Soprano
The Finnish soprano, DMus Kajsa Dahlbäck is an experienced interpreter of early, classical and contemporary music. She has performed as a soloist with many orchestras, among them with Tapiola Sinfonietta, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra at the Bolzano Festival (Italy), Musica Antiqua (Brazil), Brezice Festival (Slovenia), Kirkko Soikoon! festival, Helsinki Festival and Vantaa Baroque festival.
Ms Dahlbäck especially enjoys singing on the concert platform with different orchestras and instrumental ensembles. She has an extensive repertoire ranging from works by Monteverdi, Grandi, Bach and Handel to contemporary composers such as Kimmo Hakola and Kaija Saariaho. She has premiered many works, both forgotten pieces from the 17th century and contemporary ones.
Her debut at the Finnish National Opera was in 2015 as Drusilla and Amor (voice) in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea. Other operatic work has included e.g. Silvia in Haydn's L'isola disabitata, Morgana in Handel's Alcina, Valencienne in Lehár's The Merry Widow and Damon in Handel’s Acis and Galatea.
Ms Dahlbäck is artistic director of Vaasa Baroque, an early music festival in Vaasa, Finland (www.vaasabaroque.com) that she founded in 2013. She also leads Earthly Angels early music ensemble, founded in 2016.
Kajsa Dahlbäck studied church music at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki and graduated with excellent grades in 2005. She then continued with a master's degree from the Opera Academy of Gothenburg University. In 2020 she completed her doctoral exam (DMus) at the artistic program of the Sibelius Academy. Susanna Eken, Kammersänger Tom Krause and Dame Emma Kirkby have been her most important voice teachers.
In 2004 Dahlbäck won the second prize at the Kangasniemi singing competition. In 2007 she was rewarded with an opera role (Purcell: The Fairy Queen) in the international singing competition AsLiCo in Como, Italy. In 2008 she reached the final round at the Lappeenranta singing competition and was awarded two special prizes (recognition prize by the jury and prize for an excellent performance in the semifinals).
In 2022 Dahlbäck was awarded the Culture Prize by Svenska folkskolans vänner for her outstanding artistic work as well as for the early music field in Finland.
Dahlbäck’s work is supported by the following foundations: Pro Musica, Helene och Walter Grönqvist and Vaasan Jaakkoo, from which she has received so called scholarships of recognition. In 2013 Konstsamfundet rewarded her the Jenny Spennert grant for her work in the early music field and in 2021 the Stina Krook foundation rewarded her with a grant for her artistic work. Other scholarships have been granted e.g. by Finnish Cultural Foundation, Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, Victoriastiftelsen and Viljo ja Maire Vuorio foundation.
Argo ensemble's debut album in 2013, Canta la serenissima, received excellent reviews in international media. With her new album Earthly Angels, Ms Dahlbäck has won "Album of the Year 2018" by YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company). The album consists of music by 17th century Italian nun composers. In 2021 Earthly Angel's second album, La rêveuse, was released on ALBA records.
Dahlbäck is also senior lecturer of classical and baroque voice at Novia University of Applied Sciences in Pietarsaari, Finland.
