ANNA MUSTONEN:
The starting point of this work has been the concept of composition: how a work can be approached both in terms of the ways in which sound organizes itself into composition and as a reflection on connections inherent in choreographic thinking.
The choreography of Spheres lies in the relationships between events on stage—how bodily, sounding, and spatial materials are, on the one hand, brought together, and on the other, how this act of bringing together does not take away the space they require. I have not sought to fill the stage with events; instead, I have wanted to give all these elements the space to emerge clearly.
MARIANNA HENRIKSSON:
The essential nature of music as a unifier of micro- and macrocosmic scales has been a central consideration in the conception of Spheres. For centuries, it was believed that the universe was structured by the proportional orbits and movements of celestial bodies, which could be expressed through numerical ratios. The same order manifests on Earth at various scales—in nature, in the human environment, and in bodily functions. Musical intervals operate according to these same numerical ratios, and sounding intervals, along with their combinations, reflect the compositions of the spheres in a way that is perceivable to the human ear.
Marsilio Ficino writes in De vita triplici, 3rd book: On Making Your Life Agree With the Heavens (1480–1489):
Proportions, however, that are constituted of numbers, are almost like figures, not only because they are made out of lines and points, but because of their motion. Also, with their movement the heavenly figures maintain themselves, and with their harmonies, their rays, their movements penetrating everything, they thus affect the spirit, in a hidden way, from day to day, as Music, above all, can affect it in a more open way. (English translation: Charles Boer, 1980)
In the music of our performance, the meantone temperament introduces semitones of varying sizes, unusual “impure” intervals, and some pure intervals that can be expressed through simple planetary numerical ratios—intervals that are absent from today’s commonly used equal temperament. For example, the pure major third embodies the resonance of the spheres, a shared vibration of space and the human body. This performance features music by three composers for a meantone-tuned harpsichord and positive organ.
ANNA:
Collaboration with the composers has made the durations of the dances in this work unique. In Shiva Feshareki’s composition For Marianna, I listen to the music with my body. The dance is raw and effortless.
MARIANNA:
I premiered Shiva Feshareki’s piece For Marianna in 2023. It became part of this performance through its wondrous, spatial, and revolving treatment of the chromatic scale.
SHIVA FESHAREKI:
For Marianna is inspired by the fantastical graphic designs and the impossible architecture of MC Escher. It was written for two antique instruments from different moments in time: the harpsichord and Roland RE-201 Space Echo. Both are beautifully designed objects steeped in history, yet from hundreds of years apart.
MARIANNA:
Justina Repečkaitė’s new piece Sfäärit was created simultaneously with the choreography and in close collaboration with us, the musicians. A performer familiar with music from the 16th and 17th centuries may sense a pulse running through almost the entire piece, resembling the tactus of early music, aligning roughly with the heartbeat—at times calm, at times agitated.
ANNA:
The choreography in Justina’s Sfäärit is like individual stitches on fabric. At times, it seems as if almost nothing is happening—until attention shifts to the direction of the performers' gazes, to the realization that concepts like direction, height, or seeing even exist. Marlon sits and looks toward the sky, and when his hand finally extends, I focus on his palm, which seems to bear the weight of the entire moment. Mira’s dances trace incomprehensible shapes, Anna Maria walks in an arc to join her and seamlessly integrates into the dance. At some point, Marianna gives a signal, and they all move together into an open chord—I barely have time to register it before the moment is gone.
JUSTINA REPEČKAITĖ:
Harpsichord and organ—an unlikely pairing. The organ, sustained by electricity, produces an uninterrupted, eternal sound. In contrast, the plucked string of the harpsichord fades almost
instantly. Synthesizing electronics, I sought to create a sustained harpsichord-like resonance. This resonance enhances the instrument’s natural timbre, blending with the organ’s mixtures to form a hybrid sound. Electronics, injected via transducers into the instruments’ bodies, filter through them before reaching the listener’s ears.
In the score, I explored quarter-comma meantone temperament, a historical (16th-17th century) tuning system whose unequal semitones produce some unusual diminished and augmented intervals. Once avoided due to their perceived inharmonicity—including the well-known wolf fifth—these intervals form the foundation of the composition. Proportionally mapping these intervals onto rhythm and pulse, the composition moves through these relationships, shifting from abstraction to physicality.
Sfäärit alludes to the philosophical concept of the music of the spheres, and in collaboration with choreographer Anna Mustonen, explores movement between vast, resonant spaces and intimate inner vibrations, both physical and metaphysical.
ANNA:
In Lauri’s composition north for positive organ, there is weight and intimate massiveness. It could play forever, it could sound for all that is about to disappear, or it could resonate after everything is gone.
