Hear this, I’m a composer!
An inclusive arts education project gives children and young people the opportunity to compose for symphony orchestra instruments with the support of professional artists.
About the project
Hear this, I’m a composer! is a multifaceted educational initiative by the main organisations at the Helsinki Music Centre – Uniarts Helsinki, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. The project offers children and young people the chance to compose music for orchestral instruments. They are supported by professional composers, artists from various disciplines and students and teachers from several departments of Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy.
At the heart of the project’s philosophy is the commitment to realise each child’s or young person’s musical vision exactly as they imagine it. No prior musical skills are required. The mentors help the young composers notate their ideas, and the resulting works are performed for audiences by the Kuule Ensemble, made up of professional musicians from the partner organisations.
Project history
Hear this, I’m a composer! began when the New York Philharmonic’s Education Department expressed interest in Finnish music education and participatory artistic practices. Collaboration with the orchestra’s Very Young Composers programme started in November 2011. Both the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Consulate General of Finland in New York supported the planning and promotion of the project in Finland and internationally.
The initiative was brought to Finland through Riitta Tikkanen, lecturer in music education at the Sibelius Academy. Tikkanen found that the VYC approach highlighted the same respect for children’s and young people’s ideas that she had practised in her previous audience engagement and education projects. The project was given the Finnish title Kuule, minä sävellän! (“Hear this, I’m composing!”).
The Alfred Kordelin Foundation supported the project between 2011–2013 and 2013–2016, while the Paulo Foundation supported the project in 2017. Over the years, the project has
been carried out in active collaboration with the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Sibelius Academy.
Project philosophy
In Hear this, I’m a composer! project, every child or young person is regarded as a composer whose ideas matter. Adults act as listeners, supporters and helpers in the notating process – not as directors or providers of ideas. The adult does not compose on behalf of the child but helps them bring their own musical thoughts to life. The process encourages focus, discovery and self-expression. No knowledge of music notation or instrumental skills is required.
The work is based on collaborative, negotiated interaction where children and adults operate as equals towards a shared goal: turning the child’s own composition idea into a piece that can be performed with instruments. The means of expression can be highly individual – gestures, movements, drawings or sounds – and each form is valued equally. Trust, attentive listening and shared creative exploration are central. The aim is to support each child’s unique expression and artistic growth in genuine partnership with professional musicians.
Watch and listen to project highlights on YouTube
Hear this, I’m a Composer! theme for 2025–2026
During the 2025–2026 school year, the theme is Encounters. For the first time, the project is being carried out with an entire school class: pupils from class 5A of Hietakumpu Primary School in Helsinki. Their compositions, created together with professional composers, Sibelius Academy students and orchestra musicians, were performed at the Helsinki Music Centre on 16 March 2026.
Past collaboration projects
2020–2021: Inspired by architecture
During the 2020–2021 academic year, nine young teenagers created new compositions around the theme Curious Space. The completed works were heard at a concert at the Paavo Hall of the Helsinki Music Centre on 15 April 2021.
The project was carried out in collaboration with the Museum of Finnish Architecture and architecture students from Aalto University. Sources of inspiration included the museum’s exhibition Finnish Architecture: An Overview 2020 and electronic music workshops by the Sibelius Academy’s Music Technology department. Participants came from Tapiola School in Espoo, the International School of Vantaa and Malmi School in Helsinki.
2020: Hear this, I’m a Composer! – Many voices
In autumn 2019, teenaged pupils from Helsinki and Tuusula worked with a choreographer, a dramaturge, professional composers and musicians and music education students. The project partnered with Cirko – Centre for New Circus. The result was a multidisciplinary work exploring equality and diversity, including the project’s first-ever vocal ensemble.
Compositions were influenced by group movement exercises, which shaped both the music and the choreography. The final performance took place on 30 January 2020 at the Sonore Hall of the Helsinki Music Centre as part of the Sibafest festival, celebrating the project’s tenth anniversary.
2019: Under the same sky
In 2018–2019, the project’s participants were nine 12–15-year-old pupils from various cultural backgrounds. The theme was Under the Same Sky. Participants explored storytelling and cross-cultural interaction, as well as lighting design, which was developed in collaboration with Olli-Pekka Koivunen from the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. The final concert took place on 8 February 2019 as part of the Musica Nova festival.
