Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

“It would be hard to think of any singer today who sings [the roles of Mimi and Tatyana] more exquisitely…Is there a more beautiful soprano voice in opera today? Listening to her rapt, long-breathed phrasing of Come, in quest'ora bruna, from Boccanegra, and Desdemona's Willow Song and Ave Maris, it's hard to think of one.” Sunday Times, 14th Sunday 2008 ****

“Deploying her well-produced and fresh tone with skill and imagination, Soile Isokoski defines eight lyric soprano heroines, each one quite different. It's a remarkable achievement, underpinned with consistently excellent musicianship.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2008 *****

“…the Tchaikovsky would appear to be a role for which she is ideally suited. Her Russian diction seems clear and precise, the voice is admirably steady. The Bizet and Puccini items are pleasant enough, but it is in Verdi that Isokoski is able to demonstrate her dramatic skill. The hopeful, eager tones of Maria in Boccanegra, as she awaits her lover, contrast with the resigned, wounded Desdemona. Recorded sound is excellent.” Gramophone Magazine, 2008 Awards Issue

"…with a huge yet cultivated sound and truck-loads of charisma (he is) set to conquer the opera world," The Financial Times

“Usitalo's bass-baritone is exceptional, a powerful, secure instrument blending a bright, heroic top with darkly resonant lower notes, ample stamina, clear diction, and committed if not yet deeply nuanced acting.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 ****

“The music is full of voluptuous, organic melody, rich textures and a subtle yet surging development. Segerstam's performance shows sensitivity, a seamless evolution and lush sound.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 ****

“This latest wholly Finnish production is up there with the best. It reminds us what an audacious work this five-movement quasi-symphony was for its 27-year-old composer, with its pounding rhythms, powerful choral writing and broad range of atmospheres. Leif Segerstam commands these elements with true authority, and the Helsinki Philharmonic responds with playing, by turns elemental and delicate. Soile Isokoski, a soprano who in her vocal edge and intuitive sense of communication can bring to mind Elisabeth Söderström, is a dramatically perceptive foil to Tommi Hakala's appropriately brazen but vocally polished Kullervo.” The Telegraph, 7th June 2008

“Leif Segerstam's performance joins the pantheon of outstanding Kullervo recordings. As one would expect from this quirkily fascinating conductor-composer, his reading takes a different line from the conventional approach to this strange hybrid work...Rather than adopting a monolithic "symphonic" approach, Segerstam emphasises the inherent drama and the protean nature of the whole work. The theatricality is not confined to the incestuous central duet between the hero Kullervo and his sister, sung here with thrilling operatic intensity by Soile Isokoski and Tommi Hakala, but spreads into the outer orchestral movements, too. If conductors such as Osmo Vänskä show Kullervo to be the starting point for the later, purely symphonic journey Sibelius undertook, the Segerstam reveals possibilities in the work that were never followed up, and which would have taken the composer into a different world altogether.” The Guardian, 23rd May 2008 ****

“For epic grandeur and excitement Rasilainen remains first choice. But Segerstam's more poetic, even reflective reading is a compelling alternative.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 ****

“Leif Segerstam knows something about pacing and maintaining a strong rhythmic profile over the longest spans of musical narrative… …Soile Isokoski in the part of Kullervo's raped sister… surpasses herself - and, I think, anyone else I've heard - in creating a self-contained scena for her third-movement lament, vibrant and enticing before turning bitterly eloquent over her shame.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008