Teachers
Below you will find a list of the teachers for the summer 2025 Baroque camp. Details are still to be confirmed regarding the roles of harpsichordists (teaching/continuo/correpetiteur).
Baroque orchestra, baroque violin ja baroque viola
Anthony Marini
The American violinist Anthony Marini, who has settled in Finland, has studied on both sides of the Atlantic. While studying modern violin with Jody Gatwood at the Catholic University of America (Washington, DC), he also studied baroque violin with Risa Browder. In 2010, she moved to Europe, where she studied at the Sibelius Academy and the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP) under the tutelage of Minna Kangas, Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch and François Fernandez. Anthony is a frequent concertmaster or soloist in productions by the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, the Musicians of the Royal Kingdom, Espoo Baroque Orchestra and Ensemble Zaïs. He also plays regularly with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and Ensemble Nylandia. As an active chamber musician, he performs with the Rosetta Ensemble, Avanti!, FiBO Players and Ensemble Stravaganza.
Anthony enjoys folk music and is eager to learn new instruments. To date, he has also studied viola d’amore, viola da gamba, key violin and a variety of violins used in folk music. Anthony plays on a baroque violin built by Jason Viseltear with the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Baroque violin ja baroque viola
Kreeta-Maria Kentala
Baroque violinist Kreeta-Maria Kentala performs as a soloist and conductor in various orchestras and conducts educational projects on early music styles. As a chamber musician, she performs in a wide range of ensembles at home and abroad. Kentala plays wild baroque sonatas together with harpsichordist Mitzi Meyerson and cellist Lauri Pulakka in an ensemble called The Jones Band. He leads Barocco Boreale, an ensemble of baroque musicians from Central Ostrobothnia, whose mission is to bring baroque orchestral music to audiences in Ostrobothnia. Kentala, a native of Kausti, composes concert programmes of folk and baroque music, the most popular of which is the solo violin programme Side by Side. This album, which combines music by J.S. Bach and Causisian folk music, won the Yle Radio Record of the Year and Classic Emma awards in 2016.
Kentala has worked as a lecturer of violin and baroque music at the West-Helsinki Music Institute, Sibelius Academy and Pietarsaaren amk Novia. Her own violin teachers include Mauno Järvelä, Kaija Saarikettu and Endre and Jennifer Wolf, and her baroque violin teachers include Reinhard Goebel and Monica Hugget. In 2017, Kentala was awarded a five-year grant from the State Arts Council for her artistic work. In 2019. She has been the artistic director of the Kälviä Baroque Music Camp and the Oulunsalo soi festival.
kreetamariakentala.fi
Aira Maria Lehtipuu
Aira Maria Lehtipuu is an early music violinist who enjoys making music both performing and teaching. She is known as a humane, passionate and collaborative musician. Throughout his career he has gained experience touring and recording with some of Europe’s most renowned early music ensembles, especially during his eight years living in the Netherlands. Lehtipuu’s roles as a musician range flexibly from violist to concertmaster and from 17th century repertoire to modern cross-over folk baroque. Lehtipuu is most regularly seen today, in addition to his many chamber music projects and his own ensemble, the Tampere-based Pirkanmaan Barok, with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and as a guest leader with various ensembles in Poland, Estonia, Norway and elsewhere. Lehtipuu is a lecturer of baroque music at Novia University of Applied Sciences and in his free time he enjoys being in nature and baking.
Anne Pekkala
Anne Pekkala’s performances with early music ensembles have taken her to most European countries, Israel, Taiwan and Japan. Her recordings with the Ricercar Consort and La Petite Bande, Ensemble Pygmalion and Ensemble le Caravansérail, and ArteMandoline have won awards such as the Diapason d’Or, the International Classical Music Awards and the Gramophone Editor’s Choice. He recently recorded the solo violin parts of J.S. Bach’s 5th Brandenburg Concerto for Harmonia Mundi with harpsichordist Benjamin Alard. He has also performed as a violinist with the Kuijken Quartet.
Anne Pekkala started playing the violin at the age of three at the Suzuki Violin School in Imatra. Her violin studies continued in Helsinki, but her enthusiasm for early music was sparked by Johannes Vesterinen’s Sonus Borealis ensemble in Imatra. He graduated with distinction from the Paris Conservatoire in François Fernandez’s baroque violin class and continued his studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels under Sigiswald Kuijke. Anne Pekkala’s artistic activities and studies have been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Wihuri Fund, the Arts Promotion Centre, the Fondation Meyer and the Mécénat Musical Société Générale.
