The Graduale Choir

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The Graduale Choir is looking for new singers for the autumn 2026 season

Do you love choral music and enjoy singing and working purposefully in good company? Would you be interested in joining our choir?

The Graduale choir is recruiting new singers both as regular members and on a project basis. Rehearsals are normally held on Wednesdays from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The autumn 2026 season begins on Wednesday 26 August 2026.

The auditions are held at Mäkelänrinne upper secondary school (Mäkelänrinteen lukio, Mäkelänkatu 47). You are warmly welcome to attend our September rehearsals and to audition — please contact us for the current schedule.

You can also take part in our autumn Schumann concert as a project singer.

Our next concert will be on Wednesday 4 November 2026 at 7 p.m. in Tapiola church (Espoo), featuring Robert Schumann’s Missa sacra and a new choral arrangement of his song cycle Dichterliebe.

If you are interested, please contact our chair Päivi Porkola at puheenjohtaja@graduale.fi or info@graduale.fi.

Looking forward to singing with you!

About the Graduale Choir

Graduale is a mixed choir of around fifty singers, founded in Helsinki in 1988. Cantor Seppo Välimäki started it to sing at services in Itä-Pasila, and named it after the graduale — the psalm of the day. Under his direction the choir grew large enough for eight-part and double-choir repertoire, and its Good Friday concerts regularly drew audiences of over 900. He led the choir until his retirement in 2020.

Our repertoire is built around the great sacred works: Bach, Händel, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Brahms and Fauré. Recent seasons have taken us to the Helsinki Music Centre with Handel’s Messiah, to Duruflé’s Requiem with the male choir Psaldo and the Lohja City Orchestra, and to what is believed to be the Finnish première of Bossi’s Missa pro defunctis. Our singers come from across the Helsinki region, from students to people who have completed full careers, and the longest-serving have been with us for more than fifteen years.

Our artistic director

Hiski Wallenius has been the choir’s artistic director since 2020. He graduated as a Master of Music from the Sibelius Academy in 2021, completing the A-level diploma in choral conducting alongside his degree; his teachers have included Jani Sivén, Heikki Liimola, Pasi Hyökki and Carsten Seyer-Hansen. He also directs the Academic Male Choir Psaldo and Hämäläis-Osakunnan Laulajat, and works as A-cantor at Lauttasaari parish.

Singing with us

We rehearse on Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. in the auditorium of Mäkelänrinne upper secondary school, Mäkelänkatu 47, Helsinki, with a few additional weekend rehearsal days each season. We ask singers for a reliable commitment to rehearsals and performances, and we welcome any help with the practical work of the choir association. The music is demanding but the atmosphere is not — there is time to learn your part, and nobody is put on the spot.

Concerts and tickets

Our next concert is on Wednesday 4 November 2026 at 7 p.m. in Tapiola church, Espoo: Schumann’s Missa sacra and his song cycle Dichterliebe in a new choral arrangement. Tickets are 30 € / 25 € (concessions). Advance tickets from HS Menokone; tickets are also available at the door from one hour before the concert (MobilePay or cash) and from choir members.

The choir association

The choir is run by Graduale-kuoro ry, a registered association founded in 1991. All singers are members. Its rules were registered in March 2026 and are published, in Finnish, on the Kuoron säännöt page.

Contact

General enquiries: info@graduale.fi. Chair Päivi Porkola: puheenjohtaja@graduale.fi. Artistic director Hiski Wallenius: taiteellinenjohtaja@graduale.fi. We are also on Facebook and Instagram.