Petri Kuljuntausta (b. Tampere Finland, 28 February 1961), composer, improvisor, sound artist, guitarist, is a versatile musician working in a very special kind of musical area. Applying the ideas of soundscape, improvisation, and musique concrete, he has created quite an extraordinary way to approach and handle musical material.

Petri Kuljuntausta’s artistic output is beyond categories. He is a (re)searcher, an open-minded explorer, believing that if we listen carefully, valuable sound material for composing could be found almost anywhere. A great impact for his work has also been given by different collaborations with multimedia, film and video artists.

Kuljuntausta’s works have been presented in many countries. In ‘96 he was participating in Rivers & Bridges event in the context of the ARS Electronica Festival. Kuljuntausta’s live performance was sent in all to 25 countries through satellite in real time. One of the latest works include a tribute to Pierre Schaeffer - a father of musique concrete; La Mer III was part of the Synthese ‘96 - Festival International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges program.

In ‘96 Kuljuntausta was selected a candidate for the radiophonic music prize in the 18 Concorso Internazionale ‘Luigi Russolo’, Varese Italy, with the work La Mer. In ‘96 he composed electronic music for Texas Scramble and The Blow, two inspiring films directed by Sami van Ingen.

Kuljuntausta’s recent works have dealt with the philosophical questions about the complex and problematic relation between humans and nature. This has been a starting point to use concrete sound material.

The Good & the Evil (1995) is an electro-acoustic tale about human beings, nature, and the struggle between these. For this work, Kuljuntausta gained a special award in the Faroe Horn Sound Art Competition / Sounding Isles ‘95 - Nordic Sound Art Festival.

Lux in tenebris (1995) deals with the same philosophical questions. The work was presented as a sound installation in LUX SONOR exhibition in Helsinki Art Exhibition Hall. During autumn ‘97 the work will be performed first time as a concert version during FUTURA 97 Festival in France. A tape composition Violin Tone Orchestra (1996), based on phase shifting techniques, will be performed later on that year in Futura 97 program.

A tape composition Between Life & Death (1995) combines the sounds of bells and gong, animals and sampled guitar sounds played by Kuljuntausta. Quite frequently his electronic works, as Between Life & Death, was executed in an exhibitions by a Belgian multimedia artist, Jacques Coelho.

In 1995 Petri Kuljuntausta composed several works combining his guitar improvisations and a digitally produced electronic tape. Silmat jotka nakivat mielikuvituksen maailman and Varjovyohykkeella are slowly moving, meditative works with some shadowy atmospheres, while Lumous is based on a straightforward rhythmic pulse.

During 1993-94 Kuljuntausta composed several important works in a chamber music and orchestra format. Storm... (1993) for Drive Ensemble combines the sounds of a big band, spoken text (written by Kuljuntausta), environmental sounds and jazz improvisation. Enigma, Pro and Time (all composed in 1994) for Petri Kuljuntausta Ensemble deal with repetitive material in a quite hypnotic way. Besides string quartet, an important role in those works is also given for synthesizers, samplers and percussions.

Petri Kuljuntausta started his career as an improvising guitarist and improvisation is still an important source of creative action for him. His band, Petri Kuljuntausta Project!, released Visions and Play CD in 1992. Kuljuntausta continues performing as a guitarist, both soloing with electronic digital tapes and with live performers.

Kuljuntausta also writes about music. He completed his master’s degree in musicology at the University of Jyvaskyla / Research of Arts Programme, where he also studied philosophy, aesthetics and pedagogy. He has also received several national grants.