New Mirjam Helin Academy launches – seven singers aim for highest international standards in unique training programme
The first talented singers have been selected for the Mirjam Helin Academy. The academy, which will start in August 2025, will continue the Finnish Cultural Foundation's extensive support for classical singing.
A new initiative of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Mirjam Helin Academy, will start in August 2025. The academy aims to provide training for ambitious young singers. The selected students will study topics including performance, programme design, vocal technique, and many related skills required in the music industry, according to a personal study plan. The Finnish Cultural Foundation will cover all the students’ expenses.
The first singers to take part in the academy have now been selected: Iris Candelaria, Martin Iivarinen, Emma Karsten, Gabriel Kivivuori Sereno, Johannes Pessi, Tuomas Pääkkönen and Marjaana Ritanen.
Two young singers still in school, Faraja Mwamalumbili and Matvei Palola, will participate in a preparatory junior programme.
Applications were welcomed from talented students of classical voice and young professionals in the field in early 2025. The academy did not want to restrict applications too much, for instance by imposing an age limit, as it hoped to include singers from all backgrounds and regions in Finland.
“These ideas were realised in a wonderful way. The number of applicants exceeded our expectations, and the selected singers come from all over Finland”, says Päivi Loponen-Kyrönseppä, who is in charge of the programme at the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
In total, 144 applications were received, and 26 singers participated in the live auditions. The jury consisted of Rosemary Joshua, soprano and director of the Dutch National Opera Studio, Alessandro Misciasci, pianist and choral conductor, Luca Pisaroni, bass-baritone, and Kari Heiskanen, director.
The teachers at the Mirjam Helin Academy will be recruited from the very top of the music profession, and they include opera singers, conductors, directors, musical experts and professionals. The teachers confirmed so far are opera singers Camilla Nylund, Luca Pisaroni and Linda Watson, conductor and pianist Audrey Saint-Gil, psychologist Marjukka Laurola and poet and university lecturer Vesa Haapala.
The Mirjam Helin Academy is funded via the Mirjam and Hans Helin donor fund. The aim of the fund is to support the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition and to award grants to artists and initiatives within the classical-music field. Mirjam Helin (1911–2006) made a significant donation to the Finnish Cultural Foundation. She was a renowned singer and much-loved voice pedagogue with a passion for teaching, a profession in which she continued until she was over 80 years of age.
Concerts for the public in connection with weekend sessions and summer courses
In the Mirjam Helin Academy, teaching will be given in intense weekend sessions and at summer courses to be held across Finland, in collaboration with leading Finnish practitioners in the field.
The first teaching period will be on 14-17 August 2025 in Turku. Other locations for the autumn are Joensuu on 12-14 September and Järvenpää on 13-16 November 2025.
There will also be concerts for the public. After the Turku weekend, the singers will perform on the Espa stage in Helsinki on Monday, 18 August 2025 at 15.
