Research Catalogue

Getting to know the music of the indigenous people of the North-East Siberia has been a turning point in my life. It has changed my earlier views and ideals about music and it has made me question my perception of music, as I have been brought up in the western tradition of classical music. Its unfamiliarity has an enchanting power, which I want to study more deeply and therefore I have given my research the name “Kuulokulmia” (in English, approximately, “Viewpoints of Hearing”).

Pia Siirala studied at the Sibelius Academy, the Budapest Liszt Academy and at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. She is concert master of Ensemble XXI, founded by conductor Lygia O'Riordan, with whom she has performed throughout Russia, Europe, Australasia and the Americas. Siirala has also performed as a chamber musician, as a soloist and given solo recitals.  Since the autumn of 2016, Siirala has been carrying out her doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy on the music of the indigenous people of the North East Siberia, Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Chukotka, where the ancient musical tradition of the indigenous people is still a living tradition. Her main research subject is the ancient music of the Chukchi people. Based on the indigenous music she has created several compositions.