Works in chronological order

Finland is the swampiest country in the world, which gave its name to the work. The word also refers to the softness and tolerance of Finland. Phonetically, the work was inspired by the Finnish words "räme" and "aapa".

A song cycle for soprano and piano composed to Suvi Nuotio's current poems about how our seasons are changing, transforming and remaining for future generations.

Minna Leinonen, composition, concept idea
Jussi Suonikko, sound design

Rakkaat directed by Riikka Oksanen. Photo from the first performance: Minna Leinonen

Fantasy for Other Worlds was inspired by two Mary Wollstonecraft´s (1759-1797) sentences: 'imagination is the true fire' (Letters: 264) and 'some flights of the imagination seem to reach what wisdom cannot teach' (Works 5: 274). Pianist Tiina Karakorpi´s new concert series Maryn sormenjäljillä (Mary´s fingerprints) presents female artists and...

Minna Leinonen, Touko Hujanen & Jussi Suonikko

Close your eyes, what do you see?

...and we are rotating with it won for the Teosto Prize 2024.

Flowmatic Nights was composed to the poem written for this project by the prize-winning Danish-Iranian author Shadi Angelina Bazeghis. Besides me there were three composers who wrote a new work for this project: English-Lebanese Bushra El-turk, Iranian Farzia Fallah and Danish Josefine Opsahl. The text was translated into the mother tongues of the...

Endangered was composed as a mandatory semi-final piece of the Ilmari Hannikainen Piano Chamber Music Competition international series. One of the starting points of the composition was Hannikainen´s Sick Bird op. 14 no 10 for piano (arranged for violin and piano by his brother Arvo Hannikainen), and its vulnerable, bird-like motif and...

One of the moments that inspire me the most in composition is the state of seemingly limitless possibilities, when many things are still to be locked. The inspiration for the Helsinki Variations had to be a Finnish composition composed before 1945. The premise itself was exciting. I´m interested in anachronism in art, in this case, how folk...

For electro-acoustic accordion, cello with electronics

Strata was commissioned by the Korsholm Music Festival 2022, celebrating its 40th anniversary. The festival theme, trees and forests, gave rise to a work whose shape in my imagination reflects the arch of life, from tiny plant to ancient tree.