Toimii ( Finnish "It works") is an ensemble for new music founded in 1982 by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg, along with several other young composers and instrumentalists connected with the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

. Along with the new-music appreciation group ''Korvat auki'' ( Finnish "Ears open"), it did much to bring new music to listeners in Finland in the 1980s and 1990s. Toimii was formed to be a laboratory where composers, instrumentalists, and other artists could work on new ways of creating music and improvising. Toimii was born when Magnus Lindberg, Otto Romanowski, and

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish conducting, conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Sw ...

were preparing a concert performance of

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

's '' Plus-Minus''.

Vinko Globokar Vinko Globokar (born 7 July 1934) is a French-Slovenian avant-garde composer and trombonist. Globokar's music uses unconventional and extended techniques, places great emphasis on spontaneity and creativity, and often relies on improvisation. H ...

and his improvisation group New Phonic Art had a significant influence on the burgeoning ensemble after Lindberg began studies with him in Paris in the autumn of 1981, and it was at the Jyväskylä Summer Festival in 1982 where Lindberg's ''Action-Situation-Signification'' and a Globokar work were paired that the ensemble first appeared under the name Toimii. Apart from performing existing pieces and writing collective pieces Toimii encouraged poets, painters, dramaturgists, and actors to write pieces for its concerts. Each rehearsal period started without a determined program and the rehearsals consisted of combining existing pieces with improvising and last-minute composing and arranging. All of the members had an equal input into every detail of each concert. Magnus Lindberg's 1985 work Kraft was written as a concerto for Toimii and a Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble has toured around the world performing the piece so far 14 times and has recorded it twice. Toimii visited many festivals in locations as far apart as Uusikaupunki,

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

, and Ojai. Toimii has performed widely in Europe and the US. While its members entered upon their busy careers, they met once or twice each year during the 1980s and 1990s for a period of intensive work. Toimii also performed several very successful children's concerts at the Suvisoitto-festival in Finland, at the

Ojai Music Festival The Ojai Music Festival is an annual classical music festival in the United States. Held in Ojai, California (75 miles northwest of Los Angeles), for four days every June, the festival presents music, symposia, and educational programs emphasizi ...

, and at the

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...

in London, The last performances of the ensemble to date were in December 2001 at the Related Rocks Festival in London and in 2003 in Helsinki where they also made their second recording of Lindberg's ''

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

''.

Members

* Lassi Erkkilä, percussion * Kari Kriikku, clarinet * Anssi Karttunen, cello *

Timo Korhonen Timo Korhonen (born 6 November 1964) is a Finnish classical guitarist and is one of the most distinguished classical guitarists in his generation. Short Biography Korhonen gave his debut at 14 in his hometown Rautalampi, Finland. His interna ...

, guitar (joined 1989) * Juhani Liimatainen, sound designer * Magnus Lindberg, piano * Riku Niemi, percussion (joined 1989) * Otto Romanowski, electronics *

, conductor

Works Written for Toimii

* Juhana Blomstedt: ''Speleologia'' *

Oliver Knussen Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer of contemporary classical music and conductor. Among the most influential British composers of his generation, his relatively few compositions are "rooted in 20th-cen ...

: ''Rough Cut'' * Magnus Lindberg: ''Decorrente'' *Magnus Lindberg: ''Action-Situation-Signification'' for bass clarinet (doubling double bass clarinet), piano, percussion, cello, and live electronics (1982) *Magnus Lindberg: ''Kiri'' for clarinet, guitar, cello, percussion, and electronics (1993) *Magnus Lindberg: ''Kraft'' (1985) *Riku Niemi: ''Magnus meets Monk'' * Pentti Saaritsa: ''Ascensus'' *

: ''Floof'' (1988) *Esa-Pekka Salonen: ''Nur-text'' *Juha Siltanen: ''Doppler Variation'' *Toimii-ensemble: ''Related Stones – A Rock OperaVIAF''

References

{{Authority control Contemporary classical music ensembles Musical groups established in 1980 Esa-Pekka Salonen