Teppo Ali-Mattila’s book “Puikoissa” explores why so many Finnish conductors are internationally successful
Two decades ago, in a post-concert event Teppo Ali-Mattila was publicly interviewing the conductor, Okko Kamu, and asked: “Why have so many Finnish conductors become internationally successful?”. Kamu responded by saying that many Finnish conductors often have played in an orchestra themselves and therefore have gained ideas through having a broader perspective.
Teppo, who is a violinist himself, employed by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, kept this question with him for years and in 2016 he decided to explore it further. He took on a project to interview 23 internationally renowned conductors in search for an answer. The featured conductors in his book are, for example Susanna Mälkki, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä.
Teppo wanted an additional angle to his perspective in this quest; the impact of leadership. As part of his exploration he decided to interview 4 leaders, that he found to be both successful and pioneers in their own field. For the e-book he interviewed Finland’s former president, Tarja Halonen, also the first female president of Finland, and Susanna Pettersson Director of Ateneum Art Museum/ Finnish National Art Gallery as a courageous inventor in her field. Pekka Viljakainen, as an international leader, mentor and adviser and founder of one of Finland’s biggest IT companies, at the age of 14. He selected Heidi Gutekunst, founder and CEO for Amara Collaboration, as a pioneering holistic thinker of humanity and transforming leadership. Teppo contacted Heidi after reading an article about her in the Finnish Business Magazine Kauppalehti.
“It is a great honour to be interviewed and featured in Teppo’s book on this intriguing subject. The more I travel, the more I see the uniqueness, strength, beauty and limitation of the society, business life and ways of living in Finland. Teppo is tapping into this question from an interesting perspective and has for sure brought a light to an inquiry that I now carry with me. Thank you, Teppo, for thinking of me and for the great conversations in our interviews! ” says Heidi.
You can read the full 12 page article (in Finnish) about Heidi here.
The book Puikoissa was published in September 2017 and for the time being is only in Finnish language. More about the book, or to buy it, docendo.com.