Kimmo Hakola

Kimmo Hakola
(b Jyväskylä, 27 July 1958). Finnish composer. He took private lessons in composition from Einojuhani Rautavaara before enrolling at the Sibelius Academy in 1981.

There he studied with Eero Hämeenniemi and Magnus Lindberg. His reputation spread after he was awarded the first prizes at the UNESCO Rostrum of Composers in 1986 (for his String Quartet no.1) and in 1993 (for Capriole). His works have been performed at several European festivals, including Ars Musica, the Edinburgh Festival, the Huddersfield Festival and the ISCM. In the early 1990s he moved from Helsinki to Kesälahti in eastern Finland, where the calm and peaceful atmosphere allowed his highly individual music to develop more fully. He occasionally performs as a pianist and conductor; he was also the artistic director of the Musica Nova Festival, Helsinki, in 1999 and 2000.

Hakola’s output is small but noteworthy and consists, apart from a monumental piano concerto, largely of chamber music and solo instrumental pieces. His meticulously notated music uses advanced compositional techniques and is of a violent and aggressive character, demanding exceptional virtuosity and endurance from its performers. The continuous fury of the sound is on occasion cut off suddenly by periods of quiet meditation that serve to increase further the tension of the music.