Director Kristiina Helin graduated as an actor from the East 15 Acting School in London in 1991. She took further acting classes in Wales with Odin Teatret, founded by the legendary theatre director Jerzy Grotowski. After moving to Japan she sought to study and work at butoh dancer Min Tanaka’s Body Weather Farm, where she collaborated with the influential choreographer Lemi Ponifasio.

After her return to Finland in 1994, Helin trained as an opera director by working as assistant director in Sibelius Academy and the Finnish National Opera. In 2000, Helin set up her own opera company, Graal Opera, and produced her first work as stage director.

Kristiina Helin has worked as a freelance artist for nearly 30 years. She has directed for Helsinki Festival, Venice Biennale, the Baltic Sea Festival, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and others. She has consistently sought out the margin instead of mainstream opera, and enjoyed working with independent and original groups such as the Neue Vocalsolisten in Germany.

Within the past decade, concerts visualisations have formed an increasingly important part of Helin’s work. She has visualised contemporary music concerts as well as concert versions of opera productions, the most notable of which was Leoš Janáček’s From the House of the Dead with Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Helin has lived and worked in Spain, France and Germany, as well as Japan and the USA. She currently lives in the Netherlands with her family.