Piia
Rytkönen
soprano
Biography
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'ss 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. She is currently completing 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.
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
2022
LC-Kuopio kalakukko
40 Years Jubilee Concert
Kupio Music Center
Ossi Jauhiainen
Piia Rytkönen
Veli-Pekka Varpula
Kristiina Brask
Everett W. Miller
Tahdistin Orchestra, Harri Hyppölä
Heikki Mononen
Alava Church Choir
Houseband
Mozart: Requiem, Kiuruvesi
Mozart: Requiem, Iisalmi
Kesäillan konsertti - 2 tenoria ja sopraano
Piia Rytkönen, sopraano
Ossi Jauhiainen, tenori
Veli-Pekka Varpula, tenori
Siilinjärven kirkko, 12.8.2022 klo 18
Sibelius-Academy's masterdegree's profile concert
11.8.2022 at 6 pm
R-kamarimusiikkisali, Helsinki
Piia Rytkönen, soprano
Tuula Hällström, piano
Äitienpäivän kahvikonsertti
Villa Kiven kirjailijatalon juhlatilassa
Mother's day concert organized by Gigli society
Piia Rytkönen, soprano
Tuomas Miettola, tenor
Jari Hiekkapelto, piano
At 3:30 PM
Linnunlauluntie 7, Helsinki
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Wiener Konzerthaus, Mozarsaal at 6:30 PM
Music of Kurt Schmid with Lugansk Philharmonic Orchestra -
Jubilee Concert in honor of Kurt Schimd's 80th anniversary
Soprano solist in F. Schubert's Mass in G major, D 167 in Stift Vorau, Austria
2021
Christmas Concert at Spa Hotel Runni, Iisalmi
Piia Rytkönen, soprano
Tuomas Miettola, tenor
Jari Hiekkapelto, piano
Petri Herranen's world premiere of "Kaukaisiin Maailmoihin".
Based on Juhani Aho's "Papin rouva".
Sanna Huhtela - Dramaturgy, Pictures, Lyrics, Director
Piia Rytkönen - Elli
Timo Turunto - Olavi
Rauno Tikkanen - Conductor
Ulla-Maija Aaltomaa - Narrator
Iisalmi Culture Center
Petri Herranen's "Papin Rouva".
Based on Juhani Aho's book "Papin rouva".
Sanna Huhtela - Dramaturgy, Pictures, Lyrics, Director
Petri Herranen, piano
Piia Rytkönen - Elli
Timo Turunto - Olavi
Ulla-Maija Aaltomaa - Narrator
Oulun vanha pappila
"Iisalmi 130" Gala Concert in Culture Center, Iisalmi.
Orchestra by Ylä-Savo Music Institute (Rauno Tikkanen)
Emma Balbatsu
Piia Rytkönen
Tuomas Miettola
Timo Turonto
Ulmala youth association dancers
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Piia Rytkönen, sopran, Veli-Pekka Varpula, tenor, Erkki Korhonen, piano
Organ night & Aria Festival, Espoo
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A concert version of Le Nozze di Figaro can be seen live trough this link on the 5th of June at 19 PM (CET)
Conductor (KUG orchestra): Raphael Fusco
Conte: Stefan Jovanovic
Contessa: Belén Alonso Alonso
Susanna: Piia Rytkönen
Figaro: Yichen Gao
Cherubino: Sara Setar
Marcellina: Dayana Aksamit
Bartolo: Martin Simonowski
Basilio: Hamin Park
Barbarina: Juhee Kang
Antonio: Lovro Kotnik
Don Curzio: Dmitry Kaplinski
Due Donne Juhee Kang, Saba Hasanoglu
Read more >>
Concert reviews
"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"
"I liked her performance because of its musical touch; that singer has something to say."
Contact
p.+358 505281092
rytkonenpiia @ gmail.com