Browse Markku Klami’s complete catalogue—from solo to orchestral, vocal to electronic. Discover detailed information, score availability, recordings, composer’s notes, reviews, and interviews related to each work. Music Browse by ensemble Chamber music Electro-acoustic Electronics Opera Orchestra Orchestra / ensemble with soloist Solo Vocal / choral Browse by ensemble Archipelago T. Guitar and orchestra Butterfly String quartet (young players) Fractured (Memoria II) Decacorde Ambience I: Burning Clarinet and electronics Violin Concerto: A Requiem Violin and orchestra Elegia Soprano and ensemble into the deep peace Mixed choir Etudes Guitar Clair II Clarinet and large ensemble verweilen Soundtrack Colori Violin Voyage Flute, clarinet and guitar Karui Quartertone clarinet and quartertone accordion Croak Opera: 5 soloists, choir and orchestra Clair Clarinet, bandoneón and string quartet Värein Piano, 4 percussionists and string orchestra (young players) afore Piano aava Guitar and electronics karu Guitar trio ripples Piano Clair sketches Clarinet, bandoneón and string quartet REPEAT Flute, electronics and video red moon String quartet ...and there's always music in the air." Flute and string quartet Tulevaisuuden retki Children's opera: 2 soloists, reciter, ensemble

Archipelago T. Guitar and orchestra Composed: 2026 Instrumentation and duration Guitar and orchestra Duration: c. 26 minutes Movements I. Utö II. Seili III. Aura Commission / dedications Written for Patrik Kleemola First performance Patrik Kleemola, guitar, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Gudrun Dahlkvist, Fuuga Music Centre, Turku, January 21, 2027 Composer's Notes The work draws inspiration from the Turku archipelago and its maritime landscapes, which also become a metaphor for humanity and the relationships between people. < Back to Music

Violin Concerto: A Requiem Violin and orchestra Composed: 2023 Watch / listen Maria Puusaari , violin, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra , cond. Ruut Kiiski World premiere performance, recorded by the Finnish Broadcasting Company at Tampere Biennale Festival on April 17, 2026 Full concert recording. Klami's Violin Concerto begins at time 12:24, and ends at 40:30. Score / parts Edition Wilhelm Hansen Instrumentation and duration Solo violin and orchestra: 2(pic).2.2(bcl)2./2.2.0.0/perc./Str. (minimum 6.4.4.2.2, preferred: 8.6.6.4.3) Duration: 26 minutes Movements I. De profundis II. Alcheringa III. Ad lucem Commission / dedications Commissioned by Maria Puusaari with support from Madetoja Foundation and Teosto Commission Fund. Dedicated to Maria Puusaari Publisher Edition Wilhelm Hansen / Wise Music Classical Accolades Awarded with Finnish Music Publishers Association's Composer of the Year 2026 Award in large-scale work category First performance Maria Puusaari, violin, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Ruut Kiiski, Tampere Biennale Festival, Tampere Hall, Tampere, Finland, April 17, 2026 Reflections Concert review, published on Aamulehti by Harri Hautala April 18, 2026 From [Suvisoitto for flute and tape by Usko] Meriläinen , the program moved directly to Markku Klami’s new violin concerto Requiem . The listener may or may not keep in mind the theme of involuntary childlessness that underlies the work, but as pure music the concerto made a deep impression. It does not strive for outward display; instead, it speaks powerfully through its inner voices. In this concerto, Klami has created an exceptionally refined sound world, in which the rich orchestral writing and the solo violin communicate with sensitivity and natural ease. Stylistically, the musical language even approaches neo-Romanticism or neo-Classicism, yet feels fresh and avoids cliché. The interplay of light and shadow resonated movingly and beautifully, both in the orchestra and in the nuanced performance of violinist Maria Puusaari . Concert review, published on Kulttuuritoimitus by Kikka Holmberg April 19, 2026 Klami’s Violin Concerto Requiem was heard in the concert as a world premiere. This finely nuanced work, at times almost otherworldly in its beauty, received an airtight and highly charged interpretation from violinist Maria Puusaari and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Ruut Kiiski . Concert review, published on Simpukka Society website by Pirkko Heimonen April 22, 2026 Markku Klami’s Violin Concerto: A Requiem tells a personal story from a seven-year journey through childlessness. He hopes the work will offer comfort to others who have experienced involuntary childlessness. Violinist Maria Puusaari interprets the piece with great artistry together with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ruut Kiiski . The work is divided into three movements: De profundis (From the Depths), Alcheringa (Dreamtime), and Ad lucem (Toward the Light). Klami did not wish to give explicit listening instructions; instead, he encouraged listeners to focus on the emotions evoked by the music. He specified that the piece does not follow a particular theoretical framework, but is shaped by the emotions he experienced during his journey—from frustration to acceptance. At the beginning, one hears the rumble of thunder. The music surges with anger, frustration, and anxiety—perhaps even disbelief. There is a sense of escape, of running away from something. A rapid violin figure conveying dark emotional tones recurs throughout the work, especially in the first movement. The acoustics of the large hall carry all the nuances of the music clearly to the listener. The transition between the first and second movements is clearly perceptible. The music calms. Low, tranquil textures convey a deeply moving sorrow that resonates with the listener. A little later, a bubbling sense of hope emerges—like a spring stream and birdsong. At times, the music brings in mind film scores. One can hear hope flickering on and off. Toward the end, there is a gentle rocking motion, the mood perhaps cautiously serene. The third movement begins