Aapo Häkkinen

Keyboardist and conductor Aapo Häkkinen is among the most active musicians on the Finnish Baroque music scene, performing solo, in a wide range of chamber ensembles, and as an orchestral and operatic conductor at home and abroad. He has served as the director of the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra.
Häkkinen was born in Helsinki in 1976. He took up the harpsichord at 13 while a student at the city’s Sibelius Academy, studying with Elina Mustonen and Olli Porthan. Häkkinen went on for studies with some of the biggest names in continental European harpsichord music, working with Bob van Asperen at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory and Pierre Hantaï in Paris. He also received mentorship from Gustav Leonhardt. Häkkinen’s career was launched by several prizes in the late 1990s, including a pair at the Bruges Harpsichord Competition in 1998. He has appeared with orchestras not only in Scandinavia and across Europe but in such diverse locales as the U.S., Turkey, and Vietnam (joining the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra). Häkkinen’s chamber music and vocal collaborators are a distinguished group, including Hantaï, violinist Reinhard Goebel, and soprano Carolyn Sampson. As a conductor, Häkkinen has led the modern premieres of such works as Hasse’s Irene and Koželuch’s Gustav Wasa. In 2003, Häkkinen became the music director of the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra. He also performs on the clavichord, fortepiano, and organ, and in 2019, he made his debut at the Edinburgh Festival. Häkkinen is the host of his own program on Finland’s Rondo Classic FM radio network.
Häkkinen has recorded more than 25 albums for the Alba, Ondine, and Naxos labels, among others, as both keyboardist and conductor. In 2021, he was heard on the fortepiano on a Naxos recording of Schubert's Piano Trio No. 2 and Arpeggione Sonata. Häkkinen has taught at the Sibelius Academy and is in demand internationally for master classes. ~ James Manheim