Anna-Maria Helsing has gained an outstanding reputation with leading Scandinavian orchestras and opera houses. From 2010 to 2013 Anna-Maria Helsing was Chief Conductor of the Oulu Symphony – the first-ever female conductor at the head of a Finnish symphony orchestra. Anna-Maria Helsing has been appointed as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra from April 2020 to September 2022.

Within a short time the Finnish conductor has conducted all the major Finnish and Swedish orchestras including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish National Opera Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony and Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra. She also conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra, Iceland Symphony, Royal Danish Opera Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony, Odense Symphony, Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra among others.

Anna-Maria Helsing gave her debut at the Finnish National Opera with Adriana Mater by Kaija Saariaho in 2008. She has led a number of world premieres, most recently Momo at the Royal Danish Opera and Magnus-Maria by Karólína Eiríksdóttir on tour in Scandinavia. She has also performed established operas by Mozart, Cimarosa, Puccini, Mascagni, Madetoja and Bernstein at the Tampere Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival to name but a few.

Anna-Maria Helsing feels a special affinity with the sound and style of modernism and contemporary music.

Major upcoming highlights include her debuts with the Folkoperan in Stockholm, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and return visits to the Finnish National Opera Orchestra, Göteborg Opera Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Iceland Symphony, Sinfonia Nord (Akureyrí, Iceland), Turku Philharmonic, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Wermland Opera Orchestra among others.

Anna-Maria Helsing began her career as a violinist (with diplomas from the Conservatory of Jakobstad and the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz), leading chamber orchestras before serving as Artistic Director of the Pietarsaari Sinfonietta and conductor of the Wegelius Chamber Orchestra. She has attended masterclasses with Jorma Panula, Vladimir Jurowski and John Carewe.

Just after finishing her studies in the class of Leif Segerstam at the Sibelius Academy, the Finnish conductor was chosen to take part in the International Conductor’s Academy of the Allianz Cultural Foundation under the guidance of among others Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel.

In 2011 Anna-Maria Helsing became the first conductor to be awarded the Louis Spohr Medal in Seesen (Germany). In 1999 she won the First Prize in the International Competition for 20th Century Music for Young Artists in Warsaw.