Female Choir KYN, founded in 1981, has always made music with ambition, passion and a creative angle. By means of commissioned pieces, it has broken musical boundaries, renewed choral repertoire and created a new genre of choral music, ethnic jazz. In ethnic jazz, elements of folk music and traditional texts fuse with the rhythm and harmony of jazz.

KYN’s artistic director since 1989, Kaija Viitasalo, has created a unique musical identity for her choir. KYN has been commended for its original repertoire, expressiveness and uniform, yet vivid sound resembling that of a vocal group. With its music, the choir moves the listener on an emotional level and tells a story – even across linguistic and cultural borders.

Recently, KYN has also attained international interest and has been invited as a main performer to events in France, Latvia and Taiwan.  KYN has also succeeded in several international choir competitions and reviews. In 2017, at the Grand Prix of Nations competition in Germany KYN won the Grand Prix in the Mixed, Female and Male Choirs category, came second in the Folklore category and was awarded a special prize for outstanding stage performance. Consequently, KYN ranked sixth in INTERKULTUR’s list of female choirs and received Choir of the Year Award from the Finnish Female Choir Association.

In March 2018, KYN released its ninth album, Outo kantele (Strange Kantele) (Alba Records). It comprises of two suites composed for KYN by Jukka Linkola: Loitsut (Incantations) and Outo kantele. The album is starred by vibraphonist Panu Savolainen, accordionist Johanna Juhola and pianist Kirmo Lintinen.

Check out our upcoming concerts http://www.kyn.fi/in-english/! You’re warmly welcome to listen to the choir Helsingin Sanomat has called “one of the brightest stars in the Finnish choir scene” and “a precursor of jazz music”!

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