Hartikainen began the spring season 2026 with a Lied recital focusing on music by Schubert and Wolf with her long-term collaborator pianist Tanja Niiranen in Tuusula, followed by an operetta concert with Vahtivuoren kamariorkesteri (Vahtivuori Chamber Orchestra) in Kuopio and Bruckner’s D-minor Mass with the Joensuu City Orchestra led by Jukka Untamala in Joensuu, Finland. In May 2026, Hartikainen performed in Helsinki Opera ry's all-Wagner recital honoring the composers birthday with pianist Tuomas Salokangas and soprano Iirisilona Segerstam in Angelicum Hall, Helsinki. In summer 2026, Hartikainen is joining the renowned chorus of the Bayreuther Festspiele for the festival’s 150th jubilee season. In the autumn of 2026, Hartikainen will perform in a celebratory recital with pianist Tanja Niiranen in Leppävirta, Finland, where she will receive the Jorma Hynninen Art Award. In autumn 2026, she is also establishing a new collaboration with the String Quartet ILME, performing music of Kaija Saariaho, Arnold Schönberg and Missy Mazzoli on a concert tour around Finland. The collaboration is generously supported by the Wihuri Foundation. 

At the beginning of 2025, Hartikainen was awarded with the 2nd Prize in the Lappeenranta National Singing Competition. The same year, she received the Bayreuth Scholarship granted by the Finnish Wagner Society & Richard-Wagner-Stipendienstiftung as well as the Young Artist of the Year prize awarded by her birth town Lapinlahti. At the end of March 2026, she was selected as the winner of the Jorma Hynninen Art Award 2026. Together with her duo partner pianist Tanja Niiranen, she has also been awarded several grants, scholarships and prizes, e.g. an award from Kulturfonds der Stadt Salzburg at the International Summer Academy Mozarteum 2024 and the Special Award in the Helsinki Lied Competition 2024.

In December 2025, Hartikainen completed her master’s degree in Opera Performance at the Sibelius Academy, where she studied with Outi Kähkönen, Jenni Lättilä and Hanna Leena-Haapamäki. During her studies, she performed in several leading roles in the productions of the Sibelius Academy Opera, including the Countess (Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro), Frau Fluth (Nicolai: The Merry Wives of Windsor), Lady Dunmow (Berkley: A Dinner Engagement) and A Lady with a Cake Box (Argento: Postcard from Morocco). Hartikainen has appeared as a soloist with multiple orchestras in her native Finland, including Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Police Symphonic Band and most recently with the Joensuu City Orchestra in April 2026. She also enjoys collaborating with chamber ensembles: recent performances include Postludium No.1 DSCH with pianist Anhelina Kulichkova, violinist Akvilė Aksinavičiūtė and cellist Smaranda Iftime in Focus Valentin Silvestrov concert in the Helsinki Music Centre in November 2025.

Hartikainen gives regular concerts in Finland and Europe with her close collaborator pianist Tanja Niiranen. 

In February 2026, Hartikainen received a nine-month working grant of € 24,000 from the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Her studies and artistic projects have also been generally supported by the Wihuri Foundation, the Martin Wegelius Foundation, the Pro Musica Foundation, Selim Eskelin Foundation, Opperakoulutuksen kummit ry, The Royal Order of Constantine the Great and Saint Helen Foundation Finland and the Sibelius Academy Foundation.