Five years ago, Keval Shah probably wouldn’t have believed that the future of his musical career would centre around a country of five million people and loads of slippery ice and wet snow. But here he is – the 30-year-old pianist has firmly settled in Helsinki, where he holds the position of Lecturer of Lied at the Sibelius Academy and is establishing himself as “part of the family” in the local musical life.

Soon he will become the first non-singer member of the jury at the International Mirjam Helin Singing Competition. Starting on 3 June, the first round and the semifinals of the competition will be held at the concert hall of the Sibelius Academy, with the final round at the Music Centre just across the street.

“It’s a luxury that all the musical venues are close to each other here, and that the Music Centre actually houses two orchestras and the Academy under the same roof!” Keval Shah says with enthusiasm, at a student café located just next to the Sibelius Academy concert hall. “I encourage my students to connect with the art scene around them here, and profit from this amazing city. I want them to feel like artists from day one, not just when they have graduated.”

Shah doesn’t want the music students to become institutionalised, and the same goes for the Lied itself. Much of his work as a pianist is fuelled by a desire to make art song connected to the society around us.

“In the second half of the last century, Lied in Europe and America fossilised around a certain performance practice and a very narrow repertory, catering to a limited audience”, he says. Keval Shah grew up in an Indian family with no contact with western classical music, and he has been thinking a lot about song cultures outside the European mainstream.

“I love Schubert, but that’s not the totality of Lied. We have Peruvian song, Indonesian song, Icelandic song, and all this is available for modern day musicians. Lied repertory is way bigger than I was trained to believe, and I want to teach this to my students as well.”

A space for reflection

Shah believes that song is an essential form of sharing and can help people of different backgrounds to find a common meeting ground. And in the polarised world of today, this is perhaps more important than ever.

“Classical music has often been guilty of feeding this polarisation, but I don’t want to feed it any longer myself. I want to say something meaningful through the power of song and poetry, and offer a space where audiences can reflect, connect and contemplate.”

Shah will soon, for instance, premiere a new song cycle on Punjabi poetry at a Sikh cultural centre in the UK. For next season, he has commissioned a song cycle with Sanskrit texts set to music by an Indian-American composer, which will be performed in a special setting with Indian fashion, incense and food.

“This season, I will also perform Wolf and Schubert cycles, and I absolutely don’t want to let go of that, but I want to explore how we can expand on the standard Lied recital.”

Today the tradition of Lied can recreate an intimacy that is quite unique in the ever more public lives we lead.

“Songs can convey meaning in such a direct way. Focused listening, detailed expression, strong communication – this is something that Lied can offer to the audience, stimulating their imagination and engendering deep emotion.”

A chameleon, not a jukebox

Keval Shah regularly performs with baritone Theodore Platt, whom he met while studying at Cambridge University, and with whom he proceeded to win the Hugo Wolf Akademie’s International Art Song Competition in 2022. But whereas several famous Lied singers of the past mainly focused on working with one partner, the new generation of Lied musicians prefer a more open approach to collaboration. Shah enjoys being exposed to new repertoires and aesthetic preferences with the wide variety of singers with whom he works.

“It’s so exciting to start working with a new singer! People can be so different privately and on stage, and often it’s only during the performance that you really get to know them. The first 30 seconds on stage with a new singer, discovering your stage personalities in real time, in front of an audience, can be something magical.”

According to Shah, a Lied pianist must be like a chameleon and “very much a people person”, but firm in their own aesthetic vision.

“The pianist is not a jukebox or karaoke machine”, he smiles. “You have to have a clear musical vision and maintain it, while also adapting yourself constantly and matching your sound to the timbre of the singer you are partnering.”

Keval Shah has recently taken up ceramics as a hobby and compares making Lied music to ceramics: the clay stays the same, but different composers and styles need different glazing and technical approaches.

“It’s working with and exploring who you are!”

Open mind, open heart

During the International Mirjam Helin Singing Competition, Keval Shah will be hearing a whole array of different artistic personalities and styles. He wants to listen with an open heart and mind.

“There’s no right or wrong here. I’m looking forward to having my aesthetic imagination broadened with new ways of singing and performing”, he says.

“Competitions can be wonderful places to meet fellow artists and discover new repertoire. Listening to other singers can be very helpful in defining your own aesthetic framework.”

