TOPIAS TIHEÄSALO

Improvised music • Film music • Sound art

I am an improvising guitarist living in Turku, Finland. Currently I am sharing my time between various forms of improvised music ranging from free jazz and free improvisation to baroque music and sound art. I frequently perform live-scores for silent films as well as other forms of live visual arts.

The year 2022 saw the beginning of a new publishing platform Sormi Editions which I run together with visual artist and graphic designer Pauliina Mäkelä. The latest release is my solo LP Skeletons: a collection of Free Jazz ballads released in August 2023. Together with Pauliina we also perform together as Kultapalmut which is our duo for making analogue live experimental cinema and live sound – our interpretation of expanded cinema. In 2024 Kultapalmut also made a self-titled short film directed and edited by Verna Kovanen.

I also compose music for films. In 2019 I was nominated for the Ariel Award by the Mexican Film Academy for the music I composed and performed for Kyzza Terrazas‘ film Bayoneta. Since 2014 I have also been making music programs and series for the Finnish national radio YLE Radio 1 specializing in various forms of jazz, improvisation, contemporary composition and early music. My latest series is called Resonanssi – a series for experimental music, sound art, improvised music and new composition. The fourth season was aired in the summer of 2024.