Marita Viitasalo began her performing career after winning a prize in the Maj Lind Piano Competition. She studied with Professor Timo Mikkilä at the Sibelius Academy and went on to study at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome on a scholarship, completing her final examination there in 1971. She then studied with Professor Dieter Weber at the Vienna Music Academy for four years and completed a piano diploma with excellent marks both at the Sibelius Academy (1972) and in Vienna (1976).
Ever since her début recital, Marita Viitasalo has been one of the most frequently performing Finnish pianists. She has given recitals for instance at the Musikverein in Vienna, in Berlin, in Rome, in Stockholm and in Tokyo, and she has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras in Finland and elsewhere in the Nordic countries. She has recorded piano music by Sibelius, Debussy and Ravel, including a recording of Book 1 of Debussy's Préludes for Ondine in 1988 (ODE 723).

For many years, Marita Viitasalo has collaborated closely with soprano Soile Isokoski and baritone Bo Skovhus in recitals at major venues around the world, including the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Salzburg Music Festival, Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York. Together, they have recorded a considerable body of Finnish, Nordic and German solo songs for the Ondine label.

In the field of chamber music, Marita Viitasalo has toured extensively in Scandinavia, central Europe, the USA and Southeast Asia with Trio Finlandia, which she founded in 1986. Her chamber music recordings include the Clarinet Sonatas of Brahms with Anna-Maija Korsimaa, also for Ondine. Apart from her performing career, Marita Viitasalo was engaged as Lecturer in Piano at the Sibelius Academy from 1977 to 2010. She was the artistic director of the international PianoEspoo festival from 1989 to 2013.
In 2006, the President of the Republic awarded her the Pro Finlandia decoration for her artistic achievements.

More information:
Marita Viitasalo, piano