Last year, the Sibelius Academy publication series released Taidemusiikin ja luonnon kosketuskohtia (“Encounters Between Art Music and Nature”, edited by Matti Huttunen and Eveliina Sumelius-Lindblom), an anthology shaped by the Music and Philosophy lecture-concert series (2011–2023). From its beginning, the series has held onto a simple but powerful idea: music and thought share equal ground. Concerts and lectures unfold sideby side, inviting both specialist insight and open, accessible dialogue. With free admission and space for discussion, these events have created a rare kind of forum.

Over the years, the themes have ranged widely. The most recent series, in 2023, turned explicitly toward music and nature, giving rise to the anthology. What stands out in that collection is not a single unifying theory, but its plurality. Contributors from musicology, philosophy, composition, performance and ecology approach the topic from different angles: some texts are reflective and philosophical, others historical or practice-based. This diversity is not a weakness but a strength. It mirrors the complexity of the question itself: how art and research encounter the natural world.

This FMQ special issue, inspired by the anthology, grows out of those encounters.

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Featured photo Erkki Voutilainen (JOKA Journalistinen kuva-arkisto, Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, Museovirasto)

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