Mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen completed her vocal studies at the Utrecht and Amsterdam Conservatoires with the highest distinction under Eugenie Ditewig and Udo Reinemann. Afterwards she has been coached by Margreet Honig. After her career change from a successful violinist to a concert and opera singer in 2009, she has appeared on the stages such as Milano La Scala, Salzburger Festspiele, Radio France’s Festival Présences, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Musashino Recital Hall in Tokyo, the Helsinki Music Centre, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Netherlands Opera and the Händel Festival Halle, Savonlinna Opera Festival and Finnish National Opera.
Virpi Räisänen, who made in 2016 her concert debut in Milano La Scala launched her international career with a debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2009 in Luigi Nono’s opera Al gran sole carico d’amore, Ingo Metzmacher conducting Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Reinvitation followed in 2010 to sing the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Dionysos, which was presented in Amsterdam and in Staatsoper Berlin in where she also appeared in the revival of Nono’s Al gran sole and in the role of Iseut aux Blanches Mains in Frank Martin’s Le vin Herbé. She made her Amsterdam Concertgebouw debut in 2011, and since then she has followed a busy schedule as much asked concert singer all over the world. Virpi Räisänen’s debut album The Legacy of Mahler was released by Ondine and was followed by a recording of Luciano Berio’s Calmo with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra receiving a nomination for The Gramophone Award in 2015.
Virpi Räisänen has performed lied repertoire throughout Europe, USA, Hong Kong and Japan. She has established herself as a specialist in contemporary music, having performed dozens of new works, many of them written and dedicated to her.
Virpi has created a project called VIULAJA (violin-mezzo) around her ability to sing and play violin simultaneously. Several composers since have collaborated in this project. In addition to her singing career, Virpi Räisänen has functioned 2011-18 as the Artistic Director of the Oulunsalo Soi Chamber Music Festival. Virpi Räisänen has been awarded with Taitaja award and Finnish State Artist grant.
More information:
Official Homepage
Luciano Berio
Quattro versioni originali della Ritirata Notturna di Madrid di L. Boccherini (1975)
Calmo for mezzo-soprano and 22 instruments (1974/1989)
Sinfonia for 8 voices and orchestra (1968-69)
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Hannu Lintu, conductor
ODE 1227-5
Released 10/2014