Baroque cello
Heidi Peltoniemi
Heidi Peltoniemi has performed as soloist and gambist with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra since 2002 and has toured extensively with the orchestra at international and Finnish music festivals and concert series. In addition, he plays actively in chamber music ensembles such as the Earthly Angels. His instruments include a cello built by G. Taningard in Rome in the 1700s and a viola da gamba (Tielke 1699 model) built by F. Bodart in 1996. Heidi organises a series of chamber music concerts of early music at her home in the Pitäjänmäki village church in Helsinki.
Viola da gamba
Josh Cheatham
From the treble viol to the “violedegamboes of extraordinarie greatnesse”, Josh Cheatham performs the challenging seventeenth and eighteenth century repertoire shared by both melody and bass instruments. Whether in the viol consort literature, the virtuoso works for solo viola da gamba of Marais, Forqueray and Bach, or orchestral double bass playing, he has become a welcome new member of the chamber music and orchestral scene in Europe. Josh Cheatham studied viola da gamba with Wieland Kuijken and Anneke Pols, violone with Maggie Urquhart in Holland, in addition to Masterclasses with Jordi Savall in Italy and double bass studies with Edgar Meyer at Vanderbilt University. He was awarded a Masters Diploma from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 2003. Recent projects include concert performances in Paris, Versailles, Tours, the Bach Festival in Lausanne, La Folle Journee in Nantes, Bilbao and Lisbon with Capriccio Stravagante, Montreal Baroque with Masques and concerts in Holland with the Netherlands Bach Society. He has recorded with the Capriccio Stravagante Orchestra and Chanticleer for Teldec.
Double bass and violone
Anna Rinta-Rahko
I’m Anna Rinta-Rahko and I’m from Ostrobothnia. My main occupation is playing double bass in Sinfonia Lahti. I also teach double bass at Lahti Conservatory and perform as a baroque bassist with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra. I graduated with a Master of Music degree from the Sibelius Academy in 2005. Playing early music has been part of my life since childhood when I performed as a wind player in the Waasan Early Music Ensemble. During my studies at the Sibelius Academy, I was introduced to playing the gut strings and gradually became involved in the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra. Later, my love of early music led me to apply to Novia University of Applied Sciences to study Baroque music. Under the guidance of my teacher Maria Vahervuo, I got not only the baroque bass but also the g-violon, the largest bass instrument in the gamba family.
Cembalo
Anna-Maaria Oramo
Anna-Maaria Oramo is an internationally performing harpsichordist and singer, a versatile freelance early music artist. As a harpsichordist, Anna-Maaria has performed all over the world since 2003, both as a soloist and as a member of Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Orfeo 55 and Ensemble Matheus. She has participated in several internationally award-winning recordings, also as a soloist (e.g. Diapason d’Or 2020), including the recording of Antonio Soler’s harpsichord sonatas for Alba Records (2011). Anna-Maaria has also collaborated as a harpsichordist with dozens of orchestras and chamber ensembles at home and abroad. She also plays the medieval harpsichord and has taken part in several tours in Europe and at home with the medieval ensemble Amor Céu, among others. As a music director, Anna-Maaria has made rapid strides in recent years as leader of Joensuu City Orchestra, Finnish Baroque Orchestra and Espoo Baroque Orchestra.
Anna-Maaria is also a dedicated pedagogue. She has taught harpsichord and continuo at Yrkehögskolan Novia, for almost 10 years as a harpsichord accompanist at Sibelius Academy and at several master classes over the years. Oramo also teaches singing, conducts choirs and directs baroque ensembles at a Senior Baroque Workshop. As nothing is enough to satisfy Anna-Maaria’s thirst to study and perform early music, she also invests in studies in vocal pedagogy and music conducting to further deepen her insight. Oramo has been awarded several long-term artist grants to nurture her musical dreams. Anna-Maaria holds a doctorate in music, specialising in French harpsichord music and its vocal influences.
Continuo
Mitra Virtaperko
Mitra Virtaperko is a harpsichordist, music teacher and non-fiction writer from Tampere and Helsinki. She teaches harpsichord, continuo and basso continuo at the East Helsinki Music College and Zen at the Tampere Zen Center and in Helsinki.
