Juvenalia Choir

Juvenalia-kuoro (Juvenalia Choir) is the flagship choir of Music Institute Juvenalia, based in Espoo, Finland. The choir was founded in 1989 as a youth choir named Olarin kuoro, and consisted originally of solfege students of its first director Matti Järvinen. During the first decade of the 21st century, the choir swiftly transformed into a chamber choir of young adults, many of the choristers who joined in the 1990s still singing in the choir today.

Juvenalia Choir is known for its wide a cappella repertoire, spanning from Mediaeval to Contemporary music, but it has also done beat boxing as well as opera on stage. Alongside Renaissance polyphony, the choir frequently sings works by composers such as Felix Mendelssohn and Zoltán Kodály. The renowned Finnish jazz musician Eero Koivistoinen is Juvenalia Choir’s composer-in-residence.

Juvenalia Choir has published several recordings and has regularly participated in international festivals and competitions, achieving success most recently in 2023, in the Tampere Vocal Music Festival, and, in 2019, in the XIII In… Canto sul Garda Competition.

Júlia Heéger is a graduate of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (Choral Conducting) and the University of the Arts Helsinki (Singing). She is a member of the Helsinki Chamber Choir, regularly performing and recording contemporary music.

Heéger was the assistant conductor and voice teacher of Juvenalia Choir from 2012 until 2022 when she became the artistic director of the choir.