Stories to Uncover Your Own Heart
The consummate performer Finnish concert artist, entertainer and storyteller Ulla Suokko is a cosmopolitan bard committed to making a difference in the world through music and musical stories – always with romantic charm, joyous passion and a delightful sense of humor.
Ms. Suokko’s extensive international career as a concert artist has brought her countless enriching opportunities to collaborate with creative artists from all over the world. In addition to the flutes, she plays the Finnish kantele, a Sami drum and a birchbark flute from Finland, as well as uses herself as an instrument through breath, sound and movement. Her multilingual and multicultural performances are also interactive and naturally inviting audience participation.
For Adults and Children
She often brings music into more intimate settings, creating special custom-designed programs for a variety of audiences, including New York public and private schools, and now in Peru in the Andean mountains as well as some underpriviledged communities in and around Lima and other cities.
This year she was one of the invited storytellers at the First International Festival of Oral Narration "Todas las Palabras, Todas" in Lima, Huaraz, Arequipa and Trujillo. She has also presented multicultural programs with the Peruvian storyteller Cesar "Wayqui" Villegas (the artistic director of Todas las Palabras) called Chakaysilta, bridging Finland, Peru and human hearts. She has also appeared in multiple performances called Intikuu in Lima with the Peruvian musician Emilio Urbay.
She is currently preparing a program of stories to inspire gratitude, forgiveness and love with her colleague, the storyteller Tania Castro of Cusco, Peru.
Myth as a Path to Truth
Ulla Suokko creates and recreates myths and stories from Finland and from other parts of the world to help us be in touch with the deeper truths of our hearts. Her creative approach allows us to look into the stories of our own lives with a new perspective and understanding, perhaps allowing us to transform right there on the spot.
She continues to be one of the most sought after performers in the Finnish-American communities, including many FinnGrandFests and FinnFests, as well as Finn Fling in Thunder Bay, Canada. In her entertaining and informative performances she leads the listener on a musical and poetic exploration of humanity, building a bridge between ancient traditions and contemporary culture. Showing her versatility, Ms. Suokko has many credits also as an actress, including the title role in an award-winning short film “Dolores,” as well as multiple appearances on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien as Conan’s Finnish wife in the national and international TV worldwide.
Ms. Suokko holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Julius Baker. Her doctoral dissertation was on music and rhetoric: the art of oration, communication, persuasion and presentation.
Workshops and Playshops
Complementing her performance career, she gives workshops on peak performance, stress release, relaxation techniques, listening, communicating, and improvisation, as well as on the healing and transformational power of music.
Always a student, Dr. Suokko keeps expanding her knowledge and experience of the healing arts, exploring with equal thirst the ancient traditions of the world and the contemporary research of vibrational and energy medicine. Her interests range from shamanism to quantum physics. She divides her time between her two homes in NYC and the Peruvian Andes.
