Annika Leino

Freelancer: Finnish National Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Lappeenranta City Orchestra, Aleksanterin Teatteri

Finnish soprano Annika Leino is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, where she earned her Master of Music degree in classical performance and opera in 2018. She also holds a Bachelor of Music in music education from Turku University of Applied Sciences.

Ms. Leino has appeared as a guest artist with several prominent Finnish institutions. At the Finnish National Opera, she has performed Líu in Turandot and Nedda/Colombina in I Pagliacci, as well as covering the role of Helmwige in Die Walküre. At the Savonlinna Opera Festival, she has sung Micaëla in Carmen and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Other roles include the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with Lappeenranta City Orchestra, Wellgunde in Götterdämmerung at Eurajoki Bel Canto, and Alice Ford in Falstaff, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Sibelius Academy Opera.

Her repertoire also includes Finnish works, such as the role of Eeva in Kimmo Hakola’s Rakkaus on väkevä kuin kuolemaand covers of Mare in Mare ja hänen poikansa and Lenore in Die Loreley at the Aleksanterin Teatteri.

Ms. Leino maintains an active presence on the concert stage. Her oratorio and symphonic repertoire includes Verdi’s and Fauré’s Requiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle, and the soprano solo in Sibelius’ Kullervo Symphony. She collaborates regularly with pianists Jukka Nykänen and Kirill Kozlovski, and has worked with conductors including Andrea Sanguineti, Hannu Lintu, and Ramón Tebar.

She is the first prize winner of the 2019 Kangasniemi National Singing Competition, a finalist and special prize recipient at the 2019 Lappeenranta National Singing Competition, and a semi-finalist in the 2021 Competizione dell’Opera in Moscow.