Anna Nora (FIN)

WORKING WITH CHILDREN'S AND YOUTH CHOIRS

Anna Nora presents ideas concerning creativity with children and youth choirs through exercise and repertoire examples. Music and vocal teaching should be artistically rich while also rewarding for the children. Some of the questions also raised for discussion are: where do we find more children that sing? How to revive the culture of singing if it has already faded in the society?


ANNA NORA is a conductor, a choral pedagogue, and a composer of children’s operas. She works as an instructor of choir conducting in the division of church music in the Sibelius Academy of the University of Arts and as an instructor of choir and ensemble conducting in the Helsinki Conservatory of Music. Nora is also a sought-after educator who teaches children’s choir conducting around Finland. In choral pedagogy, she specialises in teaching choral skills, musicianship and singing technique step by step, as well as stimulating and encouraging musical expression from the youngest singers to professional studies. 

​Nora conducts four choirs at the Helsinki Conservatory of Music: Tähtisumu for children between 6 and 9, Ryhmä X for boys between 8 and 12, Galaxi for children between 9 and 11, and a mixed-voice choir for young singers between 14 and 20 years of age. In the autumn of 2024, Anna Nora and Anna Sandström will launch a new course on conducting children’s choirs at the Conservatory.

​Nora is also the artistic director of the Finnish Association of Children’s and Youth Choirs, the children’s chorus master at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, and a creator of teaching materials for school opera productions. In addition, she is the choral master in the annual Junior Concert of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Nora has composed five children’s operas, the last three of which include a children’s choir and the latest one a child soloist.

​Photo by: Heikki Tuuli