LAURI SUPPONEN:
north, here written for positive organ, is a slice of my practice as a composer relating to cardinal directions. When Anna and Marianna approached me to write music for what was to become Sfäärit, the section they had in mind for me somehow evoked a nest or nesting. In bringing north to the project, I bring twigs and down from a nest of my own to be shared with the whole working group.
north is a piece that has come to celebrate the presence and joy present in the working process of Sfäärit. The organist Petteri Pitko has become a living score of the piece during the rehearsal process. The timbre and articulation subtleties of the piece owe their finesse to his extensive and open-minded musicianship. The form and dimensions of the piece were also partly devised in conversation with Anna, Marianna and the working group.
Music
Shiva Feshareki: For Marianna. For Double Manual Harpsichord in 1⁄4 comma Meantone Tuning, Amplified and Encased in Live Tape Echo, or Echo Pedal. (2021)
Justina Repečkaitė: Sfäärit – for harpsichord, organ, and electronics. (2025)
Lauri Supponen: north for positive organ (2025)
Credits
Assembling and concept: Marianna Henriksson, Anna Mustonen
Choreographer: Anna Mustonen
Composers: Shiva Feshareki, Justina Repečkaitė, Lauri Supponen
Harpsichord, positive organ: Marianna Henriksson, Petteri Pitko
Dancers: Anna Maria Häkkinen, Mira Kautto, Marlon Moilanen, Anna Mustonen
Dramaturge: Masi Tiitta
Lighting designer: Meri Ekola
Materials of the space: Piia Rinne
Sound designer: Markus Heino
Costume planning: Marianna Henriksson, Anna Mustonen, Masi Tiitta
Costumes are the performers’ own
Clay hand: Ulla Hurri
Administrative coordination and conceptual dialogue: Riikka Thitz / i dolci
Production coordination: Marianna Henriksson, Anna Mustonen
PR photos: Hertta Kiiski
Teaser videos: Venla Helenius
Production: i dolci, Zodiak - Centre for New Dance, Musica nova Helsinki
Supported by: Alfred Kordelin Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Lithuanian Culture Institute, Teosto Finland
Residencies: Ehkä-production / Contemporary Art Space Kutomo (Turku), Greta and William Lehtinen Foundation (Helsinki)
Yhteistyössä / In collaboration with: rendezvous ry
Musica nova Helsinki has commissioned the composition by Justina Repečkaitė with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
Part of the programmes of Side Step Festival 2025 and Musica nova Helsinki 2025.
Bios
Shiva Feshareki is a British-Iranian composer, artist and turntablist, described as “the most cutting-edge expression of turntablism” and as “one of the most astonishing acts of musical alchemy” (BBC Radio 3). Over the last decade, she has been a pioneer at the leading edge of both contemporary classical and electronic music scenes. As a self-described sonic architect, Feshareki is fascinated by the materiality of sound. Her intrepid exploration of a 360-degree sound world encompasses compositions for orchestral, solo, choral, chamber, electronic and interdisciplinary installation works.
Markus Heino is a sound designer and artist based in Helsinki. His work focuses on bringing out the hidden and hard-to-detect aspects of sound—both microscopic phenomena and relationships or networks too vast for human senses to fully perceive. He has worked on numerous projects as a sound designer and composer, with recent works presented at venues such as Turku City Theatre, Zodiak, Mad House, MUU Gallery, and Hyvinkää Art Museum. Markus Heino earned his Master’s degree in Theatre Arts from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2015.
Harpsichordist Marianna Henriksson performs as a member and soloist in several ensembles both in Finland and abroad. She enjoys working with a variety of musical genres and interdisciplinarity. Over the years, she has participated as a musician and music director in several dance and opera productions, premiered and recorded new harpsichord music, arranged folk music materials and participated in a world tour of a breakdance show. Since 2023, he has been a member of the artistic board of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra.
Anna Maria Häkkinen is a choreographer and a performer based in Helsinki. Her recent works include Afterglow, low lingering slips of light, a Performa Biennial commission work for 9 dancers and a harpist (2023 LMCC New York) and Phoenix – a deep relaxation serotonin release (Uniarts 2023), a commissioned choreography for dance students. Anna Maria is working with collaborative practices through themes such as touch, dance history, composition and play. She holds a MA in choreography.
Meri Ekola is a lighting designer and artist who focuses on both performing arts and installation art. Her artistic work is always rooted in some form of dialogue—whether through collaboration with other artists or through the active consideration of the surrounding space and its prevailing conditions, embracing a shared sense of authorship.
Mira Kautto is a Helsinki-based dancer and choreographer. To her, dancing is at its best a particular place for thoughts, imagining and existing together. Kautto has recently worked with choreographers such as Mikko Hyvönen, Masi Tiitta and Anna Torkkel among others.
