Biography

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Praised for her natural expression and sparkling timbre of her voice, Finnish soprano Piia Rytkönen is a requested singer both in her home country of Finland as well as in Austria, where she is currently based. Her concert repertoire spans from operatic repertoire to Lieder, Art Song and contemporary music. As of March 2022, she is engaged as a soprano with the Vienna State Opera Choir.

In the past few years, Rytkönen has performed throughout Europe, most notably as a soloist with the Philharmony Lugansk at the Mozart Hall of Wiener Konzerthaus in 2022, at The Fundraising Dinner in Belvedere 21 in 2019, as well as in the Young Nordic Music Festival in Tampere (2000), Urkuyö ja Aaria Festival in Espoo (2021), and Mozart’s Requiem in Iisalmi (2021).

In autumn 2022, Rytkönen sang the role of “Tante” in Jenufa (Janácek) at the Vienna State Opera. Other opera roles in Rytkönen’s repertoire include Constance in Dialogues des Carmelites (Poulenc, Graz, MUMUTH), Nerina in La Fedelta Premiata (Haydn, Graz, MUMUTH) and Frau Fluth in Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Nicolai, Graz, TIP) as well as Clarice in Il Mondo della Luna (Haydn, Tampere, TAMK). In spring 2021, she sang the ma role in Die Schöne Galathée (Suppe) and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart, Graz, MUMUTH).

Rytkönen was awarded a Special Prize at the Helsinki Lied! 2015 Competition and was a finalist in both the Timo Mustakallio Competition in 2015 as well as the Kangasniemi Singing Competition in 2019.

Rytkönen has sung as a soloist with both the Tamko Finnish Symphony Orchestra, the Tahdistin Symphony Orchestra and Ylä-Savo Symphony Orchestra and is a regular member of the contemporary music ensemble, Tampering Ensemble, which focuses on performing new music by young composers. Her repertoire also includes extensive performances in modern music, most notably Köpfe by G. Lampersberg in Florentinersaal, Graz (2019) and the role of “Elli” in the world premiere of Kaukaisiin Maailmoihin by Petri Herranen in Iisalmi and Oulu (2021).

In the summers of 2021 and 2022, she was engaged with the Bayreuth Festival Choir.

Rytkönen completed a Bachelor's degree at Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Finland and a Master's degree in October 2021 from the opera class of the University of Performing Arts in Graz, Austria under the tutelage of Petri Antikainen and Prof. Helena Zubanovich and Agathe Kania respectively. In September 2023 she completed her second Master’s degree in singing at the Sibelius Academy with Monica Groop. She has studied privately with Irina Gavrilovici since 2019. Rytkönen has been chosen to participate in master classes around Europe with teachers such as Helen and Claus Donath, Ritva-Liisa Korhonen, Hartmut Höll, Mikko Franck, Rilla Kyykkä, Elisabeth Werres and different pioneers at the Lied Academy of Finland.

Her career has been supported by Pohjois-Savo Cultural Foundation, Olvi-säätiö and Ylä-Savon säätiö.

Media

Photos

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Videos

W. A. Mozart: "Giunse alfin il momento... Deh, vieni non tardar" - Susanna's aria from Le Nozze di Figaro

E. Melartin: Aino's aria to the birch from the opera Aino

Repertoire

Opera and musical

Haydn, Joseph
La Fedelta Premiata, Nerina
Il Mondo della Luna, Clarice

Lampersberg, Gerhard
Köpfe,

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Le Nozze di Figaro, Susanna

Nicolai, Otto
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Frau Fluth

Poulenc, Francis
Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Constance

Suppé, Franz von
Die Schöne Galathée, Galathée

Concert repertoire

Bach, Johann Sebastian
Johannes-Passion

Britten, Benjamin
On This Island

Dvorák, Antonín
D-Major Messe

Grieg, Edvard
Op. 48

Händel, Georg Friedrich
Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Requiem

Poulenc, Franz
Le Courte Paille

Rutter, John
Magnificat

Saariaho, Kaija
Leino Songs

Schumann, Clara
op. 12, op. 13

Calendar

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2023

2022

2021

Concert reviews

"I liked her performance because of its musical touch; that singer has something to say."

"Her technically fluent work had that feisty expression and bright sounding soprano notes that the role of Clarice requires."

"Especially the two sopranos Ivana Ristic and Piia Rytkönen performed their highly difficult roles admirably and brilliantly"

"Soulfully beautiful soprano of Piia Rytkönen floated like "Lux Aeterna" to the cognition of the listeners"

"”Lied is communication – in this concert it was perfectly realised”

“Rytkönen’s soprano voice is a joy to listen to. In addition to a bright and clear sound and a beautiful vibrato, she succeeds in the stumbling block of many sopranos - articulation. The text is clear and the vocal lyrics are interpreted unpretentiously.”

“Rytkönen has built her singing career carefully and the young soprano still has time for a lot. The instrument is now in excellent shape"

Jussi Mattila, Savon Sanomat"

Contact

p.+358 505281092

rytkonenpiia @ gmail.com