One of the most internationally sought-after violists of the present day, Lilli Maijala has been Head of Viola Faculty at the famed Sibelius Academy in Helsinki since 2011, and has concurrently appeared regularly as both soloist and chamber musician on stages throughout Europe.
She has appeared in performance as a featured artist with orchestras including the Helsinki Philharmonic, Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen and Tapiola Sinfonietta with conductors such as Nathalie Stutzmann, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and John Storgårds.
She gave the world premiere of Lauri Kilpiö’s Viola Concerto with the Jyväskylä Sinfonia in 2013. Her latest recordings include Pehr Henrik Nordgren’s Concerto for Viola, Double Bass and Chamber Orchestra (with Olivier Thiery and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra) and the Peteris Vasks Viola Concerto (with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra), both under the baton of Juha Kangas.
She has been recognized by critical acclaim at numerous international competitions, including the Munich ARD Competition, the Nordic Viola Competition, and the Viola Space Tokyo International Viola Competition. In 2003 she took first prize at the Klassik Festival Ruhr, held in conjunction with various music academies across Europe.
Currently based in Amsterdam, Lilli divides her time between many international venues such as West Cork Chamber Music Festival, IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Resonances, Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival, Oslo Kammermusikkfest, Musikdorf Ernen, and Delft Chamber Music Festival.
She was previously a member of the highly acclaimed quartet-lab with cellist Pieter Wispelwey and violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Pekka Kuusisto, and she is now a member of the newly-founded Valo Quartet.
After extensive studies throughout Germany and Scandinavia with Diemut Poppen and Lars Anders Tomter (among others), she now cherishes the opportunity to actively participate in the molding of a new generation of violists.
In September 2023, she was appointed professor of viola at the Zurich University of the Arts.
Maijala plays primarily on a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume viola from 1870, on loan by kind permission of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, as well as on a baroque viola.
