Helena Juntunen, soprano

Helena Juntunen is currently one of Finland’s most dazzling young sopranos to have established an international career. Her responsive soprano voice enraptures audiences with its freshness, and her phrasing is praised for its expressive and natural quality. Helena’s career in Finland was established through winning many competitions, one of the most important of which was the ladies’ section of the Lappeenranta Singing Competition in 2002, and in October 2006 she was awarded the Karita Mattila prize. Helena also represented Finland in May 2007 at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2007 competition, which is considered one of the world’s most prestigious singing competitions.

Helena Juntunen started her singing studies at the age of 15 at the Oulu Conservatoire as a student of Airi Tokola. She has graduated as a Master of Music from the Sibelius Academy, where she was taught by Anita Välkki.

The role of Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2002 can be considered as Helena’s professional breakthrough. She made her debut with the Connecticut Opera in the USA in the same role during the 2003–2004 season. In fact the season could be considered as the season of debuts as Helena also made her debut in Genoa in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims (Journey to Reims) as Madame Cortese, in Antwerp as Zdenka in Strauss’ Arabella, and as Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Saxon State Opera Dresden. In addition, Helena also gave her debut concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall in October 2003 and then in Tokyo.

Helena Juntunen has been a regular performer at the Finnish National Opera since 1999. He as appeared in such roles as Zdenka in Arabella and as Madame Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims under the direction of Nobel-winning Dario Fo. The list of roles in the 2004–2005 season included Sophie in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Liu in Puccini’s Turandot, which was performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in the summer of 2005.

Helena’s most recent acclaim includes her debut at the Vienna Festival Weeks in 2006 as Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which received a glowing reception. The role of Pamina is one that Helena has sung in Brussels, Nancy, Minnesota, Caen, Vienna, Aix-en-Provence and Geneva.

The 2007-2008 opera year opened in Nancy with Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahoganny. In Geneva, Juntunen was heard in the role of Pamina. In spring 2008, Finnish audiences had the opportunity to hear Helena in the role of Mimi in Puccini's La Bohéme and later in March, in the role of Pamina when The Magic Flute returned to the stage of the Finnish National Opera. Spring 2008 also included a debut in the role of the Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in Nice. Summer 2008 highlight was the title role in the new opera by Finnish composer Veli-Matti Puumala, "Anna Liisa". Juntunen's engagements for the 2008-2009 includes debut at the Göteborgs Operan in the role of Mimi in Puccini's La Bohéme and in the Finnish National Opera she will be heard as Liisa in the Ostrobothnians by Leevi Madetoja.

Concert highlights during 2007 included three Finnish premieres: Mikko Nisula’s Salaperäisiä Unia (Mysterious dreams), Kyösti Haatainen’s Judith Songs, and Perttu Haapanen’s The Ladies Room; and performances as a soloist with the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, with Lahti Symphony Orchestra for the Sibelius concert at the London Proms festival; and in Mozart concerts in Oulu and Turku. Forthcoming highlights includes concert in New York Lincoln Center in May 2009 and in Tokyo in September 2009 among others.

Der Rosenkavalier (Monica Groop, Helena Juntunen), Photo by Heikki Tuuli

Helena Juntunen has appeared as a soloist with numerous Finnish orchestras and worked with conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, Osmo Vänskä, and Mikko Franck. Helena’s recordings for the Ondine label have included a solo album of lieder by Leevi Madetoja together with the pianist Gustav Djupsjöbacka, and complete recordings of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s operas Aleksis Kivi and Auringon talo (House of the Sun). In spring 2006, the BIS label released the Spirit of Nature album in the Sibelius edition, which features not only Luonnotar but also the world premiere recording of the orchestral versions of the songs “Höstkväll” (Autumn Evening) and “Hertig Magnus” (Duke Magnus), conducted by Osmo Vänskä.

Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Jukka Isopuro: “The soprano Helena Juntunen has already demonstrated that she is among the elite in traditional bel canto, but her vocal acrobatics in the opera the Ladies Room were nothing short of astounding. An unfailing clarity of tone and beautifully expanding high notes combined with the ever changing timbre of her sound and changes in expression that were as fast as lightning proved not only her ability to live the role but also her steely-sharp technique.” (Perttu Haapanen’s composition concert in the Temppeliaukio church on 11 March 2007. Avanti!, conductor Dmitri Slobodeniouk).

