Artists

Biography:

Kari Turunen was appointed Artistic Director of the Vancouver Chamber Choir in 2019, its 49th concert season. He is a versatile performer and continues to play an important role in the choral music scene in his native Finland as an artistic director, educator and administrator. He has toured extensively across Europe and Asia as a conductor, performer, clinician and adjudicator.

Dr. Turunen has been awarded numerous international prizes with the choral ensembles he has directed: Akademiska Damkören Lyran, Akademiska Sångföreningen, Kampin Laulu Chamber Choir, Chorus Cantorum Finlandiæ, Spira Ensemble and the professional early music ensembles Ensemble Petraloysio and I Dodici, with whom he continues to work. He was a founding member of Lumen

Valo and appeared with them in over 250 concerts and nine critically acclaimed recordings. In 2008, he was named Finnish Choral Conductor of the Year and he is the recipient of over 20 grants from Finnish and Finnish Swedish Cultural Foundations.

In addition to his artistic activities, Dr. Turunen has been active in festival administration. He was the Artistic Director of the 2022 Finnish Swedish Song Celebration, the 2023 Tampere Vocal Music Festival, and the Aurore Renaissance Festival in Helsinki from 2015–2020. He was also Chair of the Finnish Choral Directors’ Association (FCDA) from 1997–2018.

Kari Turunen holds a doctorate in early music performance practice from the University of the Arts, Helsinki, and an MA in choral conducting from the Sibelius Academy. He lives in Vancouver with his wife, Anna.