Juho Laitinen is a performer.
As a cellist he focuses on large-scale works of the historical avant-garde and modernism, such as Giacinto Scelsi’s Trilogy,
Morton Feldman’s Patterns in a chromatic field and John Cage’s 26’1.1499” for a string player. He views the study and performance of these works as a holistic process during which technical, philosophical and aesthetic aspects of the music are fused together into a psychological-physical-spiritual whole.
With a particular interest in microtonal music, he is passionate about just intonation but likes tempered approaches, too.
A keen improviser, he has been involved in dedicated performances of works that incorporate it, like Terry Riley’s In C, Christian Wolff’s For 1, 2 or 3 people or John Zorn's Cobra, and has been an active supporter of non-idiomatic improvisation as an artistic discipline in its own right.
As an electroacoustic musician he performs on a six-string electric cello, various self-made Max/MSP patches and a no-input mixer. He is an avid presenter of works by Alvin Lucier, including I am sitting in a room, Music on a long thin wire and Tapper.
As a vocalist he explores the physical and emotional directness of singing, incorporating with the heritage of bel canto a creative misuse of the vocal apparatus on both in- and outbreath.
As a performance artist he presents conceptual works by La Monte Young, Yoko Ono and Nam June Paik.
Within these faculties Juho has performed extensively in Finland as well as in Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, UK, USA and Russia.
Juho Laitinen is a composer.
His written-out compositions deal with the ambiguous characteristics in the physicality of sound, an open-minded approach to new sounds made by new instruments and the promotion of a non-hierarchical, freely associative art experience.
His Study in multiphonics and Song for G investigate split tones, wolf tones, the subharmonic series and bowed harmonics.
More or less predictable waveforms is an electroacoustic sound installation with a strong randomized element,
and RhythmiCone Jam is a piece for Max/MSP-programmed virtual rhythmicon. Sillalla is an exploration of tuning and timbre
for a vocalizing cellist, and Song is a culturally–politically tinged duet for two baritone singers also performing on soprano recorders.
Juho Laitinen is a musical director and conductor.
His ensemble UMUU Orchestra is a flexible group of 1–30 musicians that has performed music ranging from solos by Berio and Globokar, via trios by Tenney and Xenakis and quartets by Cage, Ives and Nono, to large-ensemble works by Brown, Niblock, Rzewski, Scelsi and Sciarrino.
Juho Laitinen is a curator.
His concert series of new and experimental music, Tulkinnanvaraista, is now on it’s seventh season and has featured over 100 musicians from over a dozen countries around the world, performing rarely-heard and wonderful music.
His annual festival, Kallio New Music Days, has since 2010 focused on historical avant-garde chamber music repertoire.
Juho Laitinen is a teacher.
Since 2009 he teaches a new music performance practise class at Sibelius Academy.
He is also available for private lessons.
Juho Laitinen is a scholar and a writer.
In 2002 he was a scholar at the British School in Rome, studying contemporary Italian music. In 2004–2005 he was a Fulbright scholar at Mannes School in New York, delving into the American avantgarde since Charles Ives.
Between 2007 and 2013 he was a doctoral student at Sibelius Academy, where his research investigated aspects of experimental music in 20th century cello repertoire. In his dissertation, Manifesto of Sounding, alternative ways to organize the making and listening experiences of music were proposed.
He has written some 100 articles for Finnish publications in print and on-line.
Juho Laitinen is a student.
He has studied the cello and voice at Turku Conservatory and the Royal College of Music in London.
Additionally, he has taken HIP lessons.
In his daily practise he is influenced particularly by the disciplines of Alexander technique, tai chi and deep listening.
His main philosophical interests stem from Buddhist thinking as well as the theory of psychoanalysis. Within his performances he frequently combines lectures and/or multidisciplinary workshops in order to together with the audience members study the music and art at hand.