Sebastian Dumitrescu

Our Western ears are used to hearing music made using 12 equally spaced pitches per octave, known as 12-tone equal temperament, as can be played on the keys of an ordinary piano. Yet there have always been those who choose to explore the pitches in between – microtonality – to discover stranger or more balanced harmonies. Composer Sebastian Dumitrescu and pianists Elisa Järvi and Kari Ikonen search for new sounds in harmonic devices and in new ways of tuning and playing the piano.

"Foreigners like me once had the idea that Finland was a difficult country in which to be a composer; so strong was Sibelius’s legacy and so dominant those famous names who succeeded him. But that idea now seems outdated," writes Andrew Mellor in his column on the Day of Finnish Music.