About
Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir is one of the festival’s artistic building blocks, and time after time, music critics from all over the world have praised the chorus for its brilliant sound, effective singing, and powerful stage appearance.
The size of the choir varies annually according to the operas to be performed. This season's composition is 60 singers. The members of the Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir are signed for one-year-contracts based on auditions, which are organized every year on September.
The choir rehearsals, which consist of 7 intensive weekends in Helsinki, take place in-between October and May. The festival season in Savonlinna is six weeks long, from the middle of June to the end of July, including the stage rehearsal period and the actual performances.
Nowadays, the choir consists of mainly professionals and music students, who are training to be professional singers, studying in music institutes in Finland or in other countries of Europe. For many of them, the Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir has been a good springboard for their career.
The choir is led by Professor Matti Hyökki.