Ayşe Önder
Composer, born in Izmir. Turkey, 1973, took her first music lessons from her father Selim Önder. She studied composition at the Hacettepe University State conservatory. After graduating in 2000, she went to USA to do her doctor of musical arts at the University of Hartford in The Hartt School of Music, CT, and graduated in 2006. Between 2004-2006, she studied at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Amsterdam. She attended several summer courses for composers, e.g. in Austria (Seefeld-Tirol, 2005), France (Acanthes-Metz, 2005 and 2009), England (Royal Northern College of Music-Manchester, 2001), Germany (IMD-Darmstadt, 2004 and 2008), and in The Netherlands (Gaudeamus, 2005).In 2006, her movie soundtrack was released (Son Osmanli) by Kalan Music Productions followed by other soundtracks in 2008, “Elveda Rumeli”, “Asi Ruh”, and followed by "Yüreğine Sor", "Kurtlar Vadisi Filistin" and "Çınar Ağacı". Her music has been performed in festivals in Turkey, USA, The Netherlands, Germany and Austria and Russia by major ensembles; e.g. Asco Ensemble, New Ensemble, Ziggurat, Istanbul Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Classic Avantgarde Chamber Ensemble, Orchestra National de Lorraine, and Antalya Symphony Orchestra.
Birgitta Holst Olsson
(born in 1943 in Lapland, Finland), composer. She studied music education in her home country Sweden and later in Denmark. In 1974 she graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music and began his work as a music teacher in Copenhagen. Birgitta Olsson Holst composed and published a number of works for children, including musicals based on Norse mythology, as well as several books for individual intuition. For years she composed the music for the great oboe project Oboboom. Team oboe was formed to strengthen the oboe in music schools, and has Bridget composed pieces for up to 60 oboes, English horns and rhythm section. Birgitta Holst Olsson studied composition privately as well as in 1998-1999 at the Malmö Academy of Music with Hans Gefors. In addition to music for several documentaries, she has written chamber music. Her composition string quartet Winter in the North is a tribute to Northern Sweden overwhelming nature. A major inspiration for the piece was the winter landscape in the north.
Selected Works: Chamber music: Kammermusik II; Kammermusik III; Sig noget Pjerrot; Oh Gud, min kærlighed; Vinter i nord Music Drama: Djævelens dans; Djævelens Løb; David og Djævlen; I En Lille Hytte. Piano Aftenro; Margit Viola; Skumring; Ungarsk dans.
Awards: the first prize in the Nordic competition for women composers with string quartet Winter in the North, 1998
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Essi Iso-Oja
(Ellonen) (born in 1968 in Turku, Finland, resident in Helsinki), composer. She has a Master's Degree in harp performance from Sibelius Academy. She has collaborated for twenty-years as an orchestral and a chamber music harpist with the major Finnish orchestras (for example Lahti Symphony Orchestra) and with various ensembles ranging from Early Music to the Contemporary field. She has also given lectures about harp music in Finland as well as composed, arranged and edited music mainly for her instrument. She is considered one of the rare players of the historical pedal harp (the single action harp). She performs regularly as soloist, chamber musician and continuo player with early music ensembles like Elysionin Kedot. During the 2012 season she also played with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra performing a baroque opera in the Finnish National Opera. She has performed as harpist in the concert series Le Concert Spirituel 2010-2011 (Les Bains des Tuileries; Les virtuoses francais; Les Liaisons dangereuses), in the music festivals like Sibafest 2010 (Catherine the Great's St. Peterburg Court Concert) and Les Lumières -festival 2009 (Salon de Madame Stael). As an artistic director she has created the concert Les Liaisons dangereuses featuring Music from the time of the French Revolution, and three recital programs for the rarely heard repertoire for the 18th century harp; Salon de Catherine (Katariinan salonki), Sous le ciel (Taivaan alla) and Evening music from the 18th century (Iltamusiikkia 1700-luvulta). She is a member of the Single Action Harp Associaton, the Historical Harp Society, the Finnish Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and a founding member of the Finnish Harp Society.
Works: Essi's harps are present in numerous film soundtracks, like Free the Mind (dir. Phie Ambo, post-production, coming 2011) and the awarded documents Mechanical Love (dir. Phie Ambo 2007), and Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman (dir. Jennifer Fox 2006).
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