Niamh McKenna
Flutist

Niamh McKenna (*1991) is a German-Irish flautist. She was appointed principal flute of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014, since the autumn of 2019 she has been holding the same position with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. During 2013/14 she was academist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. McKenna has studied with teachers such as Angela Firkins, Felix Renggli, Kersten McCall and Petri Alanko. In 2017 she won the International Crusell Flute Competition, and in 2019 received third prize at the Prague Spring International Music Competition. As a guest principal she has played in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in the Finnish as well as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic and in the Tapiola Sinfonietta among others. She frequently performs as a soloist with orchestras throughout Finland.

In 2022 she premiered Kalevi Aho’s concerto for flute and harp under the baton of Osmo Vänskä together with Emmanuel Ceysson (harp) and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. An enthusiastic chambermusician, she can be heard in major Finnish chambermusic festivals.

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Niamh plays an 18K Muramatsu Flute with 9K keys.