This is something Keval Shah himself has been thinking a lot about after settling in Finland. Turning 30, he felt a new confidence setting in.

“Here I have discovered who I really am and what my artistic priorities are, and it’s a very nice feeling”, he says happily. “It could have happened anywhere, but I’m glad it happened here. This is a very open-minded culture artistically, and it has really widened my horizons.”

Soon after arriving in Finland, Shah had the opportunity to perform with Finnish star singers Karita Mattila and Anu Komsi, and also to meet and work with composer Kaija Saariaho, who passed away last year.

“Helsinki is a very lively music city, and the festival scene in Finland is amazing. It’s unbelievable that so much is going on in a country with only 5 million inhabitants.”

What makes Shah particularly happy is the possibility of getting involved with the chamber music scene. He is part of the creative board of the Helsinki Seriös concert series and has recently given Lied recitals in the Klassinen Hietsu series in Helsinki and at the Oulu Music Festival.

“I feel I’m part of the family now!”

The year 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition, as the competition was held for the first time in August 1984. Much has since changed in the world and in the cultural field, but the core values of the competition remain the same: those of its benefactor and, virtually, creator, Mirjam Helin (1911–2006), Finnish singer and a leading vocal pedagogue of her time. She devoted her career to fostering young singers, having herself refused an operatic career in the 1930s due to opposition from her father and husband.

In 1981, on the eve of her 70th birthday, Mirjam Helin, then a professor at the Sibelius Academy, made a large donation to the Finnish Cultural Foundation, intended for establishing an international singing competition. For many years, she had nurtured a dream of a world-class competition, providing a platform for young singers across the world to show their talent, meet other singers and grow as artists.

Her idea was received with great enthusiasm at the Foundation. Professor Paavo Hohti had recently started as an official at the Finnish Cultural Foundation at the time.

“Mirjam Helin’s proposition was simply magnificent, and a positively transformative event for the Foundation, which until then had concentrated on supporting Finnish art and culture through grants”, says Paavo Hohti. Organising a major cultural event opened up a whole new dimension in the functions of the Foundation. It quickly gave Mirjam Helin an affirmative response and launched the preparations. The Mirjam Helin Singing Competition is still organised by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and financed by the Mirjam and Hans Helin Fund.

A radiating personality

Starting in 1982, the first Competition Secretary was Sirpa Hietanen, then a budding arts producer with a singing background. She joyfully recollects the beginnings of the competition in an atmosphere of great zeal. Mirjam Helin was deeply engaged in the arrangements of the first two editions of the competition, in 1984 and 1989, and was able to see five editions in all before her passing at the age of 95.

Sirpa Hietanen recalls how the competition committee could always rely on Mirjam Helin’s trust and draw inspiration from her presence.

“The commitment of Prof. Helin fuelled the whole team with a huge enthusiasm. We had the feeling of creating something special. But she didn’t want to shine a light on herself; she was very modest. Her passion radiated forth all the same. She was a glowing, warm person who had the ability to be miraculously present in every interaction she had”, Hietanen recalls.

Paavo Hohti remembers how Mirjam Helin didn’t remain a distant patron but instead assumed a place at the Finnish Cultural Foundation and made the officials her family in a way.

“She not only socialised with the upper management but gave her personal attention to everyone, wanting to show her gratitude”, Hohti says. “She was a very special personality who left a strong mark in all our memories.”

Mirjam Helin was childless, and as her estate was assigned to the competition bearing her name, it also became her heir in spirit. During the first two competitions, especially, she listened keenly to every performance, and also embraced the future careers of the prize winners, maintaining correspondence with many of them and travelling to hear them in concert.

”Humane values, familial atmosphere”

For Mirjam Helin, the well-being of the young singers was a priority, and this became the leading thread for the competition, aspiring to create a perfect setting for competitors’ performances: a friendly and welcoming atmosphere with thoughtful arrangements of the highest quality. When the mundane details are running smoothly, singers can concentrate on that which matters most: the music.

“The competition is built in every way on the legacy of Mirjam Helin and her humane values”, says Sirpa Hietanen. “For example, the eliminated competitors, too, have the opportunity to meet the members of the jury face-to-face. For many, encouragement of this kind has been very meaningful. This is essentially the spirit of Mirjam Helin: allowing aspiring singers to do their best and supporting them on their professional path.”