Marlon Moilanen is a dancer based in Helsinki, Finland. Performing mainly in the realms of contemporary dance and performance, he works with a psychic and soulfully experienced body, allowing the contradictory nature of humanity to be seen on stage—where sensitivity, darkness, and humor are often in intimate relation. Recently, he has collaborated with choreographers Sonja Jokiniemi, Maija Hirvanen, Liisa Pentti, Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir, and Karolina Ginman. Currently, in his work as a performer, Marlon explores somatic, energetic, and spiritual body practices to express the unconscious and subtle realities of life.
Anna Mustonen is a choreographer and dancer whose works have been presented on various stages of dance and performing arts since 2007. Her artistic practice is rooted in interdisciplinary processes that allow for reimagining ways of performing and collaborating. Mustonen and harpsichordist Marianna Henriksson have worked together extensively, including large-scale stage productions that combine new dance with early Baroque music, such as Eros (2022) and Maria-vesper (2018), the latter of which earned them the Finnish State Prize for Performing Arts in 2018. She is a member of the arts collective i dolci, the artistic community rendezvous, and the co-direction of the dance school Tanssivintti.
Petteri Pitko is a versatile keyboard player, whose repertoire ranges from the early baroque to contemporary music. He performs regularly with various ensembles in his native country Finland and abroad. He is a senior lecturer in early music at Novia UAS in Jakobstad, Finland. As a soloist, he has performed with renowned orchestras, such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Ensemble Resonanz, and the Zürcher Kammerorchester. He has played at numerous music festivals in Europe, Asia, and the USA, and has worked with various ensembles, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the RIAS Chamber Choir, and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He was the artistic director of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra 2018-2022.
Justina Repečkaitė’s music has been described by critics as having “many similarities to a diamond” (Ben Lunn, UK), “inviting, constantly changing, gritty and lustrous” (Max Erwin, USA), and “drawn with the sharpest pencil” (Šarūnas Nakas, LT). After studying composition in Lithuania and France, Repečkaitė continued her education at the prestigious Cursus Program on Composition and Computer Music at IRCAM in Paris, where she has lived for the past 13 years. Currently an artist-in-residence at the Greta and William Lehtinen Foundation in Helsinki, she recently gave the lecture Spheres – Composition as Choreography at the Sibelius Academy. The Music Information Center of Lithuania will soon release Tapestries, her first portrait album, showcasing works composed between 2012 and 2024.
Piia Rinne: I create costume and visual designs for performances and have recently been experimenting with sound collages using cassette loops. My work often exists at the intersection of craftsmanship and another medium (such as sound or performance art). Manipulating materials by hand establishes temporal and physical frameworks, turning the creative process into an aesthetic and philosophical gesture.
Lauri Supponen: I’m a composer for whom composition is an act of dreaming of alternative forms of organisation. I grew up in Brussels and studied composition in London, Berlin and Helsinki. My works have been premiered by leading contemporary music ensembles such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern and BBC Singers at festivals around Europe. My work happens at the intersection of music, dance, visual art and theatre, nurturing the bursting that happens in between structures. I’m interested in sounds’ relationships with its environment, and I often write music as a continuum, cutting pieces out every now and then. I rarely create independent and enclosed works instead wanting the framework of music to remain open for influences and visitations.
Masi Tiitta works as a choreographer, director, dramaturge, and member of various working groups in the fields of new dance and contemporary performance. His works have been presented in the contexts of dance, contemporary theatre, and visual arts at venues such as Helsinki City Theatre’s Stage for Contemporary Performance, Contemporary Art Space Kutomo, and Baltic Circle International Theatre Festival. As a dramaturge, he has collaborated with Anna Mustonen and Marianna Henriksson on their previous works Eros (2022) and Maria-vesper (2018).
i dolci is an artist-run association founded in 2020 that redefines interdisciplinary artistic thinking and creates new opportunities between the independent art scene and institutions. The founding members—harpsichordist Marianna Henriksson, choreographer Anna Mustonen, and curator Riikka Thitz—also lead its activities. i dolci has uniquely and extensively combines dance, music, and visual art practices with modes of public presentation of art. The association’s projects include the stage works Sfäärit (Side Step, Musica nova 2025) and Eros (Dance House Helsinki, Erkko Hall 2022), as well as site-specific projects Sea of Mountains (Alta Val Seriana, Italy 2024) and Solar Noon (Taattisten tila 2023).
Performance times 2025
Thu 6.2. at 18:00 - Premiere
Fri 7.2. at 19:00
Sat 8.2. at 15:00
Venue: Dance House Helsinki / Pannu Hall
Duration: 55 mins