My name is Dominic G. Joutsen and I'm a composer for concert hall, film, TV and media. Primary a symphonist, I work in a multitude of genres and styles breaking down (or so I think) the boundaries between classical, ethnic, pop and electronic. Yet the one thing I always try to preserve is emotional resonance, richness and beauty, which I believe are the corner stones of any work of art.
I was born Cyril Ioutsen (that remains my legal name) in Moscow, Russia, to Russian-Swedish parents and I had no interest in music until my late teens, when I encountered music of John Williams and Philip Glass that finally inspired me to compose myself (thus as a musician I'm mostly self-taught, being late in finding my voice). I have rapidly become a huge fan of Hollywood film music, but I have also developed a strong interest in medieval and non-European sound and in many avant-garde trends as well.
Composing extensively since the early 2000-s I also managed to graduate from the State University for Humanities (a division of the Russian Academy of Sciences) with an M.A. degree in American history (a proper education for a musician, eh?) and currently I'm pursuing Ph.D. there. My professional musical career has started when I teamed up with Russia's leading game-industry composer and producer Edward Mekhraliev, first as his assistant and now as second-in-command at his international production center 'Universum Soni'. That led me to scoring a handful of videogames and TV shows, and on my own I occasionally contribute original music to independent movies from all over the globe.
The list of my concert hall compositions is extensive (considering I'm still young), counting some eighty plus opus numbers, which include four symphonies, three quartets, dozens of suites, overtures, sonatas, choral pieces and arrangements. The world premiere of my music was given by the East-Flanders Chamber Orchestra (Belgium) under the baton of Bruno de Schaepdrijver in November of 2007.
In my spare time I write poetry in English (under another pen-name), for which I have already received two Editor's Choice Awards from International Society of Poets (USA), and enjoy making annoying noises with duduk, bansuri, clarinet, dan moi, gemshorn, kena, komus, mandolin, piano, pifano, pimak, recorder, saxophone, shakuhachi, tinwhistle and Tibetan singing bowl.
