The Chamber Choir Viva Vox
The Chamber Choir Viva Vox of Helsinki Cathedral performs major sacred music works seasonally, either with its own orchestras—the Helsinki Cathedral Chamber Orchestra and the Musici Cathedralis Baroque Ensemble—or in collaboration with other orchestras and choirs. The repertoire spans music from the Renaissance to the present day. In addition to well-known classics, we strive to present lesser-known gems of sacred music.
The choir typically holds its own Christmas concert and a charity concert titled Kauneimmat virret (“Most Beautiful Hymns”) in May. The performance of Handel’s Messiah oratorio on Easter Day is becoming a tradition. This rich Baroque masterpiece is interpreted anew each year in collaboration with different performers. The choir also participates in services and other events at the Cathedral a few times per season. We prepare for services with care, offering high-quality musical experiences to attendees.
The choir consists of around forty singers of various ages, all with strong choral experience and independent sight-reading skills. Our goal is a unified, beautiful sound achieved through good vocal technique—something the choir is known for. The process of learning new works in a positive atmosphere is just as important as performing them for an audience. The choir also offers opportunities to meet new people.
The choir’s artistic director is dir. cant. Inka Kinnunen, who serves as cantor and lead church musician of the Helsinki Cathedral Parish. She has been the artistic director of the Viva Vox chamber choir since summer 2019, with the exception of autumn 2022. Before taking on the role of artistic director, she worked with the choir alongside Seppo Murto.
Inka Kinnunen is a versatile performer of church music—a cantor, soprano, and choir conductor. She has held a vocally focused cantor position at the Helsinki Cathedral Parish since 2014 and has served as lead church musician since 2024. As a soprano soloist, she has performed in numerous sacred music works, including Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, the Requiems of Mozart, Fauré, and Duruflé, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. As a conductor, she has led performances of Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, and Duruflé’s Requiem.
She studied church music at the Sibelius Academy and voice and chamber music at the Strasbourg Conservatory. She continued her vocal studies privately, completing her advanced vocal diploma in spring 2021. Additionally, she has studied choral conducting through continuing education at the Sibelius Academy and orchestral conducting in masterclasses. Alongside her work, she studies art history at the University of Turku. She has a deep appreciation for art in many forms—especially visual arts and literature, in addition to music.