Welcome

I’m a musician. Sometimes a leader, sometimes a follower – but always wholeheartedly present.

I am currently engaged in finding a way to telling the difference between different kinds of positive and negative moments in musical time and life. What is a musically load-bearing structure and what is just ornamentation around that. I am also most curious about whether is really makes a difference on which instrument one chooses to express one's musical desires. Also, I cautiously oppose the concept of crossing borders and breaking barriers. Sometimes mixing genres needs not be mandatory and sometimes serious and detailed concentration on things per se is good.

My main instrument is the harpsichord, though I’m no stranger to other tools and roles in music-making. My roots run deep. I believe that in all music – regardless of style – there is a sense, a sound, and a presence of deep humanity, a transcendence beyond the earthly, and even a glimpse of the ancient. I often see the new through the lens of the old.

My musical mother tongue lies in Renaissance polyphony, simple song, counterpoint, and Baroque harmony. Through them, I explore many fields with many different rules. They offer both the ordinary and the extraordinary, the structured and the chaotic, the ugly and the beautiful, the stable and the unstable – like the pillars of a temple and the vine that coils around them. And still, none of this excludes the modern listener. On the contrary: music invites us all to feel something personal, shared, and timeless.

To me, music is nature. Within it you can sense and hear the flow of water, the paths of celestial bodies, rays of light, hopeless darkness, cutting cold wind, the glow of warmth, swaying pendulums, a javelin in flight, tentative and confident footsteps, the wings of an eagle and a butterfly, the roar of the ocean and the rumble of thunder, the beating heart and the breath of someone asleep.

I never wish to make – or hear – a sound that feels indifferent. In music, there is the potential for true presence: person to person, like in conversation. But music also holds the mysterious, the unspoken, the universal – a shared message that reaches out to the individual listener, the performer, the creator.

I find context deeply inspiring. Music and the ceremonies around it have their own time and place. Sometimes the most radical act is not to break the rules, not to leave the trench, not to tear down the fences. Real thinking outside the box sometimes means building the box – or appreciating the boxes we already have and finding joy in them.

A list of my upcoming concert activities is available here.
More about me can be read below and pictures can be found here.
To contact me, please find the link buttons below the text.

Matias Häkkinen (b.1981) is a Finnish harpsichordist and conductor who has been a central figure in the field of early music and its contemporary applications for over two decades. He performs in Finland and abroad, appearing as a soloist, chamber musician, conductor, and artistic planner. His artistic profile is built on a profound knowledge of historical instruments and musical styles, a broad repertoire, and a fearless approach that constantly brings past and present into dialogue.

Häkkinen’s repertoire ranges from the Middle Ages and Renaissance through the Baroque and Classical eras to contemporary premieres, improvisation, and his own compositions. While the harpsichord is his principal instrument, he also commands a wide array of other acoustic and electronic keyboards, allowing him to move fluidly across genres and centuries. His concerts may include Renaissance polyphony, Baroque masterpieces, contemporary experimental works, and spontaneous improvisation grounded in deep stylistic understanding and an imaginative musical vision.

Among his most significant recent projects are Bach-Torikka-Uotinen, a dance production presented at the Helsinki Festival in 2025; the reinstrumentation and musical direction of Francesco Cavalli’s rarely heard opera La Doriclea in 2024; and The Passion of Imagination (Mielikuvituspassio), in which Häkkinen acted as concept creator, arranger, composer, and conductor. The latter project illustrates his distinctive way of combining old and new: Baroque traditions and contemporary idioms interact seamlessly, resulting in works that open fresh perspectives on how music can be heard and experienced today.

As a conductor, Häkkinen has directed a wide variety of ensembles, from chamber groups to symphony orchestras and opera productions. He has collaborated with numerous Finnish orchestras, including those of Tampere Philharmony, Oulu Symphony, Jyväskylä Symphony, Lappeenranta, Kuopio, and Mikkeli, and has planned and conducted different concerts from themed baroque-oriented concerts to large-scale sacred works such as the Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach and Händel Messiah. At the same time, he has been active in contemporary music and cross-disciplinary projects, where improvisation, intermediality, and new forms of performance have played a central role.

