Mikko Heiniö

Mikko Heiniö (1948) studied composition with Joonas Kokkonen in Finland and Witold Szalonek in West Berlin, gaining his composition diploma from the Sibelius Academy in 1977. He also studied musicology and in 1984 earned a doctorate in the subject from the University of Helsinki, where worked as an assistant 1977-1985. He was Professor of musicology at the University of Turku 1986-2005 and Chairman of the Society of Finnish Composers 1992-2010. He was also Deputy Chairman of the Finnish Composers' Copyright Society Teosto. Heiniö is composer-in-residence of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra.  The main items in Heiniö’s oeuvre are his three operas, the nine piano concertos and three symphonies. He has also written a wealth of solo pieces and chamber works for a variety of instruments. Heiniö’s series of piano concertos explore the worlds of choral music, dance, opera and jazz with a disregard for artistic borders. They are hybrids with unconventional instrumentations as the composer feels that “every work should succeed in conjuring up something unique”. Heiniö’s music could be described as sensual, rhythmic and easily accessible. Basic features of his style are its colourful, impressionistic sonority and energetic rhythms displaying the influence of Latin-American music, jazz and rock. Heiniö also has a reputation as a music scholar, as the author of several books and nearly two hundred articles. He specialises in new Finnish music, a subject on which he has written works focusing on the history of ideas and the history of composition. His book Aikamme musiikki (1995) is volume 4 of the history of Finnish music that won the Finlandia Prize for non-fiction in 1997. Sanat sävelistä (1997) is a treatise on his own composition, his views on aesthetics and cultural policy, and his book Karvalakki kansakunnan kaapin päällä (1999) deals with the public image of Finnish opera.