Heikki Hattunen has a beautiful and high tenor voice employed with skill and musicality. He works in the Finnish National Opera as an opera singer on a permanent contract since 2020. His house debute he made already in the season 2018–2019 with roles in two Finnish world premiere operas, Sanatorio Express and Jää (Ice). He started his international career in 2021 by giving a recital in Örebro, Sweden. In 2023 he debuted in Savonlinna Opera Festival as Monostatos in the updated Magic Flute, and as the tenor soloist in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem.
Hattunen’s opera roles include Nemorino (Donizetti: L’elisir d’amore), Lensky (Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin), Tito (Mozart: La clemenza di Tito) and the First Man (Kokkonen: The Last Temptations) among others. He’s able to provide a very agile and active appearance on stage when desired.
Heikki Hattunen performes often as a soloist and evangelist in concerts of both western and orthodox church music composed by his age-mates and Verdi, Rossini, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Händel and J.S.Bach, as well as Rahmaninov, Tšesnokov and Moody.
He enjoys also demanding lied music. Hattunen has performed Leoš Janáček's The Diary of the One Who Disappeared, and premiered a song cycle composed to pair the Janáček. It was composed by Janne Salmenkangas and the libretto was written by Hattunen himself. In addition to that Hattunen has premiered also several other works of Salmenkangas.
Heikki Hattunen has a thorough musical education in opera, art song and church music of both western and orthodox churches. He’s graduated as a singer from the Sibelius Academy (Master of Music, 2019) and as a choir conductor of the Orthodox Church from the University of Joensuu (Master of Theology, 2010). Hattunen used to work as a cantor earlier, and he’s been ordained as a deacon in Orthodox Church of Finland under Ecumenical Patriarchate. He was awarded the third prize in the Kangasniemi singing competition in 2016.
In addition to the Finnish National Opera Heikki Hattunen has performed as a soloist in Savonlinna Opera Festival, Helsinki Festival, Organ Night and Aria Festival, Tampere Vocal Festival, Lohtaja Church Music Festival and Orthodox Church Music Festival.
He has performed with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuopio, Joensuu and Vaasa City Orchestras and Helsinki Police Symphonic Band.
As a soloist with the choirs Key Ensemble, The Klemetti Institute Chamber Choir, Harju Chamber Choir, Cantores Minores (the Choir of Boys and Young Men of Helsinki Cathedral), Pirkanpojat (Boys' choir of Tampere Cathedral), The Youth choir Sympaatti, and the most Finnish orthodox choirs.
Heikki Hattunen has worked with conductors Sakari Oramo, John Storgårds, Hannu Lintu, Klaus Mäkelä, Alan Buribayev, Alberto Hold-Garrido, Jaakko Kuusisto, Nick Davies, Christian Øland, Kornilios Michailidis, Huba Hollókői, Kalle Kuusava and Sasha Goetzel;
And in productions with stage directors Christoph Loy, Victoria Newlyn, Erik Söderblom, Anna Kelo, Riikka Räsänen, Jere Erkkilä, Maria Sid, Katariina Lahti and Marco Bjurström.