Nordic, experimental, magnificent

Between father and son Scarlatti, the audience experienced highly exciting compositions from Hungary and Italy. […] It is incredible what Balázs Kecskés has packed into the score of ‘Komm’. It is almost miraculous how conductor Nils Schweckendiek has managed to bring together the twelve-member chamber choir and the NeoQuartet Gdansk. […] Kecskes' composition demands absolute perfection without neglecting the empathetic meta-level. The choir and quartet merged immediately in hymn-like harmony, only to drift apart again quickly. […] With Scarlatti the Helsinki Chamber Choir showed that it also masters the sacred Baroque genre.

Ostalb.net, Wolfgang Nußbaumer, 11.08.2025

A rising star among ambitious choirs in Europe

The Helsinki Chamber Choir's main work in the concert is the German premiere of Balázs Kecskés' ‘Komm’ joined by the NeoQuartet. The dissonances rush by and the composed ideas sound colourful, almost experimental. [...] Some numbers are performed solo by ensemble members with technical mastery and interpretative dedication. […] In Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater, Nils Schweckendiek intensely motivates his ensemble to make the diversity of the composition, its splendour and its timeless beauty audible. They succeed.

Gmünder Tagespost, Rainer Wiese, 11.08.2025

Album Saariaho: Reconnaissance

The Helsinki Chamber Choir recorded Kaija Saariaho’s complete works for mixed choir in autumn 2022, and at the time of writing the album has just received a Grammy Award in the category of best choral performance. It also won the Finnish Emma recording award in the category of classical and contemporary music.

Finnish Music Quarterly, Auli Särkio-Pitkänen, 16.02.2024

Album Saariaho: Reconnaissance

Here as throughout, the Helsinki Chamber Choir are outstanding in their versatility and effortless management of every technical challenge, while the recordings, though reverberant, never dissolve into a haze where individual voices lose presence or persuasiveness.

Gramophone, Arnold Whittall, August 2023

Album Saariaho: Reconnaissance

Under Nils Schweckendiek’s flexible but pointed and precise direction, the faultless voices of the Helsinki Chamber Choir are eloquent advocates, singing as if to the manor born in performances as liquid and malleable as they are sure and certain.

Limelight, Michael Quinn, 23.08.2023

Album Kaija Saariaho: Reconnaissance

To me, [Reconnaissance] is the most important choral work composed on this side of the turn of the millennium, and in harness with the rest of the programme, which is just as valuable, this is an indispensable disc for all lovers of choral music. The performances are tremendous. It is also a worthy memorial to Kaija Saariaho.

MusicWeb International, Görn Forsling, 13.07.2023

Recording of the Week: Choral works by the late Kaija Saariaho

[...] there is an unmistakable stark, modernist beauty to Saariaho’s music that repays thoughtful attention, and which the Helsinki Chamber Choir capture perfectly; this album is a fitting postscript to a life of fearless musical exploration.

Presto Music, David Smith, 07.07.2023

Album Saariaho: Reconnaissance

But no matter how otherworldly Saariaho’s music may seem, lyricism and human emotions are never far away — especially when the performers are the warmly glowing Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek. Saariaho was a distinctive voice among contemporary composers, and this album’s a fitting memorial.

The Times, Geoff Brown, 05.07.2023