SARA PAJUNEN is an interdisciplinary artist based in Minnesota/Helsinki, specializing in music and the sonic arts. She plays violin and hardanger d’amore, works with still and moving imagery, and is a field recordist and composer-improviser. Born into the immigrant culture of Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range (USA), Pajunen’s artistic practice is driven by the interchange between her ancestral roots, cultural histories, and a deep connection to environments through sound.

Free improvisation, folk music, and classical mix together in Pajunen’s solo instrumental playing. She has studied improvisation with Tanya Kalmanovitch, Anthony Coleman, and Ted Reichman and Nordic folk traditions with Arto Järvelä and Ritva Talvitie (FI), Benedicte Maurseth and Knut Hamre (NO), and Mats Edén (SE). Pajunen has performed extensively in Europe and North America. Pajunen has released five albums of singular collaborations, and two experimental solo albums.

Longterm project Mine Songs: Sounding an Altered Landscape uses field recordings, violin/voice, archival material, and still and moving imagery to explore the transformed environment of the Mesabi Iron Range, the fissure in our relationship with the earth and the complex stories we tell ourselves (or have been told) about history, power, identity, and agency. Works from Mine Songs have been presented on stage, in galleries, and as a 2024 audio album. The photography book Mine Songs: as above, so below will be published in 2027 (follow here for updates)

Pajunen’s work has received support from the Jerome Foundation, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Minnesota State Arts Board, Kone Foundation, New Music USA, American Scandinavian Foundation, and the Arts Council of Finland - amongst others. She holds classical music degrees in both the United States and Finland, and a Master of Music in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory in Boston.

Listen to/read WGBH interview here / CV / Bandcamp / Substack