My first collaboration with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and Cecilia Bernardini was a real pleasure. The programme featured Italian Baroque music inspired by Queen Christina’s time in Rome, with works by Alessandro Scarlatti, Alessandro Stradella and Arcangelo Corelli.

The second concert took place at Helsinki’s Musiikkitalo, a very special venue for me. Delighted to share the press reviews!

  Helsingin Sanomat – Hannu-Ilari Lampila – 21.09.2026

„The soprano soloist — the Ukrainian-German Kateryna Kasper, winner of the 2014 Mirjam Helin Singing Competition — was enchanting. What stood out in Kasper’s voice was a volume surprisingly large for a baroque soprano, and a round tone with a slightly trumpet-like glow. In the baroque era there were no fixed vocal ideals. What mattered was that the voice moved lightly and nimbly. And the movement of Kasper’s wide-ranging soprano is indeed supple.

Astonishing!

The anguished emotional range of the opera and oratorio arias held love, sorrow, pleas for mercy and suffering. In baroque music, every fundamental emotion has its own melodic figures. Although Kasper also dazzled with her coloratura, the technical display was not the main point. Above all she expressed feeling, created drama and sang the words — as baroque singing should. The festive mood soared to the rafters the moment the trumpeter Miikka Saarinen joined in. […] The most dazzling moment was an aria in which Kasper and Saarinen performed exactly the same rapid ornamental figures in unison, or echoed them back and forth. Astonishing!“

Kulttuuritoimitus – Jukka Kallio – 22.09.2026

„The arias and oratorio movements performed in the concert reflect the Italian vocal music of Queen Christina’s Roman years. Soprano Kateryna Kasper was exceptionally expressive, her vocal range unusually wide. No wonder — she is no ordinary rank-and-file soprano; in 2014 in Helsinki she won first prize in the women’s category of the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition.

Kasper’s artistry rang out magnificently in the Music Centre. The programme suited her very naturally, thanks to her command of the Baroque. Downright brilliant were the dialogues between Kasper and trumpeter Miikka Saarinen — truly a pleasure to listen to.“