Luxembourg – October 2020

Jouni Hirvelä is a Helsinki-based composer who likes to work with a wide range of instrumental and vocal special techniques. Born in 1982, he often gets fascinated about sounds with delicate and fragile qualities and sometimes incorporates them as recorded audio.

Hirvelä holds a Master’s Degree from Sibelius Academy where he studied with professor Veli-Matti Puumala and Tapio Nevanlinna. He also studied in Berlin Universität der Künste with Elena Mendoza. He participated on numerous master classes and workshops, including ones with Kaija Saariaho, Marco Stroppa and Chaya Czernowin. Currently he pursues an artistic doctorate in Sibelius Academy.

His works has been selected to or commissioned by festivals and concert series such as Porvoo Summer Sounds, ISCM World Music Days, Viitasaari Time of Music, Klang Helsinki Concert series, Unerhörte Musik and Nordlichte Biennale in Berlin, Turku Music Festival, Kotkan Lohisoitto and UNM-festivals. In August 2015 he had a profile concert at Helsinki Music Centre in the Summers Young Artist Concert Series. He has collaborated with ensembles such as Avanti!, Talea Ensemble, Uusinta Ensemble, Kymi Sinfonietta, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Formalist Quartet, Ensemble Adapter and Zagros Ensemble.

In 2017, Hirvelä won the 38th International Irino Prize Competition with his work Atmenwerk for organ and ensemble. He was a finalist in Einojuhani Rautavaara Chamber Choir Composition Competition, as well as in the and Feeding Music Competition organized by the World EXPO Milan. He has received special prizes from Martin Wegelius and Pro Musica Foundations and his work has been supported by Finnish Cultural Foundation and Kordelin Foundation. Hirvelä has also worked as festival leader for UNM-festival arranged in Helsinki 2015.

Composer, Conductor, Arranger and Pianist, Ziv Cojocaru is a multidisciplinary musician, active in the fields of classical, contemporary and popular music. Dr. Cojocaru serves as Head of the Composition, Conducting and Music Theory Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and teaches as a full-time faculty member. He also serves as Conductor in residence at the Israel Sinfonietta, as a board member at the Israeli Composers’ League (ICL) and as a member at the Board of Trustees – Prime Minister Award.

Cojocaru is the recipient of the 2015 Prime minister Award for composers, the 2002 ACUM grant for excellence in the fields of Composition & Arrangement, and many more.

Mr. Cojocaru received his Master degree in Composition (with honors) at the “Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance”. He Completed his Doctoral degree in composition (Ph.D.) at the Bar-Ilan University. Cojocaru has also received his Master degree in Orchestral Conducting (with honors).

As a composer, Ziv Cojocaru has written commissions for various chamber music
ensembles and orchestras. His compositions have been performed at various festivals and venues including the “Euro Classic Festival” in Konzerthaus-Berlin, the Arnold Schönberg Center-Wien, and in many others.

As a conductor, Cojocaru serves as Conductor in Residence for the Israel Sinfonietta Orchestra. He also performed among others, with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Camerata-Jerusalem, and the Filarmonica de Stat Botosani (Romania).

 As an arranger, Mr. Cojocaru’s works are performed regularly by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and more.

Popular Music Scene activity : Since 1998, Mr. Cojocaru worked regularly on Israel’s most prestigious Stage Productions and appeared in Israel’s Best-selling Albums as a Producer, Musical Director, Arranger, Conductor, Composer, Pianist and Keyboards player. Mr. Cojocaru has Collaborated with renowned Israeli artists and also worked for several Israel’s top rated TV productions.

Krzysztof Ratajski, was born on June the 17th in 1992, in Warsaw. Polish composer, pianist and improviser, he studied composition at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in 2012. Today, he is a graduate Master with the highest grade in the class of prof. Zbigniew Bagiński.

He attended piano lessons first in Argentina, then in Conservatory of Music in Warsaw. During this time he participated in many concerts including the concerts with the Society of Frederic Chopin at the Royal Castle in Warsaw in the year of F. Liszt and occasional concerts. In addition to composing classical contemporary music he is also involved in jazz piano and improvisation.

He has been also composing and playing for films, theatre and computer games. In 2015 he received the first prize at the composers competition of Tadeusz Ochlewski for a piece for children choir “Rebounds”. In 2019 he received an honorable mention at the Zygmunt Mycielski composer competition for his piece “Agreements of the music table” played at the 2019 Warsaw Autumn.

He is member of the youths of Polish Composers Confederation (Związek Kompozytorów Polskich). Active member of the intercollegiate Artistic and Scientific Club, participated in concerts and festivals at the universities in Warsaw and Poznań, where his compositions have been played.

He has also been working with musicians from many countries during summer courses “Synthesis” in Radziejowice or New Music Incubator project in Konstancin and Brussels. His works has been performed in Poland, Spain, Mexico and Belgium. He attended many master classes including: Johannes Kraidler, Zygmunt Krauze, Mark Andre, Martin Breisnick, Daniel Moreira, Joachim Loewell, Phillip Lawson.

