Senior Conductor

Major (Mus.) Tero Haikala

 

Tero Haikala graduated as a clarinet pedagogue from Tampere Conservatoire in 2002, a musician from Pirkanmaa University of Applied Sciences in 2005 and as a wind orchestra conductor from Sibelius-Academy in 2011. He has also completed conductor courses for example under Jorma Panula, Kari Tikka and Pertti Pekkanen.

Tero Haikala served as the conductor of the Finnish Defence Forces Conscript Band 2011-2017. Haikala developed and renewed the Conscript Band’s musical repertoire organising extensive concert tours with his band performing a range of musical genres. He also worked on a new music-focused programme for the non-commissioned officer course. From 2018, he worked as the conductor of the Lapland Military Band. At the beginning of February 2020, Haikala started serving as the Navy Band’s conductor.

Haikala is a teacher whose services have been in high demand across Finland. He has held lectures, organised conductor training, conducted a number of orchestras and served as a teacher and conductor at numerous events.

Tero Haikala served as the conductor of the Lahti Conservatory Concert Wind Band in  2015-2018. When it comes to amateur orchestras, he has conducted the scout group band Tampereen Kotkat and the Apollo Wind Band from Helsinki. Haikala is one of the founding members of the Sisu Symphonic Wind Band.

 

Conductor

First Lieutenant (Mus.) Risto Sojakka

 

Risto Sojakka is a versatile musician and conductor. He graduated as a Master of Music from the University of the Arts’ Sibelius Academy in 2019 and has completed his studies at the University of Stavanger, Norway.  Earlier, he has worked as a conductor of the Defence Forces Conscript Band in Hattula.

Next to his official duties, Sojakka works as a visiting conductor and instructor of youth orchestras. In his free time, he can be spotted, for example, jogging on Lappeenranta’s lakeside walkway,  on forest hikes with his family or baking sourdough bread.