Soprano Iida Antola (born 25.1.1990) graduated as a choir conductor and pianist from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2015 before continuing her studies in solo voice at the University of the Arts in Berlin.
Antola made her professional debut as Pamina (Mozart: Die Zauberflöte) at the Finnish National Opera in 2017. In the season 2018-2019 she appeared as Christine in the FNO production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, and also sang the role of Crobyle in Massenet’s opera Thaïs. Her other stage roles include Dido (Purcell: Dido and Aeneas), Poppea (Monteverdi: L’incoronazione di Poppea), Clorinda (Rossini: La Cenerentola), La suora infermiera (Puccini: Suor Angelica) and Annina (Verdi: La Traviata). Upcoming roles include Micaëla (Bizet: Carmen) and Susanna (Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro).
Antola has been successful in both national and international competitions. In 2017, she won 1st prize at the Kangasniemi Singing Competition in Finland and 2nd prize at the International Paula Salomon Lindberg Competition “Das Lied”. In 2018 she 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. Before voice studies she also had success as choir conductor: she was awarded the prize for the most promising young choir conductor at the International Tampere Vocal Music Festival 2015.
Antola has sung as soloist in many oratorios, such as The Messiah (Handel), Requiem (Mozart), Requiem (Fauré), The Seasons (Haydn), Nelson-messe (Haydn) and Paukenmesse (Haydn). She has given appeared in recitals at the Crescendo festival in Berlin, the Mozart festival in Würzburg as well as in Romania at the Ateneum in Bucharest and the Philharmonie in Ploiesti. Antola is an experienced performer of contemporary music, and recently conducted and sang “Pierrot Lunaire” by Schoenberg at the “Kaivos festival” in Finland. She has also premiered music in the Klang! Festival in Helsinki, and can be heard as soloist on several recordings, including Veli-Matti Puumala’s opera Anna-Liisa (Ondine 2015), the Bergmaniana male choir recording (Alba 2016), as well as the Helsinki Chamber Choir’s Bergman recording (BIS 2017). Publisher Sulasol publishes Antola’s own compositions.
In Finland, Antola began her voice studies with her aunt, Aulikki Eerola, followed by masterclasses and private lessons with Marjut Hannula. Since 2015 she has studied in Universtität der Künste Berlin (UdK), first with Prof. Elisabeth Werres and since 2019 with Prof. Enrico Facini. Her first specialisation was in lied, working with teachers such as pianist Hendrik Heilmann, Prof. Eric Schneider and Prof. Axel Bauni. Antola has graduated as Master of Music from the Lied/Oratorium/Konzert program of Universität der Künste Berlin in 2017.
Antola studied choir conducting in Finland with Timo Nuoranne and Prof. Matti Hyökki as well as at Lyon Conservatory in France (CNSMD Lyon) under Prof. Nicole Corti. Antola’s strength as a choir conductor comes not only from her piano skills and wide musical perceptiveness, but also through her use of singing technique as a path to better choral singing. Antola has worked as chorus master for many Sibelius Academy productions (Ravel: L’enfant et les sortileges, Rossini: Il viaggio a Reims, Aho: Frida y Diego, Puccini: La Boheme) and from 2013-2015 she was artistic director of Hämäläis-Osakunnan Laulajat (HOL), a high-level student choir. In 2015, HOL was awarded two golden stars at the international Tampere Vocal Music Festival choir review. Antola still conducts the female choir Valkeat Yöt Ensemble (White Nights Ensemble), founded by singers from the former Daughter of the Baltic youth choir. She is also an experienced singer of renaissance music, being a founding member of the English Vocal Consort of Helsinki.
Antola’s studies are supported by grants from the Olga & Vilho Linnamo foundation, the Selim Eskelin foundation, and the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Download CV in English (2019-09)
Download CV in German (2019-11)
