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). She is the cofounder of Nothing Gold, a professional eight-voice classical vocal chamber ensemble currently in its inaugural season, dedicated to presenting a diverse array of intimately-voiced classical choral works spanning styles and eras.

At Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Nori has served as primary staff alto and a member of the Cantorei staff ensemble since July 2023. Recent solo engagements include Handel's Dixit Dominus with Harmonia Orchestra & Chorus (November 2024), Alessandro Scarlatti's Stabat Mater at Blessed Sacrament (March 2026), and Handel's Messiah with Blessed Sacrament's Chamber Choir (Fall 2023, 2024, and 2025). At Blessed Sacrament she has also sung Gustav Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and selections from Hugo Wolf's Spanisches Liederbuch. Additional recent solo appearances include Brahms's Zwei Gesänge with the Harmonia Chamber Players and Dale Trumbore's How To Go On with the Evergreen Ensemble.

Nori also sings with the Evergreen Ensemble under David Hendrix and the Mägi Ensemble under Heather MacLaughlin Garbes, touring to Estonia with the latter in January 2024. A native of Madison, WI, she 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 years in San Francisco, she sang with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus under Ragnar Bohlin and the International Orange Chorale under Zane Fiala. She currently studies voice with José Luis Muñoz and coaches with Jay Rozendaal; she has also worked with Dean Williamson and Dr. Casey Robards, and previously studied viola with Joseph de Pasquale and Judy Geist (Philadelphia) and Elena Denisova (Vienna).

Beyond her musical life, Nori cultivated a long career in technology, most notably at Google, where she served as a Site Reliability Engineer, Tech Lead, and Manager on teams running both Google-wide infrastructure and the company's flagship Cloud product. She was also part of the elite "Tech Surge" team that rescued the healthcare.gov website in 2014. These days, she devotes her time to running Nothing Gold, serving on the board of the North Corner Chamber Orchestra, chasing after her two elementary-school munchkins, and throwing weekly homemade pizza parties. Nori holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and Linguistics from Swarthmore College.