The Helsinki Biennale is an international festival of contemporary music first held in 1981, and attracting many leading composers and musicians. A festival concentrating on contemporary Finnish music has been held in Tampere in alternate years with the Helsinki Biennale since 1986. The prime mover of the Tampere festival is composer Usko Meril inen . Finland is a promised land of symphony orchestras. The country's nearly 30 symphony orchestras play an important role as regional providers of music.
Regional operas perform in eleven cities.
Enhanced music teaching in schools, known as the music class system, was introduced in Helsinki in the early 1960s. Currently some 14,000 pupils in 530 music classes at comprehensive schools around Finland follow a curriculum with a special emphasis on music. Enhanced music teaching at the upper secondary level is given at ten specialized schools. At the moment, there are nearly 150 music institutes in Finland, with about 50,000 students. There are also numerous private music schools, particularly kindergartens.