist Paul Crossley.
Sculpture is an orchestral composition by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The music was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with support from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation to celebrate the orchestra's inaugural season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Its world premiere was given by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen on October 6, 2005.
Parada is an orchestral composition by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The piece was composed for the music festival Related Rocks which celebrates the works of Lindberg and related composers. Its world premiere was given at The Anvil, Basingstoke on February 6, 2002 by the Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen, to whom the work is dedicated.
Cantigas is an orchestral composition by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The work was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra and was composed between 1998 and early 1999. Its world premiere was performed in Cleveland by the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi on April 1, 1999.
Karawane is a composition for chorus and orchestra by the Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. The work was jointly commissioned by the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic with support from the philanthropist Marie-Josée Kravis, the Bamberg Symphony, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. It was first performed by the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and the Zürcher Sing-Akademie conducted by Lionel Bringuier in the Tonhalle, Zürich, on September 10, 2014. The piece is set to the eponymous poem by the German author and Dadaist Hugo Ball.
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