News

News

Performance at France musique

Iida and Anni performed live on France Musique on April 27th, the French public radio channel owned and operated by Radio France. “Générations France Musique Le Live”, hosted by Clément …

News

The truth about love available on Spotify

Iida’s highly acclaimed debut album “The truth about love” with pianist Kirill Kozlovski will be available on Spotify on April 26. The recording consists of three song cycles that were composed …

News archive

About

Welcome to my website. My name is Iida Antola and I’m a versatile musician/artist, mostly working as an opera singer. I grew up in Finland but I consider myself a cosmopolitan – I was born in Taipei where I spent my early childhood, I have studied and lived in Berlin and in France. At at the moment I’m based in Amsterdam. I speak fluent Finnish, English, German and French.

I work primarily as soloist but I am also a trained pianist, choir conductor and a published composer. In spring 2022 I made my international debut as Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos (Strauss) at Opéra de Limoges and I sang title roles of Suor Angelica (Puccini) in Berlin Alte Münze and Adina (Rossini) in Royal Opera Festival in Krakow (2022). My other recent important roles include the role of Bride in the Finnish premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s latest opera Innocence, a role which I covered at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2021; Leonora (Verdi/Il Trovatore), Micaëla (Bizet/Carmen) at Tampere Opera and Donna Elvira (Mozart/Don Giovanni) at Wien Palais Eschenbach (2020). I made my professional debut at the Finnish National Opera as Pamina in Mozart’s Magic Flute in 2017 and have since sung several principal roles there at the very beginning of my career, such as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (2018 & 2021), Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (2020) and Crobyle in Massenet’s Opera Thaïs (2019). I will return there this season 2024-2025 to perform the roles of Liisa (The Ostrobothnians/Madetoja) and Muriel (Animal farm/Raskatov).

I’ve had success in various voice competitions. In summer 2022 I was awarded the Bel Canto Prize, Audience Prize and the Inge Borkh scholarship at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival. In 2021 I was a finalist in the prestigious ARD competition in Munich, Germany. In 2023 was awarded 1st prize at the Lappeenranta National Voice competition. Winning 1st prize in the Kangasniemi Competition in Finland back in 2017 resulted in my first working opportunities in Finland.

Besides opera I’m also a passionate Lieder singer. My debut CD “The Truth about Love” with pianist Kirill Kozlovski was published by Alba Records in 2023. In season (2023-2024) I was one of the laureates of Lied Academy d’Orsay-Royaumont with pianist Anni Laukkanen. I have given recitals in MozartFest Würzburg, Crescendo Festival Berlin, Ploiesti Philharmonic and Bucharest Atheneum and in Germany, France, the Netherlands and my native Finland. I won shared 2nd prize (1st prize wasn’t awarded) at the International Paula Salomon Lindberg Competition in Berlin in 2017 with pianist Daria Tudor and in 2018 I was a finalist in both the International Hugo Wolf Lied Competition in Stuttgart and the International Schubert Lied Duo Competition in Dortmund with pianist Anni Laukkanen.

I also have a vast oratorio and concert repertoire: I’ve performed for example The Messiah (Handel), Requiem (Mozart), Requiem (Fauré), The Seasons (Haydn), Nelson-Messe (Haydn), Salve Regina (Haydn) and Paukenmesse (Haydn). I’m an experienced performer of contemporary music, I have perfect pitch and recently sang and conducted Pierrot Lunaire at the “Kaivos Festival” in Finland. I’ve also premiered music in the “Klang” Festival in Helsinki and I can be heard as soloist on several recordings, including Veli-Matti Puumala’s opera Anna-Liisa (Ondine 2015), the Bermaniana male choir recording (Alba 2016), as well as the Helsinki Chamber Choir’s Bergman recording (BIS 2017). Publisher Sulasol has published my compositions.

Before my voice studies in Universität der Künste Berlin, I graduated as choir conductor and pianist from the Sibelius Academy. I’ve studied choir conducting in Finland under Timo Nuoranne and Prof. Matti Hyökki and in France under Nicole Corti (CNSMD Lyon). Between 2013-2015 I worked as a chorus master for many opera productions at the Sibelius Academy and I was also the artistic director of HOL, a high-level student choir in Helsinki. In 2015 HOL was awarded two golden stars at International Tampere Vocal Music Festival choir review and I was also awarded the prize for the best young conductor. My dream is to combine conducting and singing.

