Creative Dialogue
Acequia Madre House, Santa Fe, NM
Kallio-Kuninkala, Finland
The Creative Dialogue workshop was created in 2008 to inspire young performers and composers to engage in a dialogue that benefits not only the two parties but also music life in general. Performers and composers often study in the same institutions, but seldom are they encouraged to find out how much they have to learn from each other. Apart from the immediate personal relations that result from such a dialogue, it will lead to a deeper understanding of how composer-performer friendships have affected the history of music. Anssi Karttunen, Kaija Saariaho and Magnus Lindberg conceived this workshop together with Sibelius-Academy to open new horizons and break barriers.
The Sibelius Academy, the music university of Finland invites some of the most prestigious Universities and Conservatories in the USA and Europe to send students to the Creative Dialogue. The first 6 Creative Dialogues were held at Acequia Madre House, the former Santa Fe, NM home of the Curtin-Paloheimo family. The family founded the living history museum, El Rancho de las Golondrinas and is related to the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. In 2015 the workshop was held in FInland, at the Paloheimo family's residence in Kallio-Kuninkala, Järvenpää, Finland, which is a campus of the Sibelius Academy. Creative Dialogue returned to the Acequia Madre House in 2016 and will now be held on alternate years in the two countries.
Creative Dialogue VIII took place 19th-28th June 2016 in Santa Fe, NM.
Magnus Lindberg and Anssi Karttunen were joined on the faculty by the Led Zeppelin legend, multi-instrumentalist and composer John Paul Jones.
The final concert was held at the St. Francis Auditorium, Santa Fe on the 28th of June. Listen to the concert
The composer participants wrote pieces for different combinations of low string instruments (3 cellos, 2 double bass and 2 electric bass).
The cellists and double bass players shared Magnus's Partia for solo cello, The double bass players transcribed together with Magnus Coranto and Boria. Magnus's Etude I was also be played in a new version by Anssi Karttunen for 5 cellos and 2 double basses.
Improvisation workshops was also an important part of Creative Dialogue this time, instrumentalists and composers improvised together.
Creative Dialogue VII was held January 31st to February 7th, 2015 in Kallio-Kuninkala, Tuusula, Finland. Kaija Saariaho was again on the faculty together with Anssi Karttunen and the Finnish pianist Tuija Hakkila. The participants were invited from many of the top European and US conservatories. The young composers wrote pieces for piano and strings. The final concert was at the Music Centre in Helsinki on the 7th of February as part of the festival Musica nova Helsinki and included the student compositions as well as some of Kaija Saariaho's most recent works for strings and piano.
Creative Dialogue VI in 2014 was led by the Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan, Magnus Lindberg and Anssi Karttunen. The workshop took place 3rd-11th July, with a concert at the St. Francis Auditorium on July 11th. The participating composers wrote pieces for voices and string instruments and the performers worked on Magnus Lindberg's pieces and pieces for voice and strings by Kaija Saariaho, Peter Lieberson and Harrison Birtwistle.
Creative Dialogue V took place 17-24th July 2012, it was led jointly by Anssi Karttunen, Magnus Lindberg and the Israeli clarinetist Chen Halevi. The instrumentalists played solo and chamber pieces by Magnus Lindberg (with the composer on the piano) and the composers were invited to write pieces for cellos and clarinets, which were all prepared for a concert at the St. Francis Auditorium, this time once again part of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
Creative Dialogue IV was a workshop for cellists. This time Anssi Karttunen worked with six cellists on a special project, the Mystery Variations, a series of pieces by 31 composer-friends of Karttunen, written for his 50th birthday. Each cellist played 3-6 of the pieces among which were 21 US premieres. The very well attended and enthusiastically received concert took place again at the St. Francis Auditorium.
In the 2010 Creative Dialogue III, Anssi Karttunen and the Finnish Guitarist Timo Korhonen led a group of 5 cellists and 3 guitar players in a workshop of new solo and chamber pieces and improvisation. The repertoire was centered on composers Karttunen and Korhonen have personally worked with, one of the highlights of the final concert was a group improvisation of all the students.
Creative Dialogue II, in 2009, was led by Anssi Karttunen and the participants were 7 cellists who worked on a repertoire of new solo cello pieces and pieces for cello ensembles. Parts of the repertoire were worked with composers, the late Peter Lieberson was present; Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg and Pablo Ortiz worked with the players via the internet.
