Composer Johan Tallgren was appointed artistic director of the Musica nova Helsinki festival of contemporary music in autumn 2007.

Born in Helsinki in 1971, he studied composition under Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy. He has mostly lived abroad since 1996, studying at the University of California in San Diego, with Kaija Saariaho and Brian Ferneyhough at IRCAM in Paris, and elsewhere. His home since 2001 has been in New York, where he lectures and is working for a doctorate under Tristan Murail at Columbia University.

The 2005 Musica nova Helsinki festival devoted a profile concert to him. Tallgren has attended numerous international courses in composition, and chamber music by him has also been performed at festivals outside Finland.

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