grandly. Once again, we find ourselves amid storm and surging emotions. At times, the work is open to interpretation. Does the now-calmer music express serenity or the fatigue of struggle? Those who have experienced childlessness may identify with the ebb and flow of emotions. The music rises, and a faster, more joyful tempo begins. If at the start one was running away from something, this feels like a springtime dash toward something. At the end, the same melancholy heard at the beginning returns, and the piece concludes with a deep sigh—acceptance? Markku Klami describes his feelings after the concert: “Expectations were high, and the violin soloist, the conductor, and the orchestra all gave a magnificent and deeply moving premiere. It will take time to process all of this, as many years of a journey were crystallized into that evening. I feel happy and grateful.” Concert review, published on Jälkikaikuja Korvakäytävillä by Jari Hoffrén April 23, 2026 Usko Meriläinen’s significance as the first artistic director and guiding force of the Tampere Biennale is unquestionable. The celebratory Suvisoitto was composed for solo flute and tape; throughout the hall drifted the sounds of crickets and cicadas—some originating as far away as Japan—while Malla Vivolin evoked a summery atmosphere from the back of the elegantly lit hall. The transition into Markku Klami’s Violin Concerto: A Requiem was strikingly clear, as the angry and frustrated violin motif ignited by Maria Puusaari propelled the music into an entirely different emotional world. The work has received more public attention than usual (including a lengthy interview with the composer on the Kulttuuritoimitus website) because of its subject: a composer who has struggled with long-term childlessness—so the program notes tell us—channeling his feelings into the concerto as a “personal therapeutic work.” The notion of a “therapeutic work” is itself a label that invites reflection; Gustav Mahler , at least, readily comes to mind as a candidate for composing such pieces. Markku Klami thus clearly defined both the starting points and the style of the concerto: when one wishes to convey comfort and hope, “certain stylistic devices of contemporary music are not particularly suited to that purpose”—what matters is a striving for “unashamed beauty.” (Possibly for this reason, the orchestration is economical: there are only three double basses, and even they remain silent for extended passages.) The concerto indeed unfolds in line with these premises as a listening experience in which the dramatic arc and contrasts are clearly mirrored on the emotional level, the texture remains easy to follow, and at times richly adorned with finely crafted, miniature-like details. Overall, the work breathes a delicate fragility, an alternation between hope and despair, while the solo part offers the violinist much to play; Maria Puusaari, a tireless interpreter of contemporary music, performed excellently. The rich continuum of Romantic tradition has thus gained another Finnish violin concerto—one that admirers of the style can certainly appreciate even without any knowledge of its background; in this sense, the work succeeds in touching on something broadly human. Concert review, published on Kompositio by Jari Kallio June 10, 2026 The gravitational center of the program was formed by two world premieres that were quite different in character, yet equally compelling in their own ways: Markku Klami’s deeply affecting Violin Concerto: Requiem (2023), commissioned by Maria Puusaari, and Matilda Seppälä’s The Moment We Notice Each Other (2026), which insightfully transcends the boundaries of traditional orchestral expression. Klami’s three-movement concerto, lasting nearly half an hour, resounded as a requiem for unborn life. Although the work’s extra-musical origins lie in a deeply personal process of grief, its musical logic functions as a compelling narrative in its own right, and familiarity with the background is by no means necessary to engage with the piece. At the center of the concerto stands a fully written-out cadenza that develops earlier material while introducing ideas that later come to the fore in the second half of the work. This concertante requiem does not seek to reinvent the genre; instead, it finds its own distinctive voice remarkably successfully within a traditional large-scale framework. Nor does Klami make a virtue of virtuosity, even though the solo part written for Puusaari is far from undemanding. The soloist, the [Tampere Philharmonic] orchestra, and conductor Ruut Kiiski delivered a premiere performance of the highest caliber. Composer's Notes My Violin Concerto is a Requiem to an unborn life. A deeply personal work for me, this concerto draws its inspiration from such profound personal experiences as unwanted infertility, and the experiences and thoughts that arose during this very difficult journey of dealing with unwanted childlessness. The music progresses from anger and frustration in the first movement, De profundis , to a dreamlike state in the second movement, Alcheringa* , where glimpses of hope emerge, only to disappear again. In the last movement, Ad lucem , the music embarks on a journey, trying to reach the light, reminding of one's need to hold on to hope. Violin Concerto: A Requiem was commissioned by Maria Puusaari and is dedicated to her. The commission was made possible with kind support from Madetoja Foundation and Teosto Commission Fund. *Alcheringa , an Arandic language term, refers to Australian Aboriginal beliefs of Dreaming, Dreamtime, or "Everywhen", a myth of creation and, in a larger context, a concept that embraces past, present and future. Another definition suggests that Dreaming represents how the relationships between people, animals, plants and the land came to be and how they need to be maintained. It is argued that the term itself is based on a misunderstanding or mistranslation, and that the closer meaning of Alcheringa could be "eternal" or "uncreated". < Back to Music