2008 The 8th Taipei International Choral Festival

Choral singers

Conducting Class

Master Class

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The Tapiola Chamber Choir was founded in 1984 by former members of the world-famous Unesco Prize winning Tapiola Choir who wished to continue singing together. The independent 36-member Choir, dedicated to achieving a professional standard of excellence, soon established itself as a major representative of its generation in Finnish music. The Choir’s

adventurous programming, diverse repertoire and ambitious recording schedule have found recognition in the form of audience response, critical acclaim and awards both in Finland and abroad.

The Choir’s clients and partners include Finland’s leading professional orchestras (like the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonia Lahti, the Avanti Chamber Orchestra, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Sixth Floor Orchestra), conductors (like Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste), music festivals, concert agencies, record companies and composers.

The Choir has also performed Baroque and Classical major works with distinguished foreign conductors such as Peter Schreier, Harry Christophers, Roy Goodman and Paul Hiller. The Synfonia Tapiola Baroque Orchestra was formed in 2005 to perform music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on period instruments.

The Choir recorded for Finlandia Records, a division of Warner Classics in 1991-2002. Many of these discs have received national awards, and the Penderecki disc has sold over 27,000copies worldwide. The Choir’s Penderecki and Sibelius discs are included as “benchmark” recordings in the Gramophone Classical Good CD Guide. The Choir has recorded for Alba Records since 2005.

The Choir is running several long-term projects. The National Library is for documenting the works of major Finnish composers. Tapiola Originals is a collection of works commissioned from internationally distinguished composers from countries of the Baltic Sea area. In 2000-2005, the Choir had composer-in-residence agreement with Jaakko Mäntyjärvi.

Conductor／Hannu Norjanen
The Tapiola Chamber Choir initially work with different conductors on a project basis. The Choir’s previous artistic directors were Eric-Olof Söderström (1985-88), and Juha Kulvanen (1992-97), today chorus master of the Finnish National Opera.

The Choir’s present artistic director since 1998 is Hannu Norjanen (b. 1964), who previously worked with the choir as a guest conductor in the recording of the complete choral works of Jean Sibelius and Toivo Kuula.

Hannu Norjanen graduated from the Sibelius Academy with diploma in the organ, choir conducting and orchestra conducting in 1997. He studied with Jorma Panula, Eri Klas, Atso Almila and Ilya Musin, and he further studied choral conducting with Eric Ericson in Stockholm.

He has been the artistic director of the Cantores Minores boys choir since 2005 and the Helsinki Philharmonic Chorus since 2007. He also teaches at the Sibelius Academy. He conducted the Amici Cantus male choir from 1990 to 1997, the Finnish Philharmonic Chorus from 2003-2006, the Lappeenranta City Orchestra from 1998 to 2001 and the Vaasa City Orchestra from 1999 to 2006.

In addition to performances in Finland, Hannu Norjanen has appeared as a guest conductor in the Basic States, Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Great Britain, France, Turkey and USA. He has conducted productions of the opera the Magic Flute by Mozart, La Bohème and Tosca by Puccini, La Traviata and Falstaff by Verdi, L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti Tuntematon sotilas (The unknown soldier) by Tauno Pylkkänen, Isänmaan tyttäret (Daughters of the fatherland) by Ilkka Kuusisto, and The Fairy Queen by Purcell.