2018: Collaboration with Resonaari
In 2018, eight young people and adults with developmental disabilities took part as composers. The partner organisation was Resonaari, a centre specialising in inclusive music services. Mentors included Sibelius Academy music education students, composer Dante Thelestam, actor Elina Stirkkinen and lecturer Riitta Tikkanen.
2017: Voices and Wishes for the Future
Twelve 10–12-year-old children composed pieces reflecting their hopes for Finland’s centenary year and the future. Sources of inspiration included the Natural History Museum’s exhibition Change in the Air. The project was supported by the Paulo Foundation.
2015–2016: Forging the Sampo and Time Out
Forging the Sampo was a collaboration between the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Uniarts Helsinki, inspired by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic’s Rite of Spring dance project. It combined young dancers aged 7–17 with five young composers who had previously participated in the project. The works were premiered on 11 March 2016.
Time Out, a Finnish–American collaboration, was an opera jointly composed and written by ten Finnish and four American young people. It premiered on 13 April 2016.
2014-2015: Photography and the Sibelius anniversary
Participants explored what photography and composition could have in common. They worked with photos they had taken themselves and with images from the Finnish Museum of Photography, as well as with sketches by Jean Sibelius during the Sibelius anniversary year. Participants’ age ranged from 7 to 16 years.
2014: Hear this, I’m a Composer! for choreography
The theme of spring 2014 was movement as inspiration for music. Each young composer created music for a pre-made choreography created by dancers from Vaskivuori Upper Secondary School. The final performance took place at the Almi Hall of the Finnish National Opera.
2013: Animation and 3D imaging with the Kolmio Project
The Kolmio Project brought together visual artists, composers and arts professionals to explore pedagogical approaches combining image and music, with young people as the primary target group.
2011 ja 2012: Pilot programme
The pilot years marked the launch of collaboration with the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers programme. Composers Jon Deak and Ilari Kaila visited Helsinki in 2011 and 2012 to support the first projects. Professionals and students participated in workshops where the focus was on sharing artistic and pedagogical expertise. The pilot outcome was compositions by 22 children and young people aged 8–14.
Contact persons for this project
-
Tiina Halonen
- Producer, S/Producers, Sibelius Academy
- +358407104301
- tiina.halonen@uniarts.fi
Project name
Hear this, I'm a composer!
Time
01/2011
Collaborators
Helsingin kaupunginorkesteri
Radion sinfoniaorkesteri
Musiikkitalo
About the project
Hear this, I’m a composer! is a multifaceted educational initiative by the main organisations at the Helsinki Music Centre – Uniarts Helsinki, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. The project offers children and young people the chance to compose music for orchestral instruments. They are supported by professional composers, artists from various disciplines and students and teachers from several departments of Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy.
At the heart of the project’s philosophy is the commitment to realise each child’s or young person’s musical vision exactly as they imagine it. No prior musical skills are required. The mentors help the young composers notate their ideas, and the resulting works are performed for audiences by the Kuule Ensemble, made up of professional musicians from the partner organisations.
Project history
Hear this, I’m a composer! began when the New York Philharmonic’s Education Department expressed interest in Finnish music education and participatory artistic practices. Collaboration with the orchestra’s Very Young Composers programme started in November 2011. Both the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Consulate General of Finland in New York supported the planning and promotion of the project in Finland and internationally.
The initiative was brought to Finland through Riitta Tikkanen, lecturer in music education at the Sibelius Academy. Tikkanen found that the VYC approach highlighted the same respect for children’s and young people’s ideas that she had practised in her previous audience engagement and education projects. The project was given the Finnish title Kuule, minä sävellän! (“Hear this, I’m composing!”).
The Alfred Kordelin Foundation supported the project between 2011–2013 and 2013–2016, while the Paulo Foundation supported the project in 2017. Over the years, the project has
been carried out in active collaboration with the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Sibelius Academy.
Project philosophy
In Hear this, I’m a composer! project, every child or young person is regarded as a composer whose ideas matter. Adults act as listeners, supporters and helpers in the notating process – not as directors or providers of ideas. The adult does not compose on behalf of the child but helps them bring their own musical thoughts to life. The process encourages focus, discovery and self-expression. No knowledge of music notation or instrumental skills is required.
The work is based on collaborative, negotiated interaction where children and adults operate as equals towards a shared goal: turning the child’s own composition idea into a piece that can be performed with instruments. The means of expression can be highly individual – gestures, movements, drawings or sounds – and each form is valued equally. Trust, attentive listening and shared creative exploration are central. The aim is to support each child’s unique expression and artistic growth in genuine partnership with professional musicians.
