The next International Virgilijus Noreika Competition for Singers is planned for 2026, Vilnius

Riikka Hakola

| Finland

Riikka Hakola has garnered a reputation as an exceptional performer of powerful female roles. Her ability to identify with heroines, spectacular acting skills and a sublime voice have brought international recognition on opera and concert stages alike. She has been one of the main soloists at the Finnish National Opera and has performed in thirty-five countries across four continents. Hakola graduated from the Helsinki Sibelius Academy and continued her studies in London, Berlin, New York and Milan. She has collected over fifty main roles: Fiordiligi in “All Women Do It”, Adina from “The Elixir of Love”, Rosina in “The Barber of Seville”, Neda in “Pagliacci”, Mimi, Juditha, Anna Bolena and many others. One of the artist’s favourites is the role of Violetta in “La traviata”, which she performed at the Finnish National Opera for over a decade and has also reprised in the Royal Swedish Opera and the Royal Danish Opera. Her Donna Anna has appeared in Finland, the Latvian National Opera, the Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, as well as in Baltimore and Washington. In 2002 Hakola was invited to The Metropolitan Opera. She has performed alongside many famous orchestras, conductors and other singers, Plácido Domingo among them. In 2022 in Helsinki, she appeared as Queen Tye in Philip Glass’s opera “Akhnaten”.