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Short biography

Jonne Valtonen is a Finnish composer, arranger and orchestrator based in Tampere. He writes orchestral, chamber and choral music. His original works include Tales from Moominvalley, commissioned by Tampere Hall and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestral score for the silent film Song of the Scarlet Flower, and the trio The Droplet and the Ocean. He studied composition at Tampere University of Applied Sciences under Hannu Pohjannoro. His work also includes orchestral arrangements for productions such as Final Symphony. He is a member of the Finnish Composers’ Association and welcomes composition commissions and enquiries about performances of his works.

Long biography

Jonne Valtonen is a Finnish composer, arranger and orchestrator based in Tampere, writing music for orchestra, chamber ensembles and choir. In the latter half of the 2010s he began devoting more of his time to his own compositions. His concert music includes Mimesis for Viola and Performer’s Voice and the male voice choir work Culicidae Night.

Tampere Hall and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned Tales from Moominvalley, an eight-movement suite for orchestra, children’s choir, vocalists, dancer and narrators, premiered in 2017. In 2019 the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra performed his new orchestral score for Mauritz Stiller’s silent film Song of the Scarlet Flower. His trio The Droplet and the Ocean, for clarinet, violin and piano, received its Finnish premiere in Tampere in 2020.

Valtonen studied composition at Tampere University of Applied Sciences under Hannu Pohjannoro, with further instruction from Oliver Kohlenberg and Juhani Nuorvala. His masterclasses included studies with Jouni Kaipainen, Magnus Lindberg and Jukka Tiensuu. He also qualified as a music theory pedagogue.

His orchestral arranging work includes the Game Concerts series and other Merregnon Studios productions. He composed original opening works for Symphonic Fantasies, Symphonic Legends, Final Symphony and Final Symphony II. His compositions and arrangements have been recorded by orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2017 he received the Pirkanmaa fine art award jointly with Roger Wanamo and joined the Finnish Composers’ Association. He continues to accept composition commissions, orchestral arrangements and game-scoring projects.

Born in Turku in 1976 and raised in Kaarina, Valtonen began classical piano lessons as a child. His early career included tracker music as Purple Motion with Future Crew, followed by game scores including Death Rally in 1996. In 1998 he co-founded the music production company Valtone Oy with Timo Haanpää.

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