Marita Eskes

Pianist Marita Viitasalo’s solo album on Ondine is a program focused on works by Claude Debussy (1862–1918). Préludes, Book II was composed during 1912–13 and represent the composer’s late style. Suite bergamasque, published in 1905, is one of the most well-known pieces in classic piano literature. It inclundes Claire de lune, possibly Debussy’s most famous piano piece. Marita Viitasalo studied first under Professor Timo Mikkilä in Helsinki. She continued her studies in Rome (Rodolfo Caporali) and in Vienna (Dieter Weber). Viitasalo is award-winning concert pianist and respected accompanist who has performed, among others, in Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Paris, London, Edinburgh and New York.

The quartet comprises Polish-Peruvian siblings Marita and her brother José Manuel, Dominik Wania and Andrzej Święs. They explore themes ranging from tropicalismo and Afro-Peruvian music to free improvised forms that extend beyond Latin jazz. Their first album, Aguas Calientes (Youkali Music, 2015), was dominated by an intense groove section, a dazzling piano sound with sweeping harmonies and a sensitive interpretation of consciously chosen lyrics accentuating the issues of equality and feminism.

Ondine is pleased to announce the debut release of charismatic mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen. Having already performed as a successful violinist, Virpi Räisänen has since appeared as a singer at the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Netherlands Opera and the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher in Nono’s opera Al gran sole carico d’amore in 2009 and in the premiere of Wolfgang Rihms’s Dionysos in 2010.