Home accommodation was part of the competition from the very start, providing the contestants with a family-like setting. According to Sirpa Hietanen, this created a warmly familial atmosphere around the whole event, as elderly ladies took singers under their wings and made friends with them.

“Year after year, the competitors have been praising the encouragement and support they received from their ‘families’ and the Finnish audience.”

More than just competing

Although a musical competition was Mirjam Helin’s life-long dream, the competitive element was not the main thing for her. Helin’s ideas of providing professional communality and international relations for singers left a strong impression on Paavo Hohti.

“Of course she took delight in the performances and was happy for the winners, but her idea of a singing competition was far more than just selecting the best. She strongly believed that seeing and hearing others is vital for a singer’s development, and she wanted everyone to feel appreciated.”

This ideal most clearly materialised in the form of masterclasses held by the members of the jury, an important feature in the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition for years, but also in the way the competition encourages and creates collegiality among the competitors instead of competitiveness.

“Her approach valued the personality of each singer”, Hohti says. “Opera directors were not included in the jury so that singing itself would be the priority, not professional suitability.”

Legendary figures

Creating an international cultural event in the early 1980s was something radically different from today. Sirpa Hietanen reminisces about the bustle at the competition office at a time when English was not at all the foremost language of international communication. French, German and Russian were used instead, and musicians and volunteers with a wide range of language skills were selected to work at the office.

Hietanen was responsible for communications before and during the whole competition. “Telefax was an innovation back then! We held press conferences, sent letters, and talked face to face with journalists. It was such a different time! And it was so exciting to have international visitors in Helsinki; that was still a novelty.”

She especially remembers a moment in 1984 when she stood welcoming a group of Chinese singers who had travelled across Russia by train. Two weeks later, three of them were among the prize winners, including the Uyghur coloratura soprano Dilbèr, who proceeded to make a career in the West and performed a lot in Finland.

Unlike any others were the moments Sirpa Hietanen spent with the jury, acting as its secretary during the competitions of 1984 and 1989. Apart from the actual work, she also accompanied the jurors on trips in Helsinki and its surroundings, getting to know legendary figures such as Birgit Nilsson, Jevgeni Nesterenko, and Kim Borg.

“It was amazing to spend two weeks with such a cast of international star singers and grand personalities”, she exclaims. “Watching them work taught me a tremendous amount about singing, and the stories they told were unforgettable.”

Mirjam Helin (1911–2006)

”The best singers were so good that I could hardly contain myself,” said Professor Mirjam Helin in August 2004 after once again listening to all the preliminary rounds and semifinals.

”I sat through every minute, I didn’t cheat at all,” laughed the ever-youthful 93-year-old iron lady. Mirjam Helin took the wellbeing of the contestants and the success of the arrangements, right down to the smallest detail, very much to heart. She also took an interest in the singers’ later development and was pleased when they did well.

Childhood in the shadow of the Russian Revolution

Mirjam Helin was born in St. Petersburg in 1911. Her father, an electrical engineer by the name of Oskar Rokkanen, was manager of a power plant in what was at the time the Autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. He soon set up in business on his own as a wholesaler for electrical goods and purchased an imposing five-storey stone house in St. Petersburg for his business and to live in.

The times became restless. In May 1918 Oskar Rokkanen sent his wife and two daughters to safety at the family’s summer villa at Antrea on the Karelian Isthmus, in what was by then the independent Republic of Finland. He later joined them, taking refuge there himself, for in Russia he was in danger of being imprisoned and sent to Siberia. In Helsinki he founded Pohjoismainen Sähkö Osakeyhtiö (PSO, a wholesaler and manufacturer of electrical goods) that in time grew to be one of the most successful undertakings of its kind. Mirjam studied accounting and, in compliance with her father’s wishes, worked as manager of the company’s accounts office for nearly 10 years from 1940 onwards.

”I passed the test. I was offered a chance to make my operatic debut. I rushed home and announced I was all set to become an opera singer. Father banged his fist on the table and said no way was his daughter going to be an opera singer.”

