Music of the world in which we live

Read the foreword by Minna Leinonen, Artistic Director of the Tampere Biennale 2026.

We wish to speak up for Finnish music and to give space to new thinking. We are curious and respect daring departures. This is the Tampere Biennale.

That is what composer Usko Meriläinen, founder of the Tampere Biennale, wrote in the programme book in 1986, and the same ethos applies today. Stylistic plurality and interdisciplinary approaches have been core values of the festival all along. In 2026, the theme of the Tampere Biennale is ‘roots’.

Now 40 years old, the Tampere Biennale is a showcase for composers who live in Finland. Being a festival of contemporary music, it features more than 30 world premieres — an all-time high. The festival brings together composers, performers and audiences for enchanting, thought-provoking and inspiring artistic experiences. The festival hosts an unbroken chain of generations of contemporary composers, from those born in the 1930s to those born in the 2000s. An increasing number of composers who live in Finland are from diverse ethnic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Music lives in a world where no doors are closed.

The festival week is about taking the music of living composers around town and introducing it to everyone. There are performances not just in concert halls but also in the forest, at breaks at school, in public squares, in galleries, at clubs and at museums. Those with limited finances can acquire tickets using the Kaikukortti card, and most lunchtime concerts and exhibitions are free of charge.

Networking broadens our root systems in multiple directions and across borders. Folk musician Maija Kauhanen and the Saxtronauts appear together for the first time, as do Sámi musician Ánnámáret and the Uusinta Ensemble. The music and thoughts of our international composer guest Agata Zubel are presented in concerts, in lectures and at a masterclass.

Japanese Noh theatre blends into an inter-art production directed by Aleksi Barrière, Secret Flowers, featuring the inspiring and pioneering Ryoko Aki. The performance at the Sara Hildén Art Museum at the previous Biennale that smashed attendance records is being followed up with the promenade concert Birds of Passage by actor Ella Mettänen and flautist Malla Vivolin. The new Nekalab cultural centre hosts the multilingual theatre production Tea/Time & Love, which is an opportunity to stop and enjoy a love story between two cultures, including a serving of tea and live guqin music.

The roots for creating and experiencing art are put down at an early age. Composer Pietari Kaasinen and author Anni Kytömäki have created a ‘sound walk’ titled Taikatie [Magic path] in the Pyynikki nature reserve. In addition to festival audiences, some 1,000 schoolchildren are invited to this experience through the Taidekaari cooperation programme. The break bell at Pyynikki school and the Frenckell carillon play a piece specially composed by Jonne Valtonen for the duration of the festival. The preview day includes a concert featuring works written in a cooperation project that began last autumn, involving composition students from three music education institutions in the Tampere Region and the Tampering Ensemble.

Contemporary music is music of the world in which we live. The past attaches to the spirit of the present in a unique way, and it is possible to encounter multiple eras in a single moment: roots, shoots, saplings and seeds. They all help us to understand what has been, what is now and what may be. The festival concludes with the world premiere of a wonderful wind quintet by Jimmy Lopez, performed by the Ilmiö Ensemble: here, universal love asks for nothing and gives everything.

Contemporary music is a force of life. You are cordially welcome to enjoy our concerts!