Music Finland awarded the seventh Finnish Music Export Award to Fennica Gehrman Oy Ab, a pioneer in the export of Finnish classical and contemporary music.

This year's Finnish Music Export Award was given to Fennica Gehrman Oy Ab for their pioneering long-term efforts in music publishing and for the internationalization of Finnish composers and contemporary music. The award was presented by Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä in Helsinki today (pictured above with Fennica Gehrman's Henna Salmela).

The Finnish Music Export Award, presented now for the seventh consecutive year, is a recognition given to a Finnish music company that has successfully developed and expanded its international operations and has shown pioneering spirit in exporting Finnish music. The intent behind this award is to create attention to the important work done by music export companies, and also promote these active and growing enterprises. The award was initiated by Music Finland, who also gathered the jury together. The award winner receives their own award plate on the outer wall of the famed rock club Tavastia in Helsinki.

Fennica Gehrman was founded as a subsidiary of the Swedish Gehrmans Musikförlag in 2002, but its roots go far back in the history of Finnish music. In 1897, K. G. Fazer founded a music store and publishing house with R. E. Westerlund, whose cost list included the best-known composers of the era: Jean Sibelius, Oskar Merikanto, Erkki Melartin and Selim Palmgren. During the next century, Edition Fazer continued to publish the works of the most important Finnish composers, such as Leevi Madetoja, Aarre Merikanto, Joonas Kokkonen and Einojuhani Rautavaara, and thus grew into the largest company in the publishing field in Finland. In 1993, the Edition Fazer catalog was sold to the international Warner Music Group, from which Fennica Gehrman bought it in 2007.

Today, Fennica Gehrman is an international publishing house specializing in art music, which represents Finnish music in a variety of ways around the world and makes music export in a diverse and forward-looking manner. In recent years, international revenues have accounted for about 60 percent of the company's net sales. It has many international partners and representatives in Europe, North America and Asia.

Fennica Gehrman's roster includes several dozen contemporary composers such as Mikko Heiniö, Kalevi Aho, Olli Kortekangas, Lotta Wennäkoski and Matthew Whittall, whose music is performed regularly worldwide and whose works have been strongly invested in by the publisher. Recent successes published by the company include the recently premiered Zaubermelodika opera by Iiro Rantala and Minna Lindgren.

In addition to art music, Fennica Gehrman also has a strong reputation as a publisher of pedagogical music and teaching materials. Its most internationally known product is the teaching materials for the Colourstrings method developed by Géza and Csaba Szilvay, which are used to teach different instruments around the world.

The jury that selected the winner consisted of Kimmo Aulake (Ministry of Education and Culture), Jukka Hätinen (Rumba Magazine), Laura Kamras (Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland), Hanne Kautto (Finnish Broadcasting Corporation), Mari Koppinen (Helsingin Sanomat), Tomi Korhonen (Business Finland), Sirpa Lahti (Maetka, Sibelius Academy), Laura Liski (Ministry of Employment and the Economy), Kaisa Rönkkö (Music Finland) and Tommi Tuomainen (Elements Music).