FFN Performer of the Year: Sara Pajunen

Finlandia Foundation National Performer of the Year, Sara Pajunen, will be performing at the Swedish Club.

She is a Minneapolis-based musician and composer. Described as ‘an amazingly versatile musician who now counts among the most ambitious and notable practitioners of Finnish folk music outside of Finland,’ Pajunen has formed three touring ensembles surrounding her Finnish heritage, recorded four albums that blend old and new within unique sound, and currently tours and teaches in the United States and Europe.

Pajunen’s work is an investigation into family, culture, ancestry – and essentially, self. Certain questions constantly prod evolution: how are we similar through our differences? What are the greater arcs throughout time, regardless of place? How are we aided and/or inhibited by culture?

Pajunen earned classical music degrees in both the United States and Finland, and her work has received funding from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Jerome Foundation, and Koneen Säätiö.