Biography
Aapo Häkkinen (1976) began his musical education
as a chorister at Helsinki Cathedral. He took up the harpsichord at the age of 13,
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 prize of the Belgian radio and television VRT-3 at the prestigious Bruges
International Harpsichord Competition. He was also awarded the Norddeutscher Rundfunk
special prize Musikpreis 1997 for his interpretations of Italian music. Aapo Hakkinen has
appeared as a soloist in Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, England, Italy,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Estonia, Russia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and
Mexico (Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Festival de
Ligugé, Flanders Festival, Bachfest der Neuen Bachgesellschaft, Musica Bayreuth, Greifswalder
Bachwoche, Augustinus Muziekcentrum Antwerp, Concerto Belgais, Forum Musicum Wroclaw, Antonio il Verso Palermo,
Brezice Festival, Zagreb Baroque Festival, Festival de Morelia, Kuhmo Chamber Music, Helsinki Festival, Vantaa Baroque Week, 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, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Joensuu, Lappeenranta, and Lohja City Orchestras, Sibelius
Academy Baroque Orchestra, SataSinfonia, Dominante Ensemble, Tapiola Chamber Choir, Utopia Chamber Choir),
in collaboration with artists such as Enrico Baiano, Monica Groop, Ilya Grubert, Tommi Hakala,
Erich Höbarth, Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen, María Cristina Kiehr, Anu Komsi, Topi Lehtipuu,
Riccardo Minasi, Susanne Rydén, and Petteri Salomaa. He has conducted Pergolesi's La serva padrona
for the Croatian National Theatre, and Haydn's L'isola disabitata for Finnish Chamber Opera.
Aapo Häkkinen has recorded for the labels Alba, Avie, Cantus, Deux-Elles, and Naxos,
and for European radio and television companies such as BR, MDR, NDR, SR, VRT, CZ, and YLE.
Besides the harpsichord, he regularly performs on the organ and on the clavichord. He has
commissioned, given the premières, and recorded music for harpsichord and clavichord
by the Finnish composer Eero Hämeenniemi, and chamber music by Lucio Garau and Jukka Tiensuu.
Aapo Häkkinen has edited a series of Florentine keyboard music for
Edition Escobar. He teaches at the Sibelius
Academy and at international master-courses. He is Artistic Director of the
Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and of the early music
concert series at the Institut finlandais in Paris.
Recordings of William Byrd's, Girolamo Frescobaldi's, and Joseph 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 de' Medici
(released in December 2005)
Deux-Elles
J.S. Bach: Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord (released in December 2007)
with Mikko Perkola (viola da gamba)
Naxos
"This is playing of a high order." -Gramophone