Recorder and traverso
Hanna Haapamäki
Hanna Haapamäki is known as an active musician, who has performed both as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous early music ensembles and orchestras. Hanna plays recorder and traverso in the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and the Espoo Baroque Orchestra, and has also been heard as a soloist in the same orchestras, Barocco Boreale and Kymi Sinfonietta. Hanna is a founding member of the baroque ensemble Baccano and the Bravade recorder quartet. Hanna has performed at numerous music festivals both at home and abroad, including in Europe and Japan. In addition to her solo and chamber music duties, she is passionate about children’s concerts, concerts in senior citizens’ service homes and institutions, and music education projects. Hanna is a member of the Collegium ry education and audience working group and works for the Konserttikeskus ry. Hanna has toured extensively in schools, kindergartens, service homes and music schools in Finland, carrying the message of recorder, traverso and baroque music.
www.hannahaapamaki.com
Pauliina Fred
Pauliina Fred specialises in historical flutes and their playing techniques. Her expertise ranges from Renaissance flutes to the Romantic period cross-flute. Pauliina plays regularly with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and the Norwegian Nivalis Barokkensemble and Barokkanerne-Norsk Baroque Orchestra. She is also a member of the Bravade String Quartet and the Bellman Ensemble. In 2018-21 he was the artistic designer of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra.
Fred has performed as a soloist at numerous festivals and concert series in Europe and Asia (Musica Antiqua Bruges, Mozartfest Würzburg, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Kölner Philharmonie, among others) and as a chamber and orchestral musician in Finland and most European countries, as well as in Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Peru, the USA and China. Pauliina Fred’s music can be heard on the Naxos, Aeolus, Pilfink, BIS, Fuga and FiboRecords labels.
Pauliina lanseerasi Café Barock -konserttisarjan Helsinkiin v. 2010 ja toimi sarjan taiteellisena johtajana vuosina 2010–12. Hän on ideoinut, toteuttanut sekä esittänyt yli 400 lastenkonserttia ympäri Suomea ja Norjaa. Syksystä 2015 lähtien hän on ohjannut varttuneemmalle väestölle suunnattua Seniorien barokkipajaa. Fred toimii tuntiopettajana Sibelius-Akatemiassa. Pauliina Fred valmistui musiikin maisteriksi sekä Sibelius-Akatemiasta että Utrechtin Konservatoriosta, Hollannista v. 2001.
Baroque bassoon and baroque dance
Jani Sunnarborg
Jani Sunnarborg specialises in early music and historical bassoon playing in The Hague and Paris. He plays in ensembles such as the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Les musiciens du Louvre, {Oh!} Orkiestra historyczna, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and numerous others. Jani has also studied harpsichord and organ, teaches at the Sibelius Academy and occasionally performs as a baroque dancer. Jani has studied baroque dance not only with Maria Hostika, but also with and under the coaching of some of the greatest teachers in the field, such as Béatrice Massin’s Robert le Nuz, Adrian Navarro and Caroline Copeland.
Baroque oboe
Jasu Moisio
Jasu Moisio became interested in early music and the oboe while singing works by J.S. Bach in Cantores Minores in the 1980s. After studying modern and historical oboe in Helsinki, he moved to Central Europe in 1996 to study with Ku Ebbinge at the Hague Conservatory and later with Marcel Ponseele at the Paris Conservatory. He also spent a month in Montréal with baroque oboe pioneer Bruce Haynes. Based in Paris, Moisio has been principal oboist with Ensemble Pygmalion (Raphaël Pichon) since 2008, and from 2021 will succeed Marcel Ponseele at Herreweghe’s Collegium Vocale Gent.
When time permits, he performs with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées (Herreweghe), Les Musiciens du Louvre (Minkowski), Capriccio Stravagante (Sempé), Vox Luminis, The English Concert, Concerto Köln, Netherlands Bach Society and the Brandenburg Orchestra of Australia, among others. He is also a founding member of the Tokyo-based Orchestra Libera Classica (Hidemi Suzuki), founded in 2001.
Baroque song
Kajsa Dahlbäck
Kajsa Dahlbäck, soprano and Doctor of Music, is an experienced interpreter of early and contemporary music, and has performed with the Finnish National Opera, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta and many city orchestras. Dahlbäck has performed internationally at festivals such as Bolzano festival (Italy), Herrenchiemsee Festspiele (Germany), Musica Antigua (Brazil), Ankara Bachfest (Turkey) and Brezice festival (Slovenia). “He is one of the best in his genre, and his breathtakingly virtuosic recordings have attracted attention both nationally and internationally,” says the citation for his recent award of the Svenska folkskolans vänner cultural prize.
