Virpi Räisänen has made a career like a comet in recent years. Her debut album on Ondine, "The Legacy of Mahler", is a collection of late Romanticism lieder. In addition to Mahler you find lieder by Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten, all strongly inspired by Mahler. Räisänen’s duo partner at the piano is Marita Viitasalo.

Virpi Räisänen’s unique sound and strong artist’s personality make her one of the most interesting new singers. She completed her vocal studies at the Utrecht and Amsterdam Conservatories with the highest distinction. Following her recent career change from a successful violinist to a concert and opera singer, she has appeared on the stages of the Salzburg Festival, Radio France’s Festival Présences, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Musashino Recital Hall in Tokyo, the Helsinki Music Centre, the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Netherlands Opera and the Handel Festival in Halle. Virpi Räisänen made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2009 in Luigi Nono’s opera Al gran sole carico d’amore, with Ingo Metzmacher conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. She was invited back to the Salzburg Festival in 2010 for the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Dionysos, which was presented in Amsterdam and Berlin as well. She also appeared in Frank Martin’s Le vin herbé in the Netherlands. In addition to her achievements in contemporary repertoire, she has sung the leading roles of Elmira in Handel’s Floridante, Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and the double roles of the Muse and Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann. In addition to her singing career, Virpi Räisänen is Artistic Director of the Oulunsalo Soi Chamber Music Festival.