CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

Founded in Helsinki in 1991, the Talla Vocal Ensemble is one of the leading groups in its field in Finland. Its ten male singers have a combined range of four octaves, enabling the group to perform mixed-choir repertoire too. Talla combines the rare male soprano voice with a deep Slavonic bass. In addition to the group's two acclaimed discs -- A Day in Paradise and Red Ribbon -- Talla has appeared on several discs recorded by the YL Male Voice Choir and has made premiere recordings of several works for the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Talla has won several international competitions for vocal ensembles and has performed at various international choral festivals. In summer 2005 and autumn 2006, Talla appeared at the Tampere Vocal Music Festival in Finland, at the Olavsfestdagene festival in Trondheim, Norway and at the Lund International Choir Festival in Sweden as part of the Northlights Project, which involved two other male voice ensembles: Quattro Stagioni and Lamentabile Consort, from Norway and Sweden, respectively. Pasi Hyökki (b. 1970), founder and artistic director of Talla, completed his diploma examination in choir conducting with excellent marks in 1997 and subsequently graduated with a Master of Music degree from the Department of Church Music of the Sibelius Academy. He currently conducts the Academic Choral Society, the Cantabile chamber choir and the EMO Ensemble chamber choir, whose founder he is. He also teaches history of choral music at the Sibelius Academy. He has received the prize for best choir conductor on three occasions: at the Chorus Review at the Tampere Vocal Music Festival in 1997, at the In canto sul Garda competition in Italy in 2001, and at the first international Harald Andersén Chamber Choir Competition in 2003. As a sopranista, he has studied with Claudine Ansermet, Christina Miatello and Gloria Arbitelli in Italy.