For the 13th time, Aurore brings the radiant light of Renaissance music to the heart of the Finnish winter! We are thrilled to welcome our audience to join us in Helsinki from January 29th to February 1st 2026.
Aurore takes place at the architecturally and acoustically magnificent church of St. Paul. In addition to the acoustics that beautifully complement Renaissance music, St. Paul’s also hosts a Renaissance style organ, tuned in to a meantone temperament.
Founded in 2014, Aurore is the only music festival in Finland specifically focused on Renaissance music. We strive to bring forward the wonderful and vivid, yet rarely heard repertoire from ca. 1450–1600, brought to life by the leading renaissance specialists in music. The highly skilled artists performing in Aurore are specialised in early music and the historical performance practises and instruments of the renaissance era. The festival aims to give the audience a comprehensive view to the captivating world of the renaissance. Before each concert we invite the audience to meet the artists, listen to them chat about the evening’s repertoire, and enjoy a warming cup of coffee or tea. With our engaging concerts, highly skilled artists, the laid back Meet&Greet events and our exceptionally detailed program notes we have attracted many listeners and built a strong, renaissance-happy core audience.
Aurores artistic planning is led by an artistic committee, which includes singers Mats Lillhannus and David Hackston, singer and choir conductor George Parris, early music flutist Sini Vahervuo, lutenist Mikko Ikäheimo and harpsichordist and conductor Matias Häkkinen varying slightly depending on the year.
“Renaissance music is beautiful, empowering and meditative. The feeling of shared humanity in the music flows through us when listening to it, and makes us forget how old the music truly is. Renaissance music still has a voice today, and it continues to touch the people of the 21st century equally as much as the audiences of its own time.”
–Kari Turunen, founding member and the first artistic director of Aurore: current Artistic Director of The Vancouver Chamber Choir
CONCERTS
All concerts in St. Paul’s church (Sammatintie 5, Helsinki). Duration ca. an hour, no intermissions. Meet&Greet with the artists and free coffee 45 min before each concert at St. Paul’s parish hall.
From dawn till dusk – The rich sound palette of the Renaissance orchestra
• Thu 29th Jan at 7 pm •
Aurore’s opening concert takes the listener right into the middle of the richly nuanced world of the Renaissance, full of vibrant contrasts. Throughout the evening we hear folk music and art music converse, simple melodies meet brilliant polyphony, and meditative devotion blend with the fire of human passion.
The program is centered around Coelius Sedulius’s nearly two thousand years old hymn A solis ortus cardine, which several Renaissance composers have set to their own versions. In this concert, Jesus is both the vulnerable child and the almighty God, the rising sun of light and the Word made flesh.
In addition to the versions of A solis ortus cardine by Palestrina, Stolzer, Binchois, and Praetorius, the program includes Finnish folk melodies and songs from Piae Cantiones. Ensemble Nylandia’s interpretations build a bridge from the past to the present — where the sacred and the everyday, flesh and word, human and God meet.
Ensemble Nylandia’s Renaissance orchestra, led by Matias Häkkinen, brings the music to life on period instruments: harpsichord, organ, lute, recorders, viola da gambas, and dulcian. The concert presents a rare opportunity to hear an exceptionally wide range of timbres and explore the rich and colorful soundscape of the Renaissance.
Artists
Ensemble Nylandia, led by Matias Häkkinen (harpsichord):
- Sini Vahervuo, recorders & renaissance traverso
- Petri Arvo, recorders & dulcian
- Tatu Ahola, viola da gamba
- Louna Hosia, viola da gamba
- Mikko Ikäheimo, lute
- Olli Hyyrynen, lute
- Ilkka Eronen, renaissance traverso
- María Martinez Ayerza, recorders
- Laura Ollberg-Ekman, organ
- Lassi Kari, violone
Composers
- Michael Praetorius
- Coelius Sedulius
- Thomas Stoltzer
- Gilles Binchois
- Michael Praetorius
- Matias Häkkinen
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
- Francesco Rognoni
- Guillaume Machaut
- among others
6.15 pm – Meet the artist and free coffee at St. Pauls parish hall
7.00 pm – Concert begins at St. Pauls church
Missa Maria zart – Guest concert Cappella Pratensis (The Netherlands)
• Fri 30th Jan at 7 pm •
“Nulli secundus” says the famous Dutch philosopher and theologian Desiderius Erasmus of the Franco-Flemish composer Jacob Obrecht, marking him as one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance age.
With this programme, Cappella Pratensis, led by Tim Braitwaithe, presents its Gramophone-Award winning performance of Jacob Obrecht’s magnificent Missa Maria zart. Described by musicologist Rob Wegman as “The Sphinx”, the work is unique within the repertoire — one of the true masterpieces of Franco-Flemish polyphony.
