Nordic Music Days begins today in Helsinki. Founded in 1888, the event is one of the oldest festivals in the world. 

The festival serves as platform for international exchange between ensembles, musicians and repertoires in order to spread the music of Nordic composers. Nordic Music Days 2018 is arranged by The Finnish Society of Composers, with the theme "Diversity is Unity".

The event brings together a large number and broad range of contemporary composers of art music, incorporated with all manner of collisions with visual arts, "very free jazz" and prog rock. In total over 40 composers are featured during Nordic Music Days, including Sami Klemola, Daniel Bjarnason, Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Sauli Zinovjev to name a few. See the full program here. 

All the performances can be streamed here, with the exception of the opening concert. FMQ Magazine will provide a 360° live stream from the defunensemble's show at G Livelab on Thursday evening 10.00 pm EEST (find the link on FMQ's home page on Thursday).

Read our interview with the festival’s artistic director Osmo Tapio Räihälä here. Also read composer Olli Virtaperko's article about the festival on FMQ Magazine.