Kai Nieminen (born 17 March 1953) studied the guitar at the Conservatory of Central Finland and the Sibelius Academy and musicology at the University of Jyväskylä. He has also studied composition with Stepàn Rak and Pekka Kostiainen and attended master classes with George Crumb, Paavo Heininen, Jukka Tiensuu and Theo Lowendie. As a guitarist Kai Nieminen has given recitals and appeared as soloist with several orchestras and acted as a member of the jury of the Fernando Sor Guitar Competition.
Nieminen has composed a number of orchestrai works including Le città invisibili, Chi Vivrà Vedrà, Time around Lights, Vicoli in ombra, Il castello dei destini incrociati, Time around Spring, In Mirrors of Time... and In Woodlands of the Birds. His list of works also includes a wealth of chamber music and works for solo instruments - especially the guitar. He has also written three concertos: Palomar (Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, 2001), Clarinet Concerto “Through Shadows I Can Hear Ancient Voices” (2002) and Concerto per violino e orchestra “II viaggio del cavaliere... (inesistente)” (2005).
The music of Kai Nieminen does not conform to any of the schools or -isms. Often in the nature of fantasias, his works have been inspired by visions of anything from the fantasy world of Italo Calvino to the silent arctic landscape lit by the Northern Lights. Rests and silence are in fact almost as important to him as sounds, and his indeterminate intervals give his music an archaic undercurrent. Nieminen believes in musical narratives and their universality. According to him, music cannot exist simply for the sake of the music itself; the relationship with the environment and the chance for the listeners to abandon themselves to a chain of associations are vital aspects of music.