For more than fifteen years, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra’s performances and recordings have been captivating audiences with a potent combination of emotional eloquence and infectious vitality. Their programmes frequently include first modern performances of unpublished or reconstructed masterpieces, and also shed unexpected and often provocative new light on more familiar works. Their music-making has contributed to the ensemble’s reputation as a major exponent of Baltic and German Baroque music.

At home, groundbreaking productions of Monteverdi’s and Handel’s operas have earned the orchestra wide recognition. Since 2011, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra’s monthly series at the Helsinki Music Centre has reached a large, new, and enthusiastic public. A visionary selection of repertoire and guest artists has ignited the audience in an unprecedented way, and in the process catalysed early music’s elevation to something of a cult status in Finland. Recurring soloists and guest directors include Franco Fagioli, Isabelle Faust, Reinhard Goebel, Werner Güra, Erich Höbarth, René Jacobs, Julia Lezhneva, Riccardo Minasi, Enrico Onofri, Valer Sabadus, Carolyn Sampson, and Skip Sempé.

Aapo Häkkinen 

Aapo Häkkinen (1976) began his musical education as a chorister at Helsinki Cathedral. He took up the harpsichord at the age of thirteen, studying with Elina Mustonen and Olli Porthan (organ) at the Sibelius Academy. From 1995 to 1998 he studied with Bob van Asperen at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory and from 1996 to 2000 with Pierre Hantaï in Paris. He was also fortunate to enjoy the generous guidance and encouragement of Gustav Leonhardt.
Immediately after obtaining his diploma in 1998, Aapo Häkkinen won second prize and the VRT prize at the Bruges International Harpsichord Competition. He was also awarded the Norddeutscher Rundfunk special prize Musikpreis 1997 for his interpretations of Italian music.

Aapo Häkkinen is also known as a distinguished chamber musician and director (Musica Aeterna, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Os Músicos do Tejo, Capella Cracoviensis, Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Tampere Filharmonia, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Lapland, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Espoo Baroque, Tirgu Mures Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Novosibirsk Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Cork Baroque Orchestra, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Key Ensemble, Voces Caelestes) in collaboration with artists such as Reinhard Goebel, Monica Groop, Ilya Grubert, Werner Güra, Pierre Hantaï, Erich Höbarth, Soile Isokoski, María Cristina Kiehr, Topi Lehtipuu, Julia Lezhneva, Riccardo Minasi, Alexander Rudin, Carolyn Sampson, and Dmitry Sinkovsky. He has conducted the modern premiere of Koželuch's Gustav Wasa (dir. Ville Sandqvist), Handel's Acis and Galatea (dir. Vilppu Kiljunen) and Haydn's L'Isola disabitata (dir. Johanna Freundlich) for the Finnish Chamber Opera, Carissimi's Jephte (dir. Juha Mustanoja) for Kokkola Opera, Pergolesi's La Serva padrona (dir. Ozren Prohić) for the Croatian National Theatre, Telemann's Pimpinone (dir. Ville Saukkonen) for Rovaniemi Korundi, Handel's Alcina (dir. Vilppu Kiljunen) for Vaasa Baroque, Paisiello's La Serva padrona (dir. Ville Saukkonen) for Les Lumières, and Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (dir. Vilppu Kiljunen) for the Finnish National Opera. 

China Tour Schedule

2019.12.19-12.16

2019.12.20|Heyuan

2019.12.22|Changsha

2019.12.25|Tianjin

More to come...

China Show in Previous Years

2016.12

Harbin\Tianjin\Shanghai\Dunhuang