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"These are time-honoured melodies that have comforted many generations through wars, financial turmoil and epidemics before – and still have that power."

"Constantly looking for the sweet spot where a rough sketch turns into something concrete, Mäkynen is all about moods and the subtle shifts in between them."

"Here machines are sparring partners, in effect additional band members that react to the organic instruments and parry back with their own input, creating a real dialogue."

“Nature exposes the artifice of art, the craftedness of it, the smallness and egotism of it before the vastness of creation. To invoke nature is to admit the wild, the unplanned, into art,” writes composer Matthew Whittall. This column is part of the series, where composers and other music makers write about their music.

Innumerable concerts, wonderful halls and talented musicians: the popular image of the status of Western art music in Japan has undergone a sea-change in the past few decades. The country has a rich musical culture that today is closely aligned with the West yet continues to explore its own unique pathways. Lasse Lehtonen, Visiting Researcher at the University of Tokyo, discusses the musical culture of Japan in his column, which was written before the COVID-19 outbreak morphed into a pandemic.

Saxophonist Jukka Perko has taken his musical communication ideas into other fields of working life with successful lectures combining musical thinking and everyday workplace dynamics. Can listening to improvisation in music teach us something about working together and communicating?

Musician and composer Timo Alakotila has found the perfect balance between working alone and with other musicians.

Collaborations between visual artists and musicians are leading music as an artform into new territories. Music gets conceptualised and finds new forms when contemporary artists and music professionals join forces.

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet has launched an extensive project to integrate cutting-edge technology into the world of art in multiple ways, seeking synergies and tools for new kinds of cooperation and communality in both planning and audience relations. However, the FNOB like most of Finnish society is currently shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All rehearsals and performances have been cancelled for the time being, including the ‘Opera Beyond’ conference and premiere this spring. Obviously the world will change as a result of this crisis, and the art of opera will change too.