At nearly an hour long, the piece is among the most impressive works of Renaissance polyphony, as the popular German sacred song Maria zart, which appears in the tenor as a cantus firmus, is embellished by endlessly inventive sequences and patterns. It is perhaps examples just like this that caused the humanist Paolo Cortese to write in 1510 that Obrecht “has sown more of the keenest sweetness in music, with skilful harmony, than would have sufficed to please the ear.”
Evoking the sights and sounds of Renaissance music, the eight singers of Cappella Pratensis perform huddled around a single choirbook, conjuring an intense and intimate soundworld. The manuscript, which reproduces the densely complicated mensural notation of the time, was created especially for the ensemble by Marc Busnel, master calligrapher and singer within the group. Inspired by historical practice, the singers communicate nuances of rhythm and phrasing through various gestures and physical touch since, unlike a modern choral score, the notation requires performers to make decisions in real time about issues such as text placement and unwritten accidentals. The result is a creative and flexible approach to performance which is inherently grounded in historical practice.
Artists
- Cappella Pratensis, led by Tim Braitwaithe
Composers
- Jacob Obrecht
6.15 pm – Meet the artist and free coffee at St. Pauls parish hall
7.00 pm – Concert begins at St. Pauls church
Symphoniae iucundae – Printed song collections of the renaissance
• Sat 31st Jan at 7 pm •
When the art of printing and publishing music took great strides forward at the beginning of the 16th century, the first books were anthologies containing individual works by many different composers collected within the same covers. Alongside these, it quickly also became common to issue editions devoted to a single composer, yet anthologies maintained their popularity throughout the century. In the zeal for marketing, the collections were given the most imaginative titles, such as Motets from the Labyrinth (Motetti del Laberinto) or Joyful Harmonies (Symphoniae Iucundae). These collections provide a fascinating insight into which composers and which of their works were considered valuable and popular enough to be widely printed. Sometimes we encounter surprising names, while composers who today would be regarded as essential are completely absent.
The concert is performed by Ensemble MMXX from Turku, and Matias Häkkinen, clavichord. MMXX was founded five years ago and has established a core activity of a lunch concert series at Turku Cathedral. Since autumn 2021, the ensemble has given over 80 of these lunch concerts, all focused on Renaissance polyphonic church music. The core lineup is always four singers, but on occasions MMXX has also performed with five or six singers. In addition to the lunch concerts, the ensemble also gives longer performances, which are likewise generally focused on Renaissance repertoi
6.15 pm – Meet the artist and free coffee at St. Pauls parish hall
7.00 pm – Concert begins at St. Pauls church
Artists
Ensemble MMXX
- Maikki Säikkä – soprano
- Marika Kivinen – alto
- Mats Lillhannus – tenor
- Janne Merisaari – bass
- Matias Häkkinen – clavichord
Composers
- Jean Richafort
- Josquin Desprez
- Orlando di Lasso
- Pierre de Manchicourt
- Nicolas Gombert
- among others
Thrice denied – Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro
• Sun 1st Feb at 6 pm •
Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro (1594) stands as one of the supreme monuments of late Renaissance polyphony — a cycle of twenty sacred madrigals and a concluding motet that meditate on St Peter’s remorse and spiritual renewal. Profoundly expressive, the work was Lasso’s final offering before his death. Lagrime is divided into three main sections, each containing seven madrigals, and is scored for seven singers. 2026 also marks the 400th anniversary of the death of John Dowland. As a show of respect for the great lutenist, the massive polyphonic sections of Lasso’s Lagrime will be interspersed with movements from Dowland’s Lachrimæ, a set of seven ‘pavans’, offering intimate and very English reflections on Lasso’s themes of sorrow and penitence.
Please note the 6 pm time of the concert, which is an hour earlier than the other Aurore concerts!
5.15 pm – Meet the artist and free coffee at St. Pauls parish hall
6.00 pm – Concert begins at St. Pauls church
Artists
The Vicentino Singers
- David Hackston
- Linnéa Sundfær Casserly
- Sirkku Rintamäki
- Iris Oja
- Mats Lillhannus
- Martti Anttila
- Riku Laurikka
- Mikko Ikäheimo, lute
Composers
- Orlando di Lasso
- John Dowland
St. Paul’s Church
St. Paul’s Church (Paavalinkirkko), Sammatintie 5, Helsinki, is easily accessible by trams number 6 and 8 as well as a number of busses. See Reittiopas for connections.
Tickets
Tickets are available in Aurore’s online ticket shop and an hour in advance at the door by card or cash.
- single concert €25/20
- festival pass €65/55
You can also purchase tickets at Lippupiste, where the price will include an additional service fee.
Ticket inquiries: liput(at)aurore.fi
Please note that the printed Aurore program notes and program books are only available in Finnish and Swedish.
Renessanssimusiikkia Paavalinkirkossa ry.
VAT ID FI25853317
Co. Mats Lillhannus
Pääskyvuorenkatu 41 • 20540 Turku • Finland
Festival Manager Sanni Antikainen:
info(at)aurore.fi