Biography
Niki Main is a countertenor, composer, and poet based in Finland and the US. They are currently pursuing their master’s degree at the Sibelius Academy where they study composition with Veli-Matti Puumala and Riikka Talvitie and voice with Ulla Raiskio. Recent composing projects include premieres with the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, FRONT International Triennial, Musaics of the Bay, NYKY Ensemble, and as composer-performer at Musica Nova Helsinki 2023 as well as in collaboration with EMO Ensemble. Additionally in 2024, they have worked as an arranger with Katarina Barruk and the Lapish Chamber Orchestra and as a poet in residency at Tekstin talo hosted by UrbanApa. Their first opera, It Takes a Child’s Imagination, premiered with Yolanda Harding in June 2024, made Niki’s debut of combining in a single project their triple threat artistry as composer, performer, and librettist. Other recent performances include premiering an adaptation from Riikka Talvitie’s radio opera, Queen of the Cold Land, for countertenor and orchestra, John Cage’s Songbooks at Viitasaaren Musiikin Aika with Joan La Barbara, and the roles of Honour in Purcell’s King Arthur and Liberto, Lucano, Littore, and 2nd Famigliare in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with the Sibelius Academy Opera.
Upcoming projects include the role of Vistole in Iceland University of the Arts’ production of Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero in February 2025 and premieres in April 2025 of both Niki’s new work for string orchestra with the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and a new chamber opera, 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, at Musiikkitalo for which they are both the composer and singing the role of Ayrton Senna. From November 2024 until August 2025, their Correspondence Song will be played as part of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s Making Home exhibition, commissioned by Heather Dewey-Hagborg.
Niki is bookable as a singer, composer, poet, actor, music arranger, and model.
Updated October 25, 2024