About Us

Sofia Lindroos encountered Medieval chant performed by Schola Olaus Petri under Valter Maasalo at Olaus Petri Church in Helsinki. She became interested in singing Brigittine chant herself after attending courses given by Hilkka-Liisa Vuori, leading to the creation of the present website under the project Cantus sororum – Systrarnas sång, of which she is the coordinator. She selected the chants and adapted Swedish texts to some of them, and also authored most of the descriptive texts on the website. Sofia is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy and is currently employed as a singer, violin teacher and choir conductor.

Valter Maasalo transcribed the sheet music, adapted psalm verses to chants, produced video clips and created the website besides appearing here as a singer. He also contributed to the texts on the website. Valter is an IT consultant who is also active in music as a singer, arranger, composer and editor. He is one of Finland’s leading experts in Gregorian chant.

We wish to express our warmest thanks to Käpylä Church and Oulunkylä Parish in Helsinki for allowing us to make recordings between 2019 and 2022. Thanks are also due to our sound engineer, Mika Koivusalo.

We also wish to thank our supporters:

• the Friday Society Fund at the Olaus Petri Parish in Helsinki;
• Otto A. Malm’s donation fund;
• the Nygrén Foundation;
• the Hélène and Walter Grönqvist Foundation;
• the Swedish Literature Society; and
• the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.

Our heartfelt appreciation goes to Gunnel Lundén (†) and her family for permission to publish translations made by Tryggve Lundén. Hilkka-Liisa Vuori D.Mus. provided invaluable help and guidance in the course of the project. Thanks also to Viveca Servatius for her support and dedication!

Photos: Lars Kastilan (Naantali church), Sofia Lindroos (Vadstena Convent Church) and Valter Maasalo (Olaus Petri Church in Helsinki).

English translations by Jaakko Mäntyjärvi.