Cecilia Damström

Composer

The ability to think and feel on a conscious level is what makes us humans differ from other species on earth. This is also what Cecilia Damström tries to achieve with her compositions; to make people think and feel.

Born into a multicultural family in Helsinki, languages and the possibility of combining languages, have always appealed to her while composing. With a background as a classical pianist and with theatre as an interest, also harmony, direction, a sense of drama, and expressivity are always present in her music.

Since graduating in 2014 she has constantly been working on commissions for various ensembles and festivals. Her compositions have received several national and international composition prizes 2009–2022. With the piece ICE commissioned by the European Green Capital Lahti 2021 she won the Teosto-Prize 2022. Her fairytale opera Dumma Kungen won the award for “Children opera of the year” in 2018. In 2019 she made her debut with the Finnish National Opera with her school opera Djurens planet. Her works for orchestra have been performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Tapiola Sinfonietta,  Gävle Symfoniorkester, and Avanti! among the others. Damström is working full time with commissions for musicians, ensembles and orchestras. 

Damström’s broad catalogue of compositions includes chamber music, choral works, orchestral works as well as four chamber operas. Her music has been performed in the USA, Canada, South Korea, Germany, England, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her music is regularly performed in Finland and Scandinavia at different concerts as well as at festivals. Season’s 2023-2024 highlights include the world premiere of Extinctions commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the world premiere of the accordion concerto Permafrost with soloist Sonja Vertainen and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, as well as ten performances in Germany of her string quartet Letters by the Elaia Quartet.

Damström studied composition with Doctor Hannu Pohjannoro at Tampere University of Applied Sciences and graduated in 2014. Her master in composition she studied at Malmö Academy of Music for Professor Luca Francesconi. She has also gathered much inspiration by travelling to master classes around Europe with Brian Ferneyhough, Samuel Adler and Kaija Saariaho among others.

Photo: Ville Juurikkala