BIOGRAPHY
Anna-Maria Helsing has gained an outstanding reputation with leading Scandinavian orchestras and opera houses. 2023 she was appointed Chief Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, where she held the position as its Principal Guest Conductor since 2020. She is also the Chief Conductor Designate of Vaasa City Orchestra in Finland, starting her position in 2025. From 2010 to 2013 Anna-Maria Helsing was Chief Conductor of the Oulu Symphony - the first-ever female conductor at the head of a Finnish symphony orchestra. She currently holds the position as Artistic Director of the high-profile chamber music festival Rusk, in Jakobstad, Finland.
Within a short time the Finnish conductor has conducted all the major Finnish and Swedish orchestras including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish National Opera Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony and Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra. She also conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London), Royal Danish Opera Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, Iceland Symphony, Trondheim Symphony, Odense Symphony, Jena Philharmonic, Estonian National Symphony and Musikkollegium Winterthur (Switzerland).
Anna-Maria Helsing gave her debut at the Finnish National Opera with Adriana Mater by Kaija Saariaho in 2008. She has led a number of world premieres, most recently Momo at the Royal Danish Opera and Magnus-Maria by Karólína Eiríksdóttir on tour in Scandinavia. She has also performed established operas by Mozart, Cimarosa, Puccini, Mascagni, Madetoja and Bernstein at the Tampere Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival to name but a few.
Anna-Maria Helsing feels a special affinity with the sound and style of modernism and contemporary music.
Upcoming highlights are her debut with the Budapest Festival Orchestra in Budapest in February and revisits with the Finnish Radio Symphony, Jönköping Sinfonietta, Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra as well as a China tour with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Anna-Maria Helsing began her career as a violinist (with diplomas from the Conservatory of Jakobstad and the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz), leading chamber orchestras before serving as Artistic Director of the Pietarsaari Sinfonietta and conductor of the Wegelius Chamber Orchestra. She has attended masterclasses with Jorma Panula, Vladimir Jurowski and John Carewe.
Just after finishing her studies in the class of Leif Segerstam at the Sibelius Academy, the Finnish conductor was chosen to take part in the International Conductor’s Academy of the Allianz Cultural Foundation under the guidance of among others Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel.
In 2011 Anna-Maria Helsing became the first conductor to be awarded the Louis Spohr Medal in Seesen (Germany). In 1999 she won the First Prize in the International Competition for 20th Century Music for Young Artists in Warsaw.