Nils Schweckendiek

The longtime conductor of the Helsinki Chamber Choir, Nils Schweckendiek is a champion of contemporary music who has premiered more than 100 works. Schweckendiek made his debut at the Helsinki Opera in 2006, conducting Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. The following year, he was named artistic director of the Helsinki Chamber Choir, a position he continues to hold. He and the Helsinki Chamber Choir began an ongoing association with the BIS label in 2017, releasing an album of choral music by composer Erik Bergman. Schweckendiek became a professor of choral conducting at the Sibelius Academy in 2014 and joined the faculty on a permanent basis in 2018. In 2021, Schweckendiek and the Helsinki Chamber Choir released a pair of albums, Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem by Alex Freeman and Arvo Pärt's Passio.