Biography
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 in his
native Helsinki. From 1995 to 1998 he studied at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatoire with
Bob van Asperen, 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 soloist's 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 has
appeared as a soloist in Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, England, Italy,
Spain, Luxembourg, Portugal, Estonia, Russia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and
Mexico (Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Göttinger Händel-Festspiele, Festival de
Ligugé, Flanders Festival, Bachfest der Neuen Bachgesellschaft, Musica Bayreuth, Greifswalder
Bachwoche, Antwerp Augustinus Muziekcentrum, Concerto Belgais, St Petersburg Early Music Festival,
Forum Musicum Wroclaw, Semana de Mśsica Antigua de Estella, Antonio il Verso Palermo, Bre˛ice Festival, Zagreb Baroque Festival, Vara˛din Baroque Evenings, Festival de Morelia, Tallinn Baroque Festival, Kuhmo Chamber Music, Helsinki Festival, Vantaa Baroque, Turku Music Festival, Lahti Organ Festival...)
Aapo Häkkinen is also known as a distinguished chamber musician (Opus X, Les Talens
Lyriques, La Sfera Armoniosa...) and director (Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Musica Aeterna
Bratislava, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Solamente
Naturali, Tampere Filharmonia, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Chamber Orchestra of Lapland, Sibelius
Academy Baroque Orchestra, SataSinfonia, vocal ensemble Lumen Valo, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Tapiola Chamber Choir, Utopia Chamber Choir),
in collaboration with artists such as Enrico Baiano, Pia Freund, Reinhard Goebel, Monica Groop, Ilya Grubert, Tommi Hakala,
Pierre Hantaï, Erich Höbarth, Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch, Anna-Kristiina Kaappola, María Cristina Kiehr, Anu Komsi, Topi Lehtipuu,
Riccardo Minasi, Susanne Rydén, and Petteri Salomaa. He has conducted Handel's Acis and Galatea and Haydn's L'isola disabitata for the Finnish Chamber Opera, Carissimi's Jephte for Kokkola Opera, and Pergolesi's La serva padrona
for the Croatian National Theatre.
Aapo Häkkinen has recorded for the labels Alba, Avie, Cantus, Deux-Elles, and Naxos,
and for European radio and television companies such as MDR, NDR, BR, SR, SWR, and VRT.
Besides the harpsichord, he regularly performs on the organ and on the clavichord. He has
commissioned, given premières, and recorded music by Lucio Garau, Eero Hämeenniemi, Jyrki Linjama, Jukka Tiensuu, and Tapio Tuomela.
Aapo Häkkinen has edited a series of 17th century Florentine keyboard music for Edition Escobar. He teaches at the Sibelius
Academy and at international master classes. He is Artistic Director of the
Helsinki Baroque Orchestra.
Recordings of Bach's, Byrd's, Frescobaldi's, and Haydn's keyboard music can be ordered from your local distributor or directly from
Alba Records
Medici Harpsichord Book - an anonymous Florentine manuscript attributed to Prince Ferdinando III de' Medici
Deux-Elles
J.S. Bach: Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord
Naxos
"This is playing of a high order." -Gramophone
AN INTERVIEW WITH AAPO HÄKKINEN