Interview in Matti ja Liisa newspaper after winning the 2nd prize in the Lappeenranta Singing Competition

Matti ja Liisa 16.1.2025

Tiina Tynkkynen-Hieta

Emma Hartikainen had a fantastic week in Lappeenranta – "It's wonderful to be able to give the audience experiences"

Soprano Emma Hartikainen, originally from Alapitkä, had a great week in Lappeenranta. She sang in the Lappeenranta National Singing Competition and was awarded with the joint 2nd prize.

She is in high spirits after the experience.

– A lot of work has been put into it. I am happy that all the effort is finally beginning to realize as results. It also helps me to move forward in my career. However, the most important thing is, of course, what I give to the audience.

She describes her goal in the competition as to live and sing in the moment and to be present to her own inner feelings, as well as to her fellow musicians and the audience. Hartikainen says she enjoyed every moment.

For her, the competition is a performance situation just like any other. In a competition, you cannot focus on thinking that you are in a competition.

– I think the competition situation is no different from a regular performance. I do not intend to show off, but communicate with the audience and other musicians. I appreciate the competition organization for offering opportunities for singers. Some people receive awards, but not receiving an award does not make the singer any worse than he or she was before the competition.

– Performing is why I sing. It's wonderful to be able to give the audience experiences. Especially in these days, when society revolves around productivity, experiences are important.

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Matti and Liisa interviewed Emma Hartikainen in 2019, when she was starting her classical singing studies at the Sibelius Academy. At that time, she stated that her goal was to become an internationally performing singer, and things have been strongly moving towards that direction.

– That is still what I want to do.

In 2019, it was too early to say what kind of voice she would develop, as it only becomes clear as the voice matures: whether the soprano will become lyrical or dramatic.

– Based on the reviews I heard after the Lappeenranta Singing Competition, my instrument is developing towards dramatic direction, Hartikainen says, but she considers it important to continue singing as lyrical as possible.

– A bright and clear instrument is important to me. The dramatic aspects are starting to come naturally, when the time is right.

Emma Hartikainen enjoys working on all kinds of different pieces of music.

– Everything has its own subtleties.

– The most important thing for me is always the content – ​​the emotional and intellectual. That is where the music drives from. 

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The full article (in Finnish) available at: https://www.mattijaliisa.fi/paikalliset/8210743