He speaks fluently Polish, Spanish and English and also moderately French.

Born in 1978, Jan Martin Smørdal is a Norwegian composer, with a broad musical background. After touring in the mid 00’s with artists like Jenny Hval, Hanne Hukkelberg, Jessica Slighter – and his own projects – composing became his main activity. In 2008/09 he was a co-founder of Ensemble neoN, a collective of performers and composers. As part of Ensemble neoN he has worked with performers and composers like Oren Ambarchi, Alvin Lucier, Phill Niblock, Marina Rosenfeld, Susanna Wallumrød, Jan St. Werner, and Catherine Lamb.

As a composer – and as a father of twins – he’s occupied with thoughts about chaos, layers of rhythms, and the inevitability of humans as social beings. His works span from solo works to pieces for orchestra, choir, and installations. In recent years his music has been inspired by topics or phenomena like emergence, swarm behaviour, and patterns found in flocks in nature. His works spans from solo pieces, to orchestra, pieces for choir and installations.

He has collaborated on numerous Spellemannpris awarded records (Norwegian Grammy) as producer, arranger, and composer.

Performances recent years include MATA (New York), Mis-En Festival (New York), Nordic Music Days (Stockholm, Reykjavik and Helsinki), ISCM Festival (Wien and Tallinn), Ultima Festival (Oslo), Klub Katarakt (Hamburg), Borealis Festival (Bergen), Only Connect/Tectonic (Oslo), Weimar Spring Festival for contemporary music, Oslo Chamber Music Festival, but also in Scandinavia, Brasil, Argentina, Italy and Australia.

Henrik Strindberg’s music is focusing on rhythm and sound. He has had commissions for several international ensembles and has collaborated with excellent Swedish soloists, ensembles and orchestras. A number of works have been recorded and performed internationally. Strindberg received the big Christ Johnson Prize 2007 for Neptune’s Field for orchestra, the Rosenberg Prize 2008 and a shared Swedish Grammis award 2010 for Timeline.

The musician was born in 1954 in Kalmar, Sweden. As a young man, Strindberg was a founding member of the progressive rock group Ragnarök whose first album from 1976 has been re-released much later in South Korea and Japan.

Strindberg studied composition at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm and at Icram in Paris. He studied with Iannis Xenakis.

Strindberg teaches at the Gotland School of Music Composition and is a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music. He co-founded the Sound of Stockholm festival.

Etymology became a recommended work at Rostrum 1992. I Thought Someone Came was premiered in Alice Tully Hall, New York 2004. The 5th String was premiered at the Ultima Festival in Oslo. Neptune’s Field opened the Nordic Music Days Festival 2011 in Reykjavik. Oh Freunde, Let Others Speak was premiered by Kent Nagano and the Gothenburg Symphony 2013, One a Single Subject was premiered in Reykjavik during the Dark Music Days Festival 2014, The Fifth Hand was premiered in The Hague 2014. The chamber opera Liebestod – en Opera:tion was premiered in Copenhagen 2019.

Roland Wiltgen was born in Differdange/Luxembourg. He started his musical training at the Conservatoire de musique of Esch-sur–Alzette while at the same time pursuing his classical secondary school education. Next steps where the Metz Conservatoire de musique, the Paris Ecole Normale de Musique and finally the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique.

In 1983 he became a professor for harmony, counterpoint and musical analysis at the Esch-sur-Alzette Conservatoire de musique.

From 1981 he’s been continuously composing and so far he’s produced some 70 pieces many of which have been commissioned and performed by famous musicians.

Having always played an active part in the consultative bodies of Sacem Luxembourg, he became a founding member and the first president of the Fédération Luxembourgeoise des Auteurs et Compositeurs (FLAC) in 2014.

Thomas Goff is a British musician living in the Netherlands. Having studied as a composer, cellist and jazz pianist, he is now quickly becoming recognised as a conductor who excels in a vast range of repertoire. In different contexts, he has conducted the Netherlands Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Cadaqués Orchestra, and Philharmonie Zuidnederland.

He was the Oglesby Scholar at the Royal Northern College of Music, and graduated with the Brierly/Kershaw Prize in Conducting. He served as assistant conductor at the BBC Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras and debuted with the Manchester Camerata in June 2017. Since moving to The Hague, Thomas has worked as assistant conductor with most of the orchestras in the Netherlands. He has conducted performances with Noord Nederlands Orkest, Dutch National Opera Academy, and AskoSchönberg in venues including Philharmonie Essen and The Royal Concertgebouw. In 2018 he conducted at the Rotterdam Philharmonic’s Gergiev Festival in a masterclass with Valery Gergiev followed by a concert tour.

In addition to his studies in Manchester and Holland, Thomas has received masterclasses from Valery Gergiev, Daniele Gatti, Sir Mark Elder, Marc Albrecht, Vasily Petrenko and Juanjo Mena. A distinctly multi-faceted musician, he is also active as a composer (having recently written and produced several film scores), a cellist, jazz pianist, songwriter and guitarist.