Creative Dialogue I in 2008 was a workshop for composers and string players. The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and cellist Anssi Karttunen led the workshop. The string players - 2 violinists, 2 violists and 3 cellists - also worked on solo pieces by Kaija Saariaho. The composers wrote pieces specially for the ensembles of string players available, pieces were rehearsed and revised every afternoon and performed in the final concert, which was organised in collaboration with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
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ALUMNI 2008-2016:
1.Matthew Barnson, composer, Juilliard School of Music and Drama
2.Ben Hackbarth, composer, University of California San Diego
3.Jouni Hirvelä, composer, Sibelius Academy
4.Pasi Lyytikäinen, composer, Sibelius Academy
5.Schuyler Tsuda, composer, University of Minnesota School of Music
6.Andrew Bergmann, composer, University of Minnesota School of Music
7.Bryan Jacobs, composer, Columbia University
8.Yoshiaki Onishi, composer, Columbia University
9.Yuan Peiying, composer, Cornell University
10.Zosha Di Castri, composer, Columbia University
11.Loren Loiacano, composer, Cornell University
12.Taylor Brook, composer, Columbia University
13.Juhani Vesikkala, composer, Sibelius Academy
14.Cecile Marti. composer, Guildhall School of Music
15.Artur Akshelyan, composer, Conservatoire de Geneve
16.Nina Young, composer, Sibelius Academy
17.Walter Sallinen, composer, Sibelius Academy
18.Jacob Landau, composer, Juilliard School of Music and Drama
19.Gonzalo Bustos, composer, Geneva Conservatory
20.Joseph Howard, composer, Royal Academy of Music, London
21.Mioko Yokoyama, composer, Sibelius-Academy, Helsinki
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22.Ashkan Behzadi, composer, Columbia University
23.Meeri Pulakka. soprano, Sibelius Academy
24.Sinead White, soprano, McGill University
25.Will Bryan, baritone, Florida State University
26.Eirik Fosstveit, piano, Norges Musikhøgskola
27.Auroora Lahti-Hintsala, piano, Sibelius Academy
28.Antoine Ouvrard, piano, CNSM de Paris
29.Tiffany Valvo Lopez, clarinet
30.Carlos Cordeiro, clarinet
31.Shi-Wen Fan, clarinet
32.Veera Myllyniemi, clarinet, Sibelius Academy
33.Rolf Haas, violin, University of Minnesota School of Music
34.Tuuli Talvitie, violin, Sibelius Academy
35.Lisa Romain, violin, Mannes College of Music
36.Grace Youn, violin, Butler School of Music
37.Miguel Colom, violin, University of the Arts, Berlin
38.Yoonhee Lee, violin, Amsterdam Conservatory
39.Ester Forsberg, viola, Copenhagen Conservatory
40.Tim Hansson, viola, Sibelius Academy
41.Molly Goldman, viola, Eastman School of Music
42.David Medine, viola, University of California San Diego
43.Olga Reskalenko, viola, Sibelius Academy
44.Hannah Collins, cello, Yale School of Music
45.Jacqueline Ludwig, cello, New England Conservatory
46.Ashley Walters cello, University of California San Diego
47.Ramiro Alvarez, cello, University of Michigan
48.Yotam Baruch, cello, Indiana University
49.Kacy Clopton, cello, New England Conservatory
50.Anton Kukkonen, cello, Sibelius Academy
51.Mariel Roberts, cello, Eastman School of Music
52.Caroline Stinson, cello, Juilliard School of Music and Drama
53.Laura Usiskin, cello, Yale School of Music
54.Hye-Yoon Choi, cello, New England Conservatory
55.Shannon Hayden, cello, Yale School of Music
56.Francesco Mastromatteo, cello, The Butler School of Music, Univ. of Texas
57.Aleisha Verner, cello, Juilliard School of Music and Drama
58.Joel Salvo, cello, Minnesota School of Music
59.Hannah Addario-Berry, cello, Friends of Sibelius Academy grant
60.Nathan Harrenstein, cello, The Butler School of Music of the Univ. of Texas
61.Jaani Helander, cello, Sibelius Academy
62.Jonathan Lo, cello, Eastman School of Music
63.Mo Mo, cello, Yale School of Music
64.Oleksa Mucyk, cello, Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University
65.Patrick McGuire, cello, Juilliard School of Music and Drama
66.Markus Hallikainen, cello, Sibelius Academy
67.Joann Whang, cello, Yale University
68.Khari Joyner, cello, Juilliard School of Music
69.Henry Meyer, cello, Northwestern University
70.Cameron Crozman, cello, Paris Conservatory
71.Oskari Holopainen, cello, Sibelius Academy
72.Anna Litvinenko, cello, Juilliard School of Music and Drama
73.Benjamin Baker, cello, Eastman School of Music
74.Berber Heerema, cello, Royal Conservatory, The Hague
75.Sebastian Baverstam, cello, New England Conservatory
76.Frederik Blikeng, Double Bass, Norges Musikhøgskola
77.Fredrick Speer, Double Bass, McGill University, Montreal
78.Mark Appling, guitar, Eastman School of Music
79.Jakob Van Cauwenberghe, guitar, Manhattan School of Music
80.Aleksi Rajala, guitar, Sibelius Academy
81.Logan Kane, Electric Bass, UC Thornton, Los Angeles
82.Janne Tuovinen, Electric Bass, Sibelius-Academy
Participating Universities
Sibelius-Academy
Guildhall School of Music
Conservatoire de Paris CNSM
Conservatoire de Geneve
Amsterdam Conservatory
Oslo Conservatory
Copenhagen Conservatory
Columbia University
Cornell University
Butler School of Music, Univ. of Texas
Eastman School of Music
Indiana University
Juilliard School of Music and Drama
McGill University
Mannes College of Music
Manhattan School of Music
New England Conservatory
Northwestern University
Yale School of Music
University of California San Diego
University of Minnesota School of Music
John Paul Jones, Magnus Lindberg and Anssi Karttunen
FACULTY 2008-2016:
Anssi Karttunen, 2008 - 2012, 2014 - 2016
Kaija Saariaho, 2008, 2015
Magnus Lindberg, 2012, 2014, 2016
Timo Korhonen, 2011
Chen Halevi, 2012
Barbara Hannigan, 2014
Tuija Hakkila, 2015
John Paul Jones, 2016