J-T Vesikkala Wittmacher (by international stage name), or Juhani Topias Vesikkala (by official Finnish name), is a composer, choral baritone singer, a part-time teacher at the Sibelius Academy, multi-instrumentalist, PhD, and academic writer on music, born in Helsinki in 1990.

During 2018-2022, Vesikkala studied a PhD in composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU), supervised by H.Bartoň and M.Rataj. The September 13, 2022 academic defense was approved on the compositions and the written dissertation “The Noise-Pitch Continuum in Timbral Music” (June 2022) , downloadable here.
In early 2016, Vesikkala obtained a master’s degree of composition at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, having studied with Tapio Nevanlinna and later with prof. Veli-Matti Puumala.
Mark Andre and Giovanni Verrando have provided occasional periods of study in Helsinki.

For the academic year 2012 – 2013 Vesikkala deepened their composition studies in Graz, Austria, with Prof. Beat Furrer and Pierluigi Billone.

Their recent academic work has included investigating the multiphonic inharmonic flageolets on the piano, also from a compositional point of view. The study has been published as their masters’ thesis at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. The results have reached the acclaim of fellow composers and given notational suggestions, for flexible use in compositions.
From inharmonic sounds, Vesikkala’s recent research has continued into free or “nomadic” microtonality as well as into doctoral dissertation research on the sounds balanced between pitch and noise (noise with frequency cores, or “Froise”, a term given by Vesikkala in 2018).

Also composing electroacoustic music, Daniel Mayer and Klaus Hollinetz count among Vesikkala’s teachers in Kunstuniversität Graz and Institut für Elektronische Musik (IEM).

Vesikkala’s compositions have been performed in Europe, Asia, and North America since 2003. A recording of an ensemble piece has been released on the label Stradivarius in early 2021.
An early composition by Vesikkala, Me-Di-Tres for string orchestra and wind soloists was awarded 1st prize in the Youth category in Uuno Klami competition for Children and Youth in 2007. The work, among many of Vesikkala’s youth works was composed while studying in the Keski-Helsingin musiikkiopisto Institute under the supervision of Jovanka Trbojević. Recent competition victories include Discovering Young Composers of Europe (DYCE 2019).

Apart from composing, Vesikkala pursues an active professional career as a freelance singer for various choirs and their projects. This growing discography of choral music by living composers has garnered international awards.
Vesikkala has founded and led two festivals with a microtonal focus, MikroFest Helsinki 2018 and Prague MicroFest 2020 / Institut mikrointervalové hudby 2020 within the Czech Institute for Microtonal Music. Vesikkala’s creative flow draws influences from travel, queer feminism, genetics, and Engaged Buddhism.