Soprano Leila Saari
Finnish soprano Leila Raakel Saari finished her studies in the Sibelius Academy Opera Ensemble in December 2025. Highlights on the operatic stage include four role debuts in Sibelius Academy Opera in 2023-2025. Orasia in Orpheus (G.P. Telemann), A Lady with a Cake Box in Postcard from Morocco (D. Argento), Frau Fluth in Die lustige Weiber von Windsor (O. Nicolai) and La Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro (W.A. Mozart).
Saari has also premiered new Finnish music in the role of Hilja Syrjämäki in Paavo Korpijaakko and Elina Snicker’s opera Ihmiset suviyössä (People in a Summer Night) at the Hämeenkyrö FEStiwaalit in 2023. With Jyväskylä Opera, she performed the role of Albertina in Joonas Kokkonen’s Viimeiset kiusaukset (The Last Temptations) in 2021.
As a concert singer, her repertoire ranges from lieder to sacred music. Saari portrayed Aino Ackté in a dramatized concert honoring the anniversary year of composer Erkki Melartin at the Arabia Kaikuu Lied Festival in summer 2025. She has appeared as a soloist with ensembles such as the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO), the chamber orchestra Refugium Musicum, and the Kainuu Chamber Orchestra, performing works including Mendelssohn’s St Paul, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St John Passion, Mozart’s Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah. Last autumn she made an international concert appearances in Gdańsk and Sopot, Poland, with pianist Anna Prabucka-Firlej.
Leila Saari was a semifinalist in the Lappeenranta National Singing Competition in 2022. Her artistic work has been supported by the Central Finland Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Selim Eskelin Foundation, and Opera Education Patrons Finland.
Saari graduated as a vocal pedagogue from JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä (2018) and holds a Master of Arts degree in Music Education from the University of Jyväskylä (2016). She worked as a singing teacher with her private trader years 2019–2025.
Reviews
“The soprano role is demanding and there is a great deal to sing, but Saari handled it brilliantly.”
— Kari Pitkänen, kultturitoimitus.fi
“In Kålkkåbra festival, we saw a very amusing production set in an audition situation. It also touched on the realities of the music industry and cultural funding cuts.
In particular, the character who ends up becoming an assistant stood out in the performance, and the role was beautifully sung by Leila Saari.”
— Anni Saari, Keskipohjanmaa
“As queen, Leila Saari was exactly the kind of diva she was meant to be, and the uncertainty and madness at the end were portrayed with great intensity and conviction.”
— Harri Kuusisaari, Rondo.fi
“In terms of singing, Leila Saari probably performed the best. She handled both the German recitatives and arias extremely well. The singer impressed with a well-developed character that had its own clear progression; she moved on stage independently and was quite convincing as an actress.”
— Václav Becvar, Operajournal.cz
Headshots
Photos: Juulia Valtanen, 2025
Photos: Juulia Valtanen