Dahlbäck founded the Vaasa Baroque Festival in 2013 and is its artistic director. Together with his band Earthly Angels, he was awarded the YLE Record of the Year 2018. Dahlbäck has been successful in singing competitions both at home and abroad, including the Lappeenranta National Singing Competition in 2008, the Kangasniemi Singing Competition in 2004 and the International AsLiCo Competition in Italy in 2007. She has studied at the Sibelius Academy and the Gothenburg Opera Academy and in early 2021 she will complete her artistic postgraduate studies at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts, graduating with a doctorate in music. Dahlbäck also teaches classical and baroque singing at Novia University of Applied Sciences in Pietarsaari.
Jussi Lehtipuu
After graduating from the Sibelius Academy and the Amsterdam Conservatory, baritone Jussi Lehtipuu has performed all over Europe with a wide repertoire of solo recitals, opera productions, oratorio works and contemporary music, combining different art forms and periods. Lehtipuu sings extensively in early music, particularly in the Netherlands (Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Holland Baroque, Florilegium Musicum, Dutch Baroque), but also in France as a soloist with Les Talents Lyriques and Ensemble Matheus.
Lehtipuu has given concerts of Haydn, Fr. X. Mozart and Schubert with fortepianists Petra Somlai and Keiko Shichijo. In Finland, Lehtipuu often sings Renaissance and Baroque music as a soloist with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and many other temporary and established ensembles. In recent years he has premiered works by Jamie Man (Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon), Riikka Talvitie (RSO, Helsinki), Raphaël Cendo (Silbersee, Amsterdam) and Meriç Artaç (Dag in de Branding, The Hague). With different ensembles, he has also combined singing, cello and dance to create new ways of operatic performance. Lehtipuu’s own new production was funded by the Kone Foundation.
Teppo Lampela
Countertenor, Master of Music Teppo Lampela performs as a countertenor and baritone soloist, especially in baroque and new music. He has written and premiered music for his voice, including a monologue opera. Teppo also works as a conductor of choirs and vocal ensembles, as an educator and as an artistic producer of recordings. He has performed extensively at music festivals throughout the country and has collaborated with symphony and baroque orchestras and ensembles.
Correpetiteurs
Laura Ollberg-Ekman
Laura Ollberg-Ekman (b.1985) started her harpsichord studies at the age of 10 at the Lahti Conservatory. She graduated from Sibelius Academy of Music in summer 2015 with a Master of Music degree in harpsichord. Laura plays regularly with Ensemble Nylandia and Finnish Baroque Orchestra and has appeared in several city orchestras as a harpsichordist and organist. In addition to orchestral work, Laura performs as a chamber musician in various small ensembles. In addition to her work as a musician, Laura is a versatile pedagogue. She promotes early music pedagogy on the board of Collegium ry and is also the producer and instructor of Senior Baroque Workshop organised by the association, as well as teaching harpsichord and chamber music at the Music Institute of West-Helsinki. Laura also works as a producer of the Café Baroque concert series.
Tea Polso
Kokkola-born Tea Polso is an experienced musician who currently works as a harpsichordist and organist in various ensembles. She graduated from the Sibelius Academy of Music with degrees in both early music and church music, with teachers including Anssi Mattila, Elina Mustonen (harpsichord) and Olli Porthan (organ). He has supplemented his studies with numerous master classes (Mitzi Meyerson, Marieke Spaans, Jacques van Oortmerssen, etc.). Polso has been a regular continuo player with the Barocco Boreale and the Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra, among others. He has performed at several festivals in Finland, including solo concerts, and has been soloist and accompanist in productions of the Vaasa and Kokkola operas, among others. Polso also actively collaborates with singers and various instrumentalists, with projects in recent years combining folk and baroque music.
Jasper Koekoek
The Dutch-Finnish harpsichordist Jasper Koekoek is a versatile continuo player in chamber ensembles, orchestras and operas, and as a solo harpsichordist he has distinguished himself as a performer of Dutch and Nordic baroque music. He is conductor of the Amore Barocco Baroque Orchestra and has worked as an accompanist at the Sibelius Academy. He holds a Master’s degree from the same institution. His artistic activities have been generously funded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation, among others. He works as a harpsichord and piano teacher and accompanist at the Nurmijärvi Music Institute. He has been trained by harpsichordists Corina Marti, Christophe Rousset, Francesco Corti, Assi Karttunen, Annamari Pölhö, Elina Mustonen and Matias Häkkinen.