Marita Viitasalo was born in the south of Finland. Upon beginning her piano studies she moved to Helsinki and made her concert diploma at the Sibelius Academy. After further studies at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and at the Viennese Hochschule für Musik she started a most respectable career as a concert pianist and accompanist, for which she has been honoured with the Pro Finlandia Medal in 2006. A piano professor at the Sibelius-Academy since 1981, together with Professor Erik Tawaststjerna she has been leading the International Piano Festival in Espoo since 1989.

Since 1987 Ms Viitasalo has been the constant duo partner for the renowned Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski. Together they have given recitals all over the world and are charming their audience in Vienna or Paris as much as in London and New York.  

Together with Eeva Koskinen and Riitta Pesola in their Trio Finlandia, founded in 1986, Marita Viitasalo has travelled in the USA, Southeast Asia and all over Europe, including Berlgium, Russia and Greece. Besides the traditional repertoire the trio gives a special impact to contemporary and Finnish composers. For this reason, Olli Kortekangas has dedicated his composition for piano trio and orchestra Charmes to Trio Finlandia which gave the debut performance in 1999 together with the Finnish Radio-Symphony Orchestra. 

Due to her dedication for the impressionist composers, Ms. Viitasalo has won special renown for her interpretations of Chopin, Ravel, Debussy and Sibelius. Appearing regularly with the main orchestras in Finland and Scandinavia as well as the Music festivals of  Edinbourgh, Helsinki, Kuhmo, Savonlinna, Salzburg or Schleswig-Holstein, she has also played in Berlin, Luzern, Rom, Stockholm, Toulouse, at the Wigmore Hall in London, the  Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna as well as in Tokyo and Nagano.

Ms Viitasalo has played several recordings of music by Sibelius, Debussy and Ravel, in addition to numerous recordings with Soile Isokoski, including songs by Schubert, Schumann and several Scandinavian composers, as well as Wolf’s Italian Songbook with Ms. Isokoski and Bo Skovhus.

Her further experiences include a production of  Hindemith’s Marienleben together with Carla Fracci at the Maggio Musicale in Florence and a performance at the Scala in Milan documenting the life of Alma Mahler with works of several Viennese School composers.

Marita Viitasalo is a prize winner of the Finnish Maj Lind competition, and among her teachers were Professor Timo Mikkilä in Helsinki, Professor Rodolfo Caporali in Rom as well as Professor Dieter Weber at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna.