In October a group of seven contemporary music professionals from Finland made a networking trip to Donaueschinger Music Festival, Germany. The group consisted of six Finnish composers, Jarkko Hartikainen, Maija Hynninen, Miika Hyytiäinen, Tiina Myllärinen, Osmo Tapio Räihälä and Outi Tarkiainen along with producer Karoliina Vesa from the Finnish Broadcasting Company.

The goal of this trip was to make new contacts for the participants as well as introduce new impulses, ideas and inspiration.

The programme was tailor-made for the participants. The first day of the trip included a visit to ZKM (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie), the Center for Art and Media where the Finnish delegates heard about combining art with digital technology, as well as a demonstration of the Institute for Music and Acoustics, where the focus was on electronic and acousmatic music.

The second two days were spent at Donaueschinger Musiktage Festival, one of the oldest festivals for contemporary music still running and one of the highest rated music festivals in Germany. The event attracts most of the major German professionals in contemporary music, including composers, musicians, publishers, journalists, agents, art directors and organization delegates.

The group also met with Björn Gottstein, the artistic director of Donaueschinger Musiktage Festival and talked to journalist Margarete Zander, who interviewed Finnish composers for German radio. On the final evening of the trip, a networking dinner was held for the Finnish and German professionals.

"The concerts were very interesting and crucial content for this trip, but also the meetings and chats we had with the people that we encountered were important. It’s good for a composer to have the widest possible network for support. Music Finland’s dinner, for example, sent out a strong message: ‘We have chosen this bunch of interesting composers that you should pay attention to’. With this kind of support, it is easier to build relationships. So this was something that’s definitely worth continuing in the future!"
– Outi Tarkiainen, composer.