Curriculum
Composer Maija Hynninen (b. 1977) is working in the areas of concert music, electronic instrument design and multidisciplinary performances. The essence of her music builds on the unique moments where the parameters of this world are slightly altered to allow a glimpse of another reality to be present. It can be a moment where the timbre of purely acoustical writing gives surprising results or when electronics project sounds into another domain, another space and reality.
Hynninen entered the Sibelius Academy in 2003 (M.Mus. 2011) to study with Paavo Heininen while also working for a violin diploma at the Norwegian Academy of Music. The studies in electronics continued at IRCAM Cursus 2012–13. She holds a PhD in Music Composition from UC Berkeley, where she studied mainly with Franck Bedrossian, Carmine Cella, Edmund Campion, Cindy Cox, Myra Melford, and Ken Ueno.
Her music has been presented and commissioned by among others YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company), Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble Mise-En, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Quince Ensemble, Earplay, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Kyle Bruckmann, Susanne Kujala, Mirka Malmi, Camilla Hoitenga, Eija Kankaanranta, Anni Haapaniemi and Heather Roche. Her music has been performed in numerous festivals in Finland and abroad such as Music nova Helsinki, Tampere Biennale, Nordic Music Days, EXPO Milan 2015, San Francisco Tape Music Festival, NYCEMF, ECCO and ISCM.
Hynninen won the Ladd Prix de Paris 2021/22 by UC Berkeley for a residency in Paris. She is currently working as a freelance composer with a three-year grant by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.