British countertenor David Hackston began his musical studies in Bradford-on-Avon, England. Today he lives and works in Helsinki, Finland, where he has studied early music, Baroque singing and performance practice at Helsinki Metropolia University as a student of soprano Tuuli Lindeberg and countertenor Teppo Lampela. During 2014–15 he undertook a year of study at the Escola Superior de Música, Artes e Espectáculo (ESMAE) in Porto, Portugal, under the guidance of Prof. Magna Ferreira. David is a core member of the Helsinki Chamber Choir, and in 2010 he founded The English Vocal Consort of Helsinki, an ensemble that focuses on the rich vocal tradition of the English Renaissance and Romantic eras.
Notable recent oratorio performances include collaborations with Helsinki Baroque Orchestra (Handel: Messiah), the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (Bach:St John Passion) and Ensemble Nylandia (Falvetti: Il Diluvio Universale). In February 2016 he performed the role of Didymus in Handel’s dramatic oratorio Theodora. The 2017 season will feature performances of Dido and Aeneasand the role of Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. Together with lutenist Mikko Ikäheimo, David has presented recital programmes exploring the music of John Dowland and his contemporaries, the French air de cour repertoire, and the vihuela songs of the Spanish early Renaissance. David has a particular interest in 16th century Portuguese polyphony and has produced modern editions of several anonymous manuscripts.
David is an avid performer of contemporary music, and with the Helsinki Chamber Choir he has performed numerous 20th century choral classics including works by Olivier Messiaen, Iannis Xenakis, Beat Furrer, Jonathan Harvey, Vassos Nicolaou, et al. In recent years David has championed the countertenor role in Kaija Saariaho’s Écho! for ensemble and electronics, and in 2013 he created the role of Satan in the première performance of Timothy Page’s Between Hell and Earth, a role requiring a vocal range of three octaves. In June 2014 he gave performances of Peter Maxwell Davies’s iconic Eight Songs for a Mad King in Helsinki and Hannover.
Photo: © Ville Kuukka