The Artistic Director
Nils Schweckendiek
Nils Schweckendiek studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, and orchestral and choral conducting in Freiburg and Helsinki. Since making his highly successful debut at the Finnish National Opera with Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in 2006, he has performed in many European countries, the United States and China, and appeared at numerous opera houses and festivals, including the Leipzig Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival.
Nils Schweckendiek is committed to performing the music of our time and has conducted over 100 first performances, including music theatre, orchestral, choral and ensemble works. He has recorded more than a dozen critically acclaimed CDs for the BIS, Toccata Classics, Alba and ICSM labels, earning him a GRAMMY (Best Choral Performance for Kaija Saariaho: Reconnaissance in 2024), three German Record Critics’ Awards, an ICMA Award, an Emma Award, two Gramophone Editor’s Choice mentions, as well as four Record of the Year awards and two further Emma nominations in Finland.
Since 2007 Nils Schweckendiek has been Artistic Director of the Helsinki Chamber Choir. In 2014 he was appointed Professor of Choral Conducting at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, and since 2017 he has been Artistic Director of the Helsinki Music Centre Chorus.
Recent guest conducting has included the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Chamber Choir Ireland, Coro Casa da Música and Orquestra Barocco Casa da Música in Porto, and the North German Radio Choir. He has also worked with Latvian Radio Choir, Swedish Radio Choir, Croatian Radio and TV Choir, RIAS Chamber Choir and SWR Vokalensemble, as well as most Finnish orchestras. In 2020 the Society for Swedish Literature in Finland awarded him the Fredrik Pacius Prize for his services to Finnish music and in 2022 the Association of Finnish Choral Directors chose him as Conductor of the Year.
