Lady Gaga is to appear at the Helsinki Arena, which holds 12,000-15,000 concertgoers. The support band will be British retro-rockers The Darkness. Tickets go on sale next Monday.

In October 2010, the same venue hosted Lady Gaga's first show in Finland, which was part of her Monster Ball Tour.

August brings at least two other flamboyant female pop stars to Helsinki: Iceland's Björk and Madonna -- who like Lady Gaga is an Italian-American New Yorker.

Björk and Madonna both appear on August 12: Björk at the Flow Festival at the old Suvilahti power plant, Madonna at the Olympic Stadium.

In neighbouring Espoo, the Weekend Festival brings stars such as David Guetta (FRA), Skrillex (USA) and Hurts (UK) on August 17-18. The new event will be staged at the Luukki Manor in northern Espoo, near Nuuksio National Park.

The Helsinki Festival, which runs from August 17 through September 2, has so far only announced a few performers, including Germany's famed Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. The orchestra plays at the Helsinki Music Centre on August 25 and 26.

On Wednesday, it was also announced that American jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock will appear at the Helsinki Music Hall on July 17. He becomes the first major jazz star to play at the venue, which opened late last summer.