My studies and artistic projects have been supported by by grants from the Olga & Vilho Linnamo foundation, the Selim Eskelin foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Wihuri Foundation.

Download CV in English (2023-08)

Alba Records, 2023

The Truth about Love

“The concept of soprano Iida Antola’s debut album is ravishing” – YLE
“Iida Antola sings with emotional brilliance” – Suomen Kuvalehti

Alba Records published Iida’s and Kirill Kozlovski’s CD “The truth about love” in March 2023. 

The recording consists of three song cycles that were composed during the Second World War: “Cabaret Songs” (1937-39) by Benjamin Britten, “5 Liebeslieder nach Ricarda Huch” (1939) by Viktor Ullmann and “Chants de terre et de ciel” (1938) by Olivier Messiaen. The lives of all three of these composers were deeply affected by the war: Britten was forced to spend much of the war in America and, upon returning to England, applied to be a conscientious objector to avoid conscription; Messiaen was conscripted into the medical corps of the French army and spent a year in a Nazi prison camp; and Ullmann, being of Jewish background, was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942 and exterminated in Auschwitz in 1944.

Though the oppression of war can be felt in these three song cycles, they are true ambassadors of love and hope. Despite the tumultuous period in which these cycles were written, the common thread in all three is love, which gives the concert its name: “The Truth about Love”.

CD booklet texts in English: 

CD booklet texts Finnish: 

Order your CD

Prices:
1 CD = 25€ + postage
5 CDs = 110€ + postage
10 CDs = 200€ + postage

To order a CD, send an email to contact@iidaantola.com ! 

Calendar

  • Wed
    27
    Nov
    2024
    Sat
    04
    Jan
    2025

    Madetoja: Pohjalaisia

    Finnish National Opera

    Production: Paavo Westerberg
    Role: Liisa

    Performances:
    27.11.
    3.12.
    10.12.
    14.12.
    19.12.
    4.1.

    More information: https://oopperabaletti.fi/ohjelmisto/pohjalaisia/

  • Fri
    06
    Dec
    2024

    Independence Day's concert

    3:00 pmPyhän Laurin kirkko, Janakkala

    Miikka Taipale, piano
    Iida Antola, soprano
    Linda Suolahti, violin

    Music by Erkki Melartin, Helvi Leiviskä, Jean Sibelius, Kaija Saariaho, Toivo Kuula ja Leevi Madetoja.

  • Fri
    28
    Mar
    2025
    Tue
    06
    May
    2025

    Animal Farm

    Finnish National Opera

    Alexander Raskatov: Animal farm
    Conductor: Bassem Akiki
    Production: Damiano Michieletto

    Performances:
    28/3
    2/4
    4/4
    8/4
    10/4
    26/4
    3/5
    6/5

    More information:
    https://oopperabaletti.fi/en/repertoire/animal-farm/

Reviews

Musée d'Orsay: Promenade musicale de printemps

“On the 5th floor, the audience will get some fresh pictural evening and sea air, as well as songs between nostalgia and intensity by Duparc, Korngold and Hugo Wolf. Mezzo Iida Antola offers them her most suitable, deeply warm voice. Her rich and vibrant timbre reveals great agility, allowing her to navigate across the ambitus with ease, while highlighting the natural brilliance of her voice.”
Alessandre Valette, Ôlyrix, 3.5.2024

Musée d'Orsay: Promenade musicale de printemps

"Iida Antola, a Finnish soprano, has a lengthy voice (the beautiful flight to the high notes at the end of Korngold's “Welt ist stille eingeschlafen” is well mastered) and shows that she is at ease in both the German repertoire (with a captivating performance of "Kennst du das Land" by Wolf) as well as the French: her "L'Invitation au voyage", sung in very pure French and colored with many nuances, is perhaps the most beautiful moment of her recital."
Stéphane Lelièvre, Première Loge Opéra, 2.5.2024

Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi

Messiaen's rhythmics inspired by Indian music don't let the singer get off easily, but luckily we have Iida Antola! The soprano, also successful as pianist, was completely at ease in shaping the music, with the help of Ananian-Cooper and the orchestra. To conquer the space, Antola didn't need a gigantic voice rolling over the orchestra but rather precision and musicality, which especially in the movement Épouvante ("Horror") also took a more dramatic form.”
Lauri Mäntysaari, Turun Sanomat, 9.2.2024

