Jaani Helander began composing during the Covid lockdown of spring 2020. When the global pandemic cleared his schedule of a performing artist, there was enough time and room for creativity to start blossoming. Long walks in the nature in his home city Helsinki, Finland, combined with a sleepless night resulted in his first composition, Nocturne. It is dedicated to his cello duo Cellomania. His other works include Inner Life, Op. 2 (Suite for String Quintet) / Live, and Festive Anthem, Op. 4 (also for Cellomania), which was commissioned for the prize ceremony of the Nordic Council of Ministers in November 2022, and the performance was aired live in all the Nordic countries. Helander’s Op. 5, the Freedom Quartet, premiered in summer 2023 at the Helsinki Chamber Music Festival, of which he is the Artistic Director. Towards the New Horizon is for a unique hybrid ensemble consisting of Cellomania, Ginette inventor Petteri Mäkiniemi and electro artist Ahva. The project was for Helander a leap into composing electronic music, something he had been dreaming of for years. With Ahva, he recently released more electronic music under the alias Freedrive. A new EP for cello quartet, titled Elegia, was released in spring 2024. Helander's Freedom Quartet saw its US Premiere at the iPalpiti Festival in Los Angeles in July 2024, with the composer himself on the cello. Inner Life got its Spanish Premiere by the Real Orquesta Sinfonica De Sevilla on Nov 24, 2024.