Leif Nystén studied flute at the Helsinki Conservatory, law at the University of Turku and musicology at the University of Helsinki, where he earned his master's degree in 2003. Nystén also has a long experience as a music journalist and producer in the Swedish speaking section of the Finnish Radio Broadcasting system.

In the current project, Leif Nystén is carrying out a Ph.D. project that is entitled "The artist behind the press - a study of a singer's self esteem in relation to written articles". Here Nystén will focus on the print media. One of the cases he will study is the famous Finnish opera tenor Caj Ehrestedt, who had a career in three Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden, and Norway.

The study will examine the role of print media in building up the "aura", "myth", "persona" or image of the performer. Although the subject is music criticism, the approach is quite new since it is not based an aesthetics but on ethnomusicology, semiotics and cultural studies.

leif.nysten@notamus.com