Vaput, Women's Choir in Jyväskylä, is the Finnish Female Choir of the Year 2010

Female Choir Vaput

Vaput is an active amateur choral group singing a wide range repertoire from sacred music and folk music to contemporary songs mostly in four parts. Vaput is based in the City of Jyväskylä in Central Finland and it is the oldest Finnish speaking - and singing - women's choir. The choir is comprised of approximately 40 singers from different work, life and age groups.

Today the choir works as part of an adult education institute, Jyvälän kansalaisopisto. The director Mrs Ulla Kotamäki is a professional music educator. The choir has performed in several countries, e.g. Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, and Spain. Recordings have been made in 1956, 1980, 1987 and 1993. A new recording will be published in 2012.

Within the choir there are smaller actively performing groups, e.g. Lauluyhtye Tuulantei. The choir and/or its smaller groups can be ordered to perform, see contact information below.

Vaput is a member of Sulasol - "Suomen Laulajain ja Soittajain Liitto", The Finnish Amateur Musicians' Association. Vaput is also one of the founding members of Suomen Naiskuoroliitto, The Finnish Association of Women's Choirs.

Vaput in 2011

Vaput was awarded the title of Women's Choir of the Year 2010 by The Finnish Association of Women's Choirs. The title will be fulfilled by a concert in Rovaniemi in 16th of March, 2012.  

Vaput took part in the international choir competition in Verona, Italy, in April 2011. The trip was busy but full of fun, and on the way home there lay a silver trophy in the suitcase.

A recording is under discussion. The CD will contain choral pieces especially composed for Vaput.

As usual, the choir did perform in a relaxed Vappu concert the first of May. This year the Vappu coffee concert was held in Vaajakoski for the first time in the history of Vaput. The talented women of Vaput had baked 17 festive cakes and made  more than 10 litres of sima (Finnish mead). Sami Heiskanen took photos:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/samino/sets/72157626498024031/

2010 - Year of Celebration

In 2009, Vaput announced a competition of new works for female voices to celebrate the 100 years of singing in a Finnish speaking female choir. 14 eligible entries were received. The four winners were successfully performed for the first time in the great birthday concert on 10th of October, 2010 (picture). The new choir works have also been printed into a booklet which can be bought through Naiskuoroliitto for 12 euros.

The concert got a splendid public response and a very good review. Especially the nyances in the singing and the natural interpretations of the songs were thanked.

Year 2010 was also special in another way - Vaput got the Jyväskylä Prize awarded yearly by the Association of Jyväskylä. Vaput has always been proud of being from Jyväskylä and has performed songs written and/or arranged by local artists. There is plenty of choir music specially written for Vaput, and Vaput keeps good old songs in its repertoire even if it sings a lot of contemporary music, too.

As part of the celebration, there was also a small exhibition of the history of the choir through dresses, decorations, photos, recordings, scrapbooks etc. in the Craft Museum of Finland in Jyväskylä.

If you understand Finnish, there is a new publication "Vuosisadan kuoromatka - Vaput 1910-2010", the story of Vaput in 362 pages. Vaput has also created an annual report 2010 with pictures.

Short History of Vaput

Vaput is the oldest Finnish speaking women's choir still active today. The choir was officially founded in 1910 but it had started to work already in 1906.

At those times the language of the "cultured people" in Finland was Swedish so there was very little existing choir music in Finnish. Vaput did a lot of work to change the situation by publishing new songs for women's choirs in Finnish.

The first director of the choir was Mrs Alli Hannikainen, a teacher of music and the wife of the composer P.J. Hannikainen. P.J. Hannikainen composed and arranged a lot of music for Vaput at that time, as did  many other Finnish composers of the early 20th C - and of today.  

The name "Vaput" refers to the First of May (Vappu in Finnish) when the choir performs to the public. It is a tradition developed during the first years of the choir and has continued ever since. Every First of May there will be a non-formal occasion of coffee, cakes, and plenty of singing!

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Membership fee 2012 of the Vaput Association costs 32€ per semester (64€/year, 32€/student) and for the Jyvälä Adult Education Institute 54€ per semester (2011). The choir rehearses in Kypärämäen päiväkoti (Kindergarten in Kypärämäki), Erämiehenkatu 6, and at Lohikoski Church.

Contact in English: Hilkka Heikkilä, heikkilahilkka() gmail.com. Pages in English written by Outi Raatikainen, Secretary of the Vaput Association, oraatikainen() gmail.com