Mirjam Helin

Singing becomes a mission in life

Mirjam’s parents were musical. They sang in a choir, and her father played the piano. The girls took piano lessons. Her music teacher at school encouraged Mirjam to consider a career in music. In 1929 she enrolled at the Helsinki Conservatory (later the Sibelius Academy) with a view to qualifying as a school music teacher, at that time a singing teacher. There she made such good progress that her teacher, Oiva Soini, sent her to the Finnish Opera for an audition.

”I passed the test. I was offered a chance to make my operatic debut. I rushed home and announced I was all set to become an opera singer. Father banged his fist on the table and said no way was his daughter going to be an opera singer. My fiancé, Hans Helin, agreed with him and threatened to break off our engagement if I chose to make opera my career and go abroad. So I did as I was told and that was that as far as opera was concerned,” is how Mirjam Helin recalled the most dramatic scene of her youth.

The Helins were married in December 1937. Mirjam then began preparing for the next great event in her life, her debut concert. This she held in October 1938 and received acclaim and encouraging reviews from the critics.

Mirjam Helin completed her singing diploma at the Sibelius Academy in May 1941. She later continued her studies with Lea Piltti and broadened her musical outlook in Italy and France. She had concert and oratorio engagements in many countries. A concert in Paris in 1950 opened the door to the Paris Grand Opera and roles in Wagner, but her love for her husband and homeland was greater than any other temptations the world could offer.

In 1940 Mirjam Helin had been accepted for the Radio Soloists Choir conducted by Nils-Eric Fougstedt and sang there until 1952. She also made a dozen or so solo recordings, a few of them under the pseudonym of Anja Sini. The most familiar of these is no doubt Lapin äidin kehtolaulu (A Lappish Mother’s Lullaby) to words and music by Kalervo Hämäläinen, still a popular request programme hit.

A highly-esteemed voice pedagogue at the Viipuri Music College (nowadays the Lahti Conservatory) from 1951 to 1963, Mirjam Helin also taught at the Sibelius Academy 1960–1980. She enjoyed teaching and stressed that the relationship between teacher and pupil is an extremely delicate and important one, at its best both close and warm.

”A little smile, a sweet look and a natural bearing are enough to create a charismatic presence. Stars are not made. Stardom grows from the singer’s own will and determination.”

Mirjam Helin vuonna 2004

Secret dream comes true

Following the death of her lawyer husband, Hans (1907–1973), Mirjam decided she wanted to see the world. Accompanied by friends, she travelled to distant lands dozens of times and once right round the world. On the evening of the day she returned from one of these trips, this time to South Africa, in January 1981, she listened to a broadcast from the Lappeenranta Singing Competition. The winners were Karita Mattila and Petteri Salomaa. She had long been working on the idea of launching a competition of her own of a high standard for young singers who already had performing experience. That night she knew that the time had come to reveal this secret dream. Her phone call to Matti Ilmanen, Secretary General of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the following day was the prelude to the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition.

Mirjam and Hans Helin had no children and in their will therefore decided that their estate should be used to further the arts. Whichever spouse outlived the other would determine in what way. The Finnish Cultural Foundation was both familiar and close to the Helins. They had been attending Foundation events since 1939, for Mirjam’s father had been a member of the Finnish Cultural Foundation Patrons’ Association.

The project proceeded at a brisk pace. On the eve of her 70th birthday Mirjam Helin made a large bequest to the Finnish Cultural Foundation, out of which a Fund bearing the name of Mirjam and Hans Helin was set up. With the earnings from this, the Finnish Cultural Foundation arranged the first Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in August 1984. The Chairman of the Competition Committee was conductor Ulf Söder­blom, and of the Jury Kim Borg, the first male Finn to sing at the New York Metropolitan.

In the 25 years since then the competition, held every five years, has become one of the world’s leading singing competitions. As early as 1987 it was accepted as a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (Fédération Mondiale des Concours Internationaux de Musique). Its selection was influenced by its stringent requirements, its jury, prizes and organisation.

The Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition has gone from strength to strength. The first competition received applications from 111 singers in 25 countries; by winter 2009 a new record had been set of 343 young singers from 42 countries around the world, attracted by the good prizes, the interesting, celebrated jury and the chance to gain admission – like the contestants in previous competitions – to the world’s most prestigious arenas. Singers who, in addition to honing their vocal skills to perfection, possess the ability to capture their audience and hold it in their grip stand out on the competition platform to their advantage.

