Nori Heikkinen

Staff Alto

Nori Heikkinen is a versatile mezzo-soprano based in Seattle, WA, with extensive experience as both a vocalist and instrumentalist (viola). Her passion for small ensembles has led her to the Cantorei octet at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, where she has served as the primary staff alto since July 2023.  She also sings locally with the Mägi Ensemble, the Evergreen Ensemble, and Harmonia Chorus.  

A native of Madison, WI, Nori performed with youth choirs and orchestras in her hometown before focusing on viola during her time at Swarthmore College (Midnight Quintett, founding member; Philadelphia Youth Orchestra; Orchestra 2001; Swarthmore College Orchestra). During her time in San Francisco, Nori sang with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus under Ragnar Bohlin, and also with the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco under Zane Fiala. She currently studies voice with José Luis Muñoz, and has previously studied viola with Joseph de Pasquale (Philadelphia), Judy Geist (Philadelphia), and Elena Denisova (Vienna).

Beyond her musical prowess, Nori cultivated a long career in technology, most notably at Google, where she held the roles of a Site Reliability Engineer, Tech Lead, and Manager on teams running both critical Google-wide infrastructure and the company’s flagship Cloud product. Nori also served as part of the elite “Tech Surge” to fix the healthcare.gov