Royaumont Abbey, 6.8.2023

"The evening was concluded by the performance of Iida Antola and Anni Laukkanen, after the interlude of the two masters. We could appreciate the strengths of the soprano, always taking the time to build sumptuous momentum before bursting out. The choice of repertoire (Sieben frühe Lieder by Alban Berg, which we find especially challenging) allowed the voice to display a great variety of shapes - without disconnections or abrupt attacks. The culminating points of the melody line, the high and even higher notes, were precise in intonation and powerful, with perfectly controlled vibrato. The lower passages were not overlooked, they were expressive. It is fascinating how the tonal and melodic journey of these pieces still seem difficult and erratic for the audience to anticipate, which inevitably creates multiple surprising effects: numerous cliffs and chasms on the vocal line which we have the pleasure to lean over."
Léon Luchart, Classykeo, 18.8.2023

Kaija Saariaho: Innocence

“The supporting female roles are performed this time by a series of brilliant Finnish singers. As the bride, Iida Antola grows with her role, and her voice is transformed from stereotypical happy soprano to more dramatic charge.”
Tove Djupsjöbacka, Hufvudstadsbladet 22.10.2022

Rossini in Wildbad - Waldkonzert

“The Finnish soprano Iida Antola, one of the scholarship holders of the BelCanto Academy, sang Mathilde’s recitative and romance from Rossini's opera Guillaume Tell. With musical sensitivity, she highlighted the emotional content of the aria, using subtle differences in timbre with virtuosity.” PM, Pforzheim newspaper
PM, Pforzheimer Zeitung 26.7.2022

Rossini in Wildbad - Rossini & Co II

“Antola concludes with Fiordiligi's great aria "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona", in which she once again resists the advances of Ferrando in disguise. With her flexible soprano, which is able to change seamlessly from the highest tones to the middle register, she makes it clear why she deserves this year's audience award.”
- Thomas Molke, Online Musik Magazin 25.7.2022

Rossini in Wildbad - Rossini & Co II

"Among the concerts given by the participants in the master classes at the Rossini Belcanto Opera Festival in Wildbad, which have meanwhile become an insider tip of the festival, the last concert is of particular importance, since here you not only experience the potential stars of tomorrow, but The International Bel Canto Prize is awarded, which is linked, among other things, to an offer for a role at a future festival. In addition, a non-endowed audience prize is awarded every year, which, according to festival director Jochen Schönleber, is measured by the applause for the individual contributions. While the latter was quite clear this year according to Schönleber's calculations, he admits that it was very difficult for him to award the Bel Canto Prize due to the high level of this year's master classes. — He finally decided on a soprano and a baritone to share the prize: the Finnish soprano Iida Antola whose full soprano voice also covers the mezzo range, and the South Korean baritone Jusung Gabriel Park, who in the concertante performance of Armida demonstrated the powerful volume of his still young voice as Idraote. Antola, who shone in the musical soirée Monsieur Offenbach chez Rossini, above all with Elena’s rondo finale from Rossini's La donna del lago, "Tanti affetti in tal momento", also carried the audience to storms of enthusiasm at both concerts of the master class, so she was also awarded the audience prize."
- Thomas Molke, Online Musik Magazin 25.7.2022

Rossini in Wildbad - Rossini & Co. I

“— He opens the concert together with Iida Antola with the duet "Tutto è deserto" from Rossini's La Cenerentola, in which Angelina and Don Ramiro, disguised as valet, meet for the first time and already feel a great attraction towards each other. The way Antola and Godfrey-Mayes set this encounter is wonderful not only vocally but also dramatically. The Finnish (mezzo) soprano Iida Antola, who received the "Inge Borkh Scholarship" for sopranos this year, is also a participant of this year's master class. A great career can also be expected from her. As Angelina at the beginning of the concert, she proves that she has great volume in the low register and enough flexibility to also interpret mezzo roles of the bel canto repertoire. With Anna’s big scene "Piangete voi?... Al dolce guidami... Coppia iniqua" from Donizetti's Anna Bolena, she makes one sit up and take notice with dramatic heights."
- Thomas Molke, Online Musik Magazin 18.7.2022

Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos

"In Echo, Iida Antola allows us hear a thick and sweet voice which is warm in the middle range and fine in the top."