”A little smile, a sweet look and a natural bearing are enough to create a charismatic presence. Stars are not made. Stardom grows from the singer’s own will and determination,” said Mirjam Helin in 2004.

“Nothing but the best”

The fifth Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition was successfully concluded. Professor Mirjam Helin once again spent every minute she could with the competitors. She enjoyed the performances and made sure that all the arrangements involved in the competition went according to plan.

“I want the competitors to feel welcome. Their well-being is my first priority. During the competition, the singers and their accompanists stay in carefully selected private homes, in which they have the opportunity to rehearse. We provide their daily meals. The competitors each receive a guide that speaks their native tongue, and there is always assistance available to them at any time during the competition,” states Mirjam Helin.

Several social evenings are organised during the two weeks of the competition. Once the intense final is over, the competitors are invited to celebrate at a joyous dinner party. Once the competitors have left, Mirjam Helin invites all of the hosts to a luncheon to share their experiences.

All for art

Mirjam and Hans Helin did not have any children. They jointly decided to testament their estate to benefit some form of art. They further decided that, after one of them dies, the remaining spouse would specify the object of their donation. Hans Helin, LL.M., died in 1973. In January 1981, Mirjam Helin contacted an advocate for the Finnish Cultural Foundation, namely Matti Ilmanen, M.SSc. She expressed her desire to establish the Mirjam and Hans Helin Fund.

“The idea for the fund had been brewing in my mind for some time. Its implementation would not have been possible as long as I was working as a lied lecturer at Sibelius Academy,” explained Mirjam Helin. “Ilmanen invited me to the Cultural Foundation to discuss the matter further. That was when I revealed my dream of an international singing competition, which the Cultural Foundation would arrange with funding from my donation. I wanted to be able to see the competition firsthand at least once. My 70th birthday was coming in March and I figured that I wouldn’t be around for too much longer,” said the professor, known as the ‘steel lady’, as she reminisced about the competition’s roots. She lived, however, to be 95 years old.

The project got underway rapidly. The decision was made to arrange the first Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in August 1984, and every five years after that. It would take its place alternating with the international violin, cello, singing and conductor competitions.

Models from abroad

An organisation committee was put together for the first competition, and Conductor Ulf Söderblom was named as chairman. The members comprised Jorma Hynninen, opera singer; Matti Ilmanen, M.SSc.; Kauko Karjalainen, Executive Director of the Finnish Music Information Centre; Antero Karttunen, Music Director for the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE); and Ellen Urho, Rector of Sibelius Academy. Mirjam Helin suggested that the chairman would need a good secretary. Sirpa Hietanen was appointed as the committee and competition secretary.

“There are a number of international competitions held worldwide. We wanted to learn about them, learn from them, and avoid making mistakes. Matti Ilmanen visited Toulouse, France and at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia. Sirpa Hietanen travelled to Paris and Italy, and I travelled to London and Budapest. On the basis of these experiences, we decided how to go about realising our singing competition – both from an external and internal perspective. It could be nothing but the best!”

Mirjam Helin wanted to create a competition for young singers who had already achieved a high performance standard. In the concert hall, the singers had the opportunity to showcase their true talents rather than simply sending a stack of papers to apply for a grant.

Star quality can’t be manufactured

According to Helin, the relationship between teacher and student is extremely delicate and crucial, and, at its best, warm and intimate. “A teacher must be demanding, but in a graceful way. There is a great deal of anatomy involved in singing. I used myself as an example, for instance, in the inhalation and exhalation exercises. The aim was a natural one, simply to free the voice. The teaching got through, by one means or another.”

Mirjam Helin said that she paid a great deal of attention to the words of a song. “When I am enthusiastic, I place more emphasis on some words than others. One should also try to find the climax of the words in a song and ensure that the breathing is correct at that point. The content of the song should come forth through the singer’s entire body.”

But where does one find stage charisma?
“It comes from within,” is the response of the esteemed vocal professor. “It is very easy when the performer’s disposition is natural and calm. A little smile and a sweet glance is all it takes. Star quality can’t be manufactured. Star quality is the result of a singer’s own will and determination.”