Watch and listen to project highlights on YouTube
Hear this, I’m a Composer! theme for 2025–2026
During the 2025–2026 school year, the theme is Encounters. For the first time, the project is being carried out with an entire school class: pupils from class 5A of Hietakumpu Primary School in Helsinki. Their compositions, created together with professional composers, Sibelius Academy students and orchestra musicians, were performed at the Helsinki Music Centre on 16 March 2026.
Past collaboration projects
2020–2021: Inspired by architecture
During the 2020–2021 academic year, nine young teenagers created new compositions around the theme Curious Space. The completed works were heard at a concert at the Paavo Hall of the Helsinki Music Centre on 15 April 2021.
The project was carried out in collaboration with the Museum of Finnish Architecture and architecture students from Aalto University. Sources of inspiration included the museum’s exhibition Finnish Architecture: An Overview 2020 and electronic music workshops by the Sibelius Academy’s Music Technology department. Participants came from Tapiola School in Espoo, the International School of Vantaa and Malmi School in Helsinki.
2020: Hear this, I’m a Composer! – Many voices
In autumn 2019, teenaged pupils from Helsinki and Tuusula worked with a choreographer, a dramaturge, professional composers and musicians and music education students. The project partnered with Cirko – Centre for New Circus. The result was a multidisciplinary work exploring equality and diversity, including the project’s first-ever vocal ensemble.
Compositions were influenced by group movement exercises, which shaped both the music and the choreography. The final performance took place on 30 January 2020 at the Sonore Hall of the Helsinki Music Centre as part of the Sibafest festival, celebrating the project’s tenth anniversary.
2019: Under the same sky
In 2018–2019, the project’s participants were nine 12–15-year-old pupils from various cultural backgrounds. The theme was Under the Same Sky. Participants explored storytelling and cross-cultural interaction, as well as lighting design, which was developed in collaboration with Olli-Pekka Koivunen from the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. The final concert took place on 8 February 2019 as part of the Musica Nova festival.
2018: Collaboration with Resonaari
In 2018, eight young people and adults with developmental disabilities took part as composers. The partner organisation was Resonaari, a centre specialising in inclusive music services. Mentors included Sibelius Academy music education students, composer Dante Thelestam, actor Elina Stirkkinen and lecturer Riitta Tikkanen.
2017: Voices and Wishes for the Future
Twelve 10–12-year-old children composed pieces reflecting their hopes for Finland’s centenary year and the future. Sources of inspiration included the Natural History Museum’s exhibition Change in the Air. The project was supported by the Paulo Foundation.
2015–2016: Forging the Sampo and Time Out
Forging the Sampo was a collaboration between the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Uniarts Helsinki, inspired by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic’s Rite of Spring dance project. It combined young dancers aged 7–17 with five young composers who had previously participated in the project. The works were premiered on 11 March 2016.
Time Out, a Finnish–American collaboration, was an opera jointly composed and written by ten Finnish and four American young people. It premiered on 13 April 2016.
2014-2015: Photography and the Sibelius anniversary
Participants explored what photography and composition could have in common. They worked with photos they had taken themselves and with images from the Finnish Museum of Photography, as well as with sketches by Jean Sibelius during the Sibelius anniversary year. Participants’ age ranged from 7 to 16 years.
2014: Hear this, I’m a Composer! for choreography
The theme of spring 2014 was movement as inspiration for music. Each young composer created music for a pre-made choreography created by dancers from Vaskivuori Upper Secondary School. The final performance took place at the Almi Hall of the Finnish National Opera.
2013: Animation and 3D imaging with the Kolmio Project
The Kolmio Project brought together visual artists, composers and arts professionals to explore pedagogical approaches combining image and music, with young people as the primary target group.
2011 ja 2012: Pilot programme
The pilot years marked the launch of collaboration with the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers programme. Composers Jon Deak and Ilari Kaila visited Helsinki in 2011 and 2012 to support the first projects. Professionals and students participated in workshops where the focus was on sharing artistic and pedagogical expertise. The pilot outcome was compositions by 22 children and young people aged 8–14.
Contact persons for this project
-
Tiina Halonen
- Producer, S/Producers, Sibelius Academy
- +358407104301
- tiina.halonen@uniarts.fi