Maija Hynninen, CNMAT affiliate composer, works in concert music, electronic instrument design, and multidisciplinary performances. The essence of her music builds on the unique moments where the parameters of this world are slightly altered to allow a glimpse of another reality to be present.
Maija's music has been presented and commissioned by, among others, YLE (Finnish National Broadcasting Company), Radio France, Ensemble L’Itinéraire, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Quince Ensemble, Earplay, Kyle Bruckmann, Susanne Kujala, Mirka Malmi, Eija Kankaanranta, and Heather Roche. She has been featured in numerous festivals in Finland and abroad such as Music nova Helsinki, Tampere Biennale, Nordic Music Days, EXPO Milan 2015, San Francisco Tape Music Festival, Mise-En Music Festival, NYCEMF, ECCO, ISCM, and Rainy Days Festival.
Maija holds a PhD in Music Composition from UC Berkeley where she studied with Franck Bedrossian, Carmine Cella, Edmund Campion, Cindy Cox, Myra Melford and Ken Ueno. Previously, she studied at the Sibelius Academy under the guidance of Paavo Heininen while also working on a violin diploma at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Keen interest in learning electronics led her to study further at IRCAM and at CNMAT.
Mobiles (2022), for 11 musicians, was premiered by the ECO Ensemble with David Milnes in Berkeley, May 2022.
The chamber ensemble piece Mobiles draws from the idea of endless variation and change of view point. At times the piece seems to be hanging delicately in the air, at times it grows firm roots into the ground. The first movement Timbre, with its gently fluctuating textures of color change abruptly into a section of expressive instrumental solos titled Movement. The music is dense with attacks and sound. Gradually changing by omitting the sound tones, the texture morphs into delicate rattling noises and whispers. In the third movement Whisperings the different sections of the ensemble appear to be in a dialogue with each other. For this movement, I used recorded voice as the original sound and created simulations of it for the ensemble with the aid of computer assisted orchestration. From these fragments I gradually built a dense but delicate asymmetrical texture.
In the heart of the piece, the fourth movement Calm, the music stays still almost as if floating in the air. Two crystal singing bowls tuned slightly differently form a mesmerizing fluctuating surface on which the other instrumental sounds float. Slowly turning and forming different shapes in the air the piece returns to the its original shape. Timbre comes back with its gentle textures of color with slight change of view point from the beginning. The piece ends with round and soothing multi phonics by the bass clarinet.
Upcoming concerts:
Mobiles (2022) Ensemble L’Itinéraire, cond. Miguel Pérez Iñesta, IRCAM Paris
https://www.ircam.fr/agenda/50ans-de-litineraire-concert1/detail
In the quiet of now (2023) Trio WAS, Rainy Days Festival, Luxembourg
https://www.philharmonie.lu/en/programm/riitti/5305
Upcoming:
October 2023, residency at Centre Henri Pousseur in Belgium, working on a new mixed piece for flute and electronics, wind rustling through, with the flautist Sofia Gantois.
April 2024 residency at the GRM Studios in Paris, working on a new mixed piece for voice, viola and electronics commissioned by the Radio France.
2024-25 working on a new work for organ and wind band to be premiered by Jan Lehtola, organ and the Guards Band at the Helsinki Festival 2025.