Maija Hynninen

My main focus during my residency will be working on a radiophony commissioned by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio). The radiophony combines modern poetry with acustic and electroacustic music to create a text-based audio collage –type work designed for radio. For this purpose, I have commissioned texts from Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen (Finland) and Elke De Rijcke (Belgium). The theme for the work is space – both physical and spiritual. Inspired by a painting by Corinne Wasmuht, Rijcke writes about a space in an airport. It is a place people travel through or a sort of gateway between two places. Even though it is a busy place, each day appears to repeat the day before. All traces of privacy dissipate under the glare of neon lights as televisions emit a continuous stream of commercials. Huotarinen’s space is the small island of Jurmo, located in the outer archipelago off of Turku, where she rents a cottage during the summer for writing.

Isolated from the rest of the world, the island is an extremely lonely place where a person is truly alone with their thoughts. During my residency, I will delve deep into the worlds of the texts of these two writers and will further develop the overall span of the radiophony.

I am composing two acustic pieces for the radiophony – a solo piece for a soprano and a chamber ensemble piece, which I intend to finish during my residency. The chamber ensemble piece, commissioned by the St. Petersburg PRO ARTE Foundation, is inspired by a space in St. Petersburg. The commission included a trip to St. Petersburg. The piece I am working on at the Saari Residence clearly reflects both the inspiration I found during my visit and the space I chose. I also plan to begin work on the virtuosic piece for a soprano solo. My intention is to utilise the light and agile singing technique characteristic of coloratura soprano to compose music for Rijcke’s French poems.

Running alongside these projects is my ongoing work on a concerto for a flute and chamber orchestra. The piece, commissioned by Cammilla Hoitengan, muses on the relationship between a solo instrument and an orchestra, and portrays five different perspectives on the connections between the individual and a community.

Before coming to the Saari Residence, I spent an intensive year of postgraduate studies in Paris. The influences acquired during that time now have time to settle in the peace and quiet of the Residence amidst the idyllic Finnish countryside landscape.