Education
He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was taught composition by Aarre Merikanto, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Einar Englund, and Joonas Kokkonen. He has also studied musicology at the University of Helsinki.
He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was taught composition by Aarre Merikanto, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Einar Englund, and Joonas Kokkonen. He has also studied musicology at the University of Helsinki.
He continued his studies in Cologne with Bernd Alois Zimmermann. At the Juilliard School of Music in New York with Vincent Persichetti and Eduard Steuermann. And privately in Poland with Witold Lutosławski.
Heininen is one of the most important Finnish modernist composers.
As professor of composition at the Sibelius Academy, Heininen has been highly influential in educating the next generation of Finnish composers and his pupils have included Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Jukka Tiensuu, Jouni Kaipainen and Veli-Matti Puumala. Alongside composition, Heininen has been active as a pianist, premiering and recording several of his own works.
He is also known as an essayist and has written a large number of composer portraits.