The Helsinki Artist of the Year awards, each worth EUR 5,000, are awarded annually to artists in Helsinki representing different fields of art. This year’s winners are Tinja Salmi, Cecilia Damström and Laura Kajander.
Motivation: Cecilia Damström is a new generation composer from Helsinki. Her works comment on topical social issues, such as the climate and refugee crises and mental health. Damström has composed orchestral works, opera, chamber music and choir works that have been performed in both Finland and abroad. Her works have also been acknowledged in many musical competitions. In 2022, Damström became the first female composer of art music to be awarded the Teosto Prize, and in 2024 her work Extinctions commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize.
Read more here.
Very thankful and honoured to receive this prize today on the 475th birthday of Helsinki City! 😭🙏🏼❤️