ARD Semifinale

"Just as exciting and close to perfection, was Iida Antola's (from Finland) performance of Fiordiligi's "Rock" Aria from Mozart's "Così fan tutte", where she vehemently defends herself from male intrusiveness. Confident in both low and high, Antola sang this "Come scoglio" perfectly both in the coloratura and in the detailed phrasing. As the last of the three sopranos, she had chosen Micaëla's aria "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" from George Bizet's "Carmen" and gained most points with it: sung with wonderful richness, with a voice no longer just lyric but already more beautiful and wonderfully mature, that possesses both a cool and yet sensual timbre at the same time.
Klaus Kalchschmid, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 10.9.2021

ARD Wettbewerb Semifinale

"Iida Antola (Finland) shone with a brilliant performance of Fiordiligi's "Rock" Aria from Mozart's Così. The murderous jumps and the coloratura were brilliantly conquered."
Thomas Baack, Klassik Heute, 10.9.2021

ARD Wettbewerb 2. Durchgang

"Iida Antola from Finland already proved to be a dark coloured, full sounding lyric spinto with Verdi's "Trovatore", Messiaen and expressive Schubert ("Der Zwerg")."
- Klaus Kalchschmid, Süddeutsche Zeitung 6.9.2021

L'incoronazione di Poppea

"Soprano Iida Antola proved, despite singing a small role, that there would be material in her voice to perform on bigger stages."
- Joonas Turunen, Helsingin Sanomat, 29.8.2017

Kangasniemi Singing Competition 2017

“The final winner of the competition, who left 6000e richer, was Iida Antola, a vocally very pure sounding soprano who uses her spectacular vocal resources patiently and sparingly. Her intense way of performing was especially well suited to the ethereal songs, and her hypnotic stage presence held the audience in its thrall even during the piano interludes. The long notes were dramatic without ever needing to shout. A truly convincing performance.”
- Petri Kalkosuo, Keskisuomalainen 17.7.2017

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas

“Iida Antola was brilliant as Dido, right down to her acting performance. Her interpretation of the well-known aria When I am laid in earth was transcendentally beautiful and sensitive.”
- oopperaa.blogspot.com, 2.4.2017

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas

“Iida Antola in the role of Dido was spectacular. Fantastic voice and stunning presence. You don’t often hear the aria “When I am laid” sung so perfectly! You could really feel the pain of the dying Dido.”
- oopperadonna.blogspot.com, 4.4.2017

MozartFest Würzburg: MozartLabor

“Robert Heppener’s N.Y. from the Four Songs on Poems by Ezra Pound, as performed by the outstanding soprano Iida Antola, becomes an unrelenting struggle of the soul: she chirps and hurtles through love and hate - an exciting excess!”
- Christopher Warmuth, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 20.6.2016

Lappeenranta singing competition 2016

“Antola (soprano) performed her own composition in the second round, which requires quite a lot of personality. I would hazard a guess that this piece will not disappear from the repertoire after this competition. Antola built her programme well to suit her strengths.”
- Jukka Lind, Etelä-Saimaa, 4.1.2016

Timo Mustakallio singing competition 2015

“Soprano Iida Antola’s high notes rang freshly in Pamina’s aria, the long tragic lines curving beautifully. She sings with flawless intonation.”
- Riitta-Leena Lampinen-Vesa, Itä-Savo 21.7.2015

Tampere Vocal Music Festival International chorus review 2015

“Seven choirs received two golden stamps [including] Hämäläis-Osakunnan Laulajat conducted by Iida Antola. Antola was awarded the prize for the most accomplished young conductor. She is one of the most promising young choir conductors in Finland, and has achieved remarkable results in a short time.”
- Tampere Vocal Music Festival Newsletter, 7.6.2015

Haydn Nelson Mass & Salve Regina

“The biggest exclamation mark was the young Iida Antola - not only a singer but also a pianist and choir conductor - who with her beautiful fairytale sounding soprano placed a very special gold crown on both the Salve Regina and the Nelson Mass.”
- Mats Liljeroos, Hufvudstadsbladet 25.3.2015

Media

  • Verdi: D'amor sull'ali rosee
  • Poèmes pour Mi
  • Sieben frühe Lieder by Alban Berg
  • (Suomi) Mariettas Lied, Lappeenranta
  • (Suomi) Rossini Lappeenranta
  • Iida Antola sings Suor Angelica
  • ARD semifinal
  • ARD final
  • Iida conducts Spirale (Guy Reibel)

Contact





AGENTUR HOLLAENDER-CALIX
Prof. Ariane Hollaender-Calix
Wehrgasse 28/Top 7, 1050 Wien
Telefon: +43 1 320 53 17
Telefax: +43 1 320 53 17-20
agentur@hollaender-calix.at

If you want to contact Iida personally, use the form to send her an email.