Hufvudstadsbladet, Mikael Kosk: "I huvudrollen har Helena Juntunen et utmanande sångstämma som kräver en del vokal ekvilibrikstik, och det är utan tvekan genom musiken, inte skådespeleriet som hon gestaltar ett mycket känsloladdat kvinnoöde." (Anna Liisa av Veli-Matti Puumala på basis Minna Canths pjäs med samma Namn. Tapiola Sinfonietta. Helsingfors festspel. 18.8.2008 premiär på Alexansteatern).

Homepage: Helena Juntunen

Review on Turku Cultural Capital - Magazine 11/2010

General Management: Harrison Parrot Ltd
Management in Finland: Festium Artist's Management / Mrs. Salomaa

FORTHCOMING PERFORMANCES 2010-2011

15 December 2010, Helsinki, Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Hannu Lintu
Jouni Kaipainen: Commedia (w.p.) + Songs by Sibelius

31 December 2010, Helsinki, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, cond. Aapo Häkkinen

5 January 2011, Finland, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Leif Segerstam
Mahler, Symphony No. 2 - Prelude to the Capital of Culture, Turku 2011

10 January – 31 March, 2011, France, Opera de Lyon, Mozart, Contessa and Donna Elviira

6 – 12 April 2011, Stockholm, Vier Letzte Lieder, cond. Leif Segerstam

14 -17 April 2011, Poland, Beethoven Easter Festival Lahti Symphony Orchestra, cond. Okko Kamu

18 – 20 Apil 2011, Oulu (FI), Oulu Symphony Orchestra, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing, Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem

29 - 30 May 2011, Vaasa (FI), Vaasa City Orchestra, cond. James Lowe

5 – 6 May, 2011, Finland, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, cond. Andreas Spering
Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri (Helena as “Peri”)

AMONG PAST PERFORMANCES 2010:

Summer 2010: Finland, Ilmajoki Music Festival, a world premiere of Ilkka Kuusisto's new opera, a leading female role

14 August 2010, Turku Music Festival, Sigyn Hall at 6pm. "Helena's kitchen"

London Promms: 28 August 2010, Prom57 Minnesota Orchestra, cond. Osmo Vänskä Royal Albert Hall, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 D minor

Opéra National de Lorraine: Korngold, Die Tote Stadt, Marietta

XIV Ludvig van Beethoven Easter Festival on 27 March 2010 in Warsow. The prgramme includes Euryanthe opera by Carl Maria von Weber. Opera will be performed conzertante and it will be recorded.

30 January & 3 February 2010, London Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Osmo Vänskä Royal Festival Hall, Sibelius-cycle


CD RECORDINGS FOR LABELS:

BIS
Sibelius: The Sibelius Edition Vol. 7 (Juntunen - Groop - Gräsbäck)
Sibelius:The Spirit of Nature "Luonnotar", "Hertig Magnus", "Höstkväll", Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä (4/2006)

ONDINE
Leevi Madetoja Complete Lieder Vol 2/2, with pianist Gustav Djupsjöbacka
Einojuhani Rautavaara The House of the Sun, Opera
Einojuhani Rautavaara Aleksis Kivi, Opera

ALBA
Leevi Madetoja: Okon Fuoko opus 58, Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Volmer

Photo 1: Göteborgs Operan, La Bohème by Puccini, premiere 22 Nov 2008. Soprano Juntunen as Mimi (Göteborg debut) and tenor Bülent Bezdüz as Rodolfo (Göteborg debut).
Photos 2-3: The premiere of the Finnish opera by Veli-Matti Puumala, "Anna Liisa" at the Helsinki Festival in August 2008. In the picture 2: soprano Helena Juntunen "Anna Liisa" and baritone Ville Rusanen. In the picture 3: vocalist Sanna Kurki-Suonio, soprano Helena Juntunen and soprano Tanja Kauppinen-Savijoki.