New Music Edmonton is happy to return with a new series of The No Normal. We have some great interviews with amazing people lined up for the coming months, and we’re looking forward to sharing their work and their words with you! To get things going, we are delighted to present composer Sointu Aalto, in conversation with Suzette Chan. Born in Helsinki, raised in Edmonton, Sointu Aalto is a composer and cellist, who has emerged as one of the most compelling emerging artists, with a formidable output of uncompromising instrumental and audio-visual works. She has studied with many eminent teachers in Edmonton and elsewhere, and has been a competition winner, and participant in festivals across Canada and abroad. In June, 2022, Aalto and her colleagues in The JAMS Quartet performed in the Now Hear This Festival in Edmonton, where they gave a rare, full-length performance of works by Aalto and other composers. Compositions by Sointu Aalto Included in this episode: 2:34 THINK THINK THINK THINK THINK (Excerpt) Audio portion of audio-visual work, commissioned by New Music Edmonton for the Summer Solstice Series, 2021. 6:09 Mass Extinction (Excerpt) Performed by The JAMS Quartet: Jessica Ortlieb, Anna Vlasova, Mora Clarke, Sointu Aalto, with Kauri Aalto, tam-tam 13:22 super(ficial) (Full Length) Performed by Bergamot Quartet at MATA Jr., Music at the Anthology Festival, NY, 2021 18:10 The Pizza Man Is Real (Full Length) Performed by The JAMS Quartet: Jessica Ortlieb, Anna Vlasova, Mora Clarke, Sointu Aalto 34:01 THINK THINK THINK THINK THINK (Full Length) Audio portion of audio-visual work, commissioned by New Music Edmonton for the Summer Solstice Series, 2021. 38:20 Yosinfonia (2020) (Full Length) Performed by Daniel Aalto, piano, Eija Aalto, soprano Text: Yösinfonia, 1, by Kirsi Kunna For more Information: Sointu Aalto: https://soundcloud.com/user-759064400 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-z7kOEcb8OZ9B2wiBmlo9A Suzette Chan: (https://suzettechan.wordpress.com)