10 November 2025
Between Worlds: Timo-Veikko Valve and AYO explore music across continents
ACO Principal Cellist Timo-Veikko ‘Tipi’ Valve on working with AYO Momentum Ensemble and transporting Australian audiences to his Finnish homeland
In Between Worlds, ACO Principal Cellist Timo-Veikko “Tipi” Valve joins AYO Momentum Ensemble for concerts this November at UKARIA in the Adelaide Hills and ACO on the Pier in Sydney. In conversation with Momentum Ensemble violinist and AYO Media and Communication Fellow Julia Hill, Tipi shares how the program reflects his journey between Finland and Australia.
Featuring works like Jaakko Kuusisto’s Wiima, Tipi hopes to transport audiences to the stark beauty of a Finnish winter while celebrating Australia’s open, creative musical culture that has shaped his artistry over 20 years. He discusses the collaborative nature of directing from the cello, curating pieces to spark fresh perspectives, and encourages young musicians to find their own voice and embrace freedom in music-making. Tipi looks forward to learning from AYO musicians during this exciting week of discovery and performance.
Julia Hill: In our upcoming program with AYO Momentum Ensemble, we’re going to hear works that traverse your experiences across Finland and Australia. How did you choose these works you’ve programmed and how do they connect to moments in your life?
Timo-Veikko ‘Tipi’ Valve: I think music often has a sense of place. I wanted to introduce pieces of music that I feel really capture the Finnish landscape or the Finnish kind of mentality and that tell a story about what that place is; what it might look like, what the people might be like and in a sense offer the Australian audience a slight window into my world in Finland. And perhaps, if everything goes super well, in some way teleport the audience and ourselves into a very cold Finnish winter day.
The title of Jaakko Kuusisto’s work, Wiiima, means that wintery breeze where you’re covered up in lots of clothing but your face is exposed. It’s that kind of sensation of really cold air just kind of hitting your skin. If we can capture that in music and let the audience in Australia experience that, that would be fantastic.
Julia: I’m sure we’ll be experiencing that as musicians as well going through the rehearsal process, even though we’ll be coming into summer. So how was the move from Finland to Australia for you? Has it influenced any of your music making?
Tipi: It’s very interesting to think back now because it’s been a long time. I’ve lived here for 20 years. When I did move here I was very much in the beginning of my career and just finished school and I guess in many ways still searching for my own kind of musical personality. Looking back, feel that Australia has always provided a landscape and a musical kind of society that is very accepting and open-minded. It’s not hindered by too much of tradition or expectations of doing things in a certain way, but rather it kind of frees the musician and the artist to really kind of imagine what they want to be, and I think that’s been a nice environment to exist.
Obviously through my position with the Australian Chamber Orchestra I’ve had the possibility to do lots of artistic things that perhaps I wouldn’t have been able to do in Finland, who knows? But I think that that kind of general easiness of life – you can really see in other people in the musical life here. It’s an exciting and inspiring place to be and to work.
Julia: AYO Momentum Ensemble is really excited to be working with you this year. What is the importance of engaging young classical musicians in these types of initiatives?
Tipi: One thing I found interesting is curating and trying to think slightly out-of-the-box. We’re not reinventing the wheel with this program by any means; but subtly putting things together and listening to a certain piece of music next to another piece of music. Those subtle kinds of experiences that we will have as performers, and the audience as well, hopefully opens up new ways of experiencing the music.
There might be a few pieces on this program that that either we the players or the audience has a preconceived idea about, but when they are put together in the way that we will put them together perhaps they will hear them anew. And I hope some of those elements of this program inspire the AYO musicians and make them think about what other possibilities might there be to create new musical conversations.
Julia: You are going to be our director, our conductor and our principal cello throughout the week. What is your strategy for directing from the cello?
Tipi: Coming from the bass side of the musical family we create the foundation – basically building, directing or leading within from that foundation does work. Historically we’ve kind of gone into this model where predominantly either we have a separate conductor for a big symphony orchestra or the role of the leader is often seen in the violin.
This is definitely going to be a collaborative effort so it’s not like I’m necessarily dictating everything from the cello, but we are performing together. My role is to facilitate and oversee that… but we’re going to need everyone on stage! It’s not going to just be somehow miraculously led from the cello. We’re just 16 people in this ensemble, so the role of everyone is hugely important.
Julia: You’re going to be working with a bunch of Australian Youth Orchestra musicians. What advice would you give to aspiring young musicians?
Tipi: It’s important to just be true to yourself and try to really find your own voice. It sounds like a cliche, but I think there’s nothing more important than to be honest to yourself and really figure out what type of musician you are – what is the thing that really excites you? We’re all different and we all have our drawcards or things that we feel very comfortable with. In a sense that those are the things that you really want to do and should do, because they come to you naturally.
Julia: So how did you figure that out? Was it through trying lots of things?
Tipi: Probably. I was lucky in many ways with the sort of teachers that I had and the learning environment that I had. It created an environment where I could find that voice or could imagine what that voice was. At the same time I was surrounded by teachers that did not hinder that process, but rather promoted that sort of freedom. I guess you probably would agree that the importance of fellow students and who you study with is important. We’re not only learning from some teacher or school but we’re learning from each other.
During this week I’m going to learn so much from you guys and your experience. This is going to be a very exciting week. A lot of new people for me will be in that room. There will be a few familiar faces from other projects, but it’ll be interesting for us to find our way to play together. No one knows what that is going to be like, and that’s always exciting to figure out how we’re going to put all this music in order, if you like, and find a way how to best present them to our audiences, both in Sydney and Adelaide. It’ll be so much fun.
This is an edited transcript of an interview recorded in October 2025. Tipi was interviewed by AYO Media and Communication Fellow, Julia Hill.
