Helvi Leiviskä

Helvi Leiviskä was Finland's first major female composer. She was also active as a music critic and a librarian at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. Leiviskä faced gender discrimination at various points in her life but persisted in her choice, graduating in 1927 from the Helsinki Music Institute with a composition degree. Leiviskä made a living as a school music teacher in the 1920s and '30s. In 1933, she began working as a music librarian at the Helsinki Music Institute, soon renamed the Sibelius Academy. She remained there for most of her working life, also serving for a time as a newspaper music critic. Leiviskä issued three symphonies, a Sinfonia brevis, and a piano concerto. Leiviskä died in Helsinki on August 12, 1982. In 2024, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and conductor Dalia Stasevska began a series of albums devoted to Leiviskä's orchestral music.