Osmo Tapio Räihälä

Mostly autodidact as a composer, the Finn Osmo Tapio Räihälä (b. 1964) studied composition for a couple of years under Harri Vuori in the early 1990’s. He has since worked as an independent composer. He is also known for his music journalism on the radio and the TV in Finland, and as the author of the 2021 Finlandia Prize winning book Why Is Contemporary Music So Difficult.
After trying out stylistically varied methods in his early works, Räihälä has concentrated on fluently progressing musical processes.
Räihälä has got inspiration to his works from many sources. His breakthrough work Barlinnie Nine (1999/2005) for orchestra is a tribute to the Scottish footballer Duncan Ferguson, and some of his works contain small quotations from rock and jazz music. As a synaesthete, Räihälä considers music a form of visual arts, and this is demonstrated in many of his compositions.
His oeuvre is mostly chamber music (with or without electronics), but his orchestral works and concertos (for mallet instruments, the viola, the cello, the oboe, the French horn and the bass clarinet) are an important part of his compositions, as well as the growing number of vocal works.
More info: www.raihala.com