Virpi Räisänen-Midth has garnered an impressive list of honors and achievements both as a mezzo-soprano as well as a concert violinist. After finishing her violin diploma and working as a soloist and a chamber musician she was awarded cum laude with highest remarks in voice from the Utrecht and Amsterdam Conservatoriums under Eugenie Ditewig and Udo Reinemann. She also took part in the opera class of Utrecht Conservatorium coached by opera director Monique Wagemakers. Currently she works with the renowned Dutch pedagogue Margreet Honig. She was selected for the "Bank of Soloists" program by the National Finnish Opera Society for 2007-2008, one of Finland's highest recognitions for the next generation of opera stars.
Having given the world premier of several dozen of new works, Virpi has established her name on venues of modern music. At last year's Time of Music Festival in Viitasaari, Finland, one of the world's foremost festival of new music, Virpi had the honor of closing the festival, performing Ilmari Mäenpää's Trasparente (dedicated to her) where she sings and plays the violin simