Biography

Erkki Veltheim is a composer, improviser, performer and interdisciplinary artist. He has been commissioned by the Adelaide Festival, Vivid Festival, Australian Art Orchestra, Musica nova Helsinki and Punctum, and his pieces have been performed by groups such as the London Sinfonietta, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Australian Art Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Elision and Ensemble Modern, and has featured as a soloist with the London Sinfonietta, Australian Opera and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He has long-standing collaborations with late indigenous musician Dr G Yunupingu, improvising trumpet virtuoso Scott Tinkler and composer-pianist Anthony Pateras.

Composer website:  erkkiveltheim.com
soundcloud.com/erkkiveltheim

Featured Works

Glossolalia, for string quartet.

Glossolalia is a string quartet that is conceived of as a sort of critique of modernism from within; using elements of 20th Century modernist culture, it gradually erodes them through various playing techniques and radical detuning of the strings. As the players begin to battle with the increasingly volatile and failing instruments, the musical language moves closer to a kind of involuntary onomatopoeia, resembling the sounds of concrete nature more than abstract culture.

Featured in BIFEM Waves – August 2017.