Helena Juntunen

Helena Juntunen, one of Finland’s most acclaimed sopranos, has captivated international audiences with her expressive and natural phrasing. Born in Finland, she began her vocal studies at 15 at the Oulu Conservatoire under Airi Tokola and later graduated as a Master of Music from the Sibelius Academy, where she was taught by Anita Välkki.

Juntunen’s career took off after winning the ladies’ section of the Lappeenranta Singing Competition in 2002, followed by the Karita Mattila prize in 2006. Her professional breakthrough came as Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2002, leading to debuts with the Connecticut Opera, Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, Antwerp’s Vlaamse Opera in Strauss's Arabella, and Dresden’s Semperoper in Mozart’s The Magic Flute during the 2003-2004 season. She also made her debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Tokyo in 2003.

Since 1999, Juntunen has been a regular performer at the Finnish National Opera, starring in roles such as Zdenka in Arabella, Madame Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims, Sophie in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Nedda in Il Pagliacci, Mimì in La Bohème, Liisa in Pohjalaisia, and Pamina in The Magic Flute. She premiered roles in Jüri Reinvere’s Purge and Sebastian Fagerlund’s Autumn Sonata alongside Anne Sofie von Otter.

Highlights of her international engagements include performances in Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in Nancy (2007), Pamina in The Magic Flute in Geneva (2008), Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in Nice (2008), and the title role in Veli-Matti Puumala’s opera Anna Liisa (2008). During the 2008-2009 season, she debuted at GöteborgsOperan as Mimì in La Bohème.

Juntunen’s more recent roles include Contessa Almaviva and Donna Elvira at Opéra National de Lyon, Marietta in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, Clara in Der Zwerg at Opéra National de Lorraine, Marie in Wozzeck at Opéra de Nice, and Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at Wasa Theatre. She frequently performs as Pamina, notably at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under Daniel Harding and at La Monnaie under René Jacobs.

In concert, Juntunen has performed Sibelius’s Luonnotar in Sydney and London with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Amsterdam with Leif Segerstam, and Ottawa with John Storgårds. Other highlights include Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lucerne Festival under Vladimir Jurowski, Unsuk Chin’s SnagS&Snarls in Stavanger, Helsinki, and London, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with La Verdi under Xian Zhang. She has also debuted with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Donald Runnicles and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä.

Juntunen has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, and Hannu Lintu. Her recordings for the Ondine label include a solo album of lieder by Leevi Madetoja and complete recordings of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s operas Aleksis Kivi and Auringon talo. She also features in the BIS label’s Spirit of Nature album, including the world premiere recording of Sibelius’s orchestral songs Höstkväll and Hertig Magnus.