Häkkinen is also a seasoned artistic leader. He is the founder and director of Ensemble Nylandia (est. 2009), an ensemble that has distinguished itself through performances of Baroque and Renaissance repertoire as well as commissions and premieres of new works. Since 2017 he has served as the artistic director of the BarokkiKuopio Festival, where his programming has brought together leading Finnish musicians and international guests. He has also been deeply involved in Café Barock concept that brings early music to places where people are. He is a member of the artistic leadership of the Aurore Renaissance Music Festival. Through these projects, Häkkinen has built extensive networks and significantly advanced the visibility of early music both in Finland and abroad.

International residencies have played a vital role in Häkkinen’s artistic development. He has worked at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, Villa Lante in Rome, Festival d’Ambronay and Academie Musicale de Villecroze in France with New Century Baroque and the Piccola Accademia di Montisi in Italy, a renowned hub for harpsichord artistry. These experiences have broadened his international outlook and deepened his relationship with Europe’s musical heritage.

As a performer, Häkkinen has taken part in numerous premieres of works written for historical instruments and ensembles. He has premiered compositions by Petri Tapio Mattson, Turkka Inkilä, Eero Hämeenniemi, Olli Virtaperko, Juhani Nuorvala, and Esa Ylivaara, among others. Many of these projects have involved exploring new technical possibilities and situating the harpsichord within today’s musical culture.

As a composer and arranger, Häkkinen has created works and adaptations performed by city orchestras, festivals, and church music contexts. His output includes Kuopio Fanfare (2025), Six Inventions (2024), and Easter Fantasia (2023), alongside other compositions and numerous arrangements for different concerts, liturgical use, and the reconstruction or completion of historically significant works.

Writing and publishing are also an integral part of Häkkinen’s work. His book The Harpsichord in Finland 1900–1990 (2023) combines historical research with practical insights, while The Most Beautiful Baroque Christmas Songs (2020) reflects his work as an arranger and performer. He has contributed to music publications, podcasts, and radio programs, where he has articulated his views on the role of art, the preservation of musical heritage, and the multifaceted nature of a musician’s work.

Häkkinen’s recordings cover a broad spectrum. He has participated in numerous recordings with different ensembles around Europe. With Ensemble Nylandia he has released The Most Beautiful Baroque Christmas Songs (2023), and he has appeared as a soloist and ensemble leader in numerous broadcasts by the Finnish Broadcasting Company and international radio stations. He has performed at major festivals, and many of these concerts have been preserved as archival recordings, ensuring a lasting document of his artistic work.

As a teacher, Häkkinen has had a major impact on a younger generations of musicians. Most important of these activities is that since 2014 he has taught at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, first as a part-time lecturer and later in a permanent position. His teaching covers harpsichord, basso continuo, orchestral performance, opera, chamber music and instrument maintenance. His students have gone on to become highly regarded musicians both in Finland and internationally. He has also taught at Metropolia University, conservatories and music schools, led masterclasses, and worked as a répétiteur and accompanist in competitions and summer courses and as a mentor for instance in European Early Music Network’s ReMarkable mentoring program.

In leadership and advocacy, Häkkinen has been active in shaping the structures of the Finnish music scene. He has served as longstanding chair of the Finnish Early Music Association and as a board member in several nationwide cultural organizations. He has also actively participated in international networks dedicated to the early music in Europe.

Häkkinen’s work has been recognized with numerous grants and fellowships. He has twice received the Finnish State Artist Grant (2015, 2021), as well as support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Music Promotion Centre Finland, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, and many private foundations. These awards have enabled him to sustain his long-term and experimental artistic projects and to develop his instruments.

At the heart of all this activity lies Häkkinen’s artistic principle: music is not bound to the past but is a living, ever-changing phenomenon. His practice combines scholarship, artistic intuition, and practical musicianship in a way that sheds new light on early music while creating space for fresh perspectives. His concerts, compositions, and pedagogical work exemplify how tradition and innovation can coexist and how an artist can act as a bridge between eras, styles, and audiences.

Häkkinen is a versatile and multifaceted artist whose activities span performance, composition, teaching, research, organizational work, and international collaboration. The hallmarks of his career are persistence, breadth, and a unique capacity to connect different artistic domains and historical periods. Through these qualities, he has established himself as a key figure in Finnish musical life and as an international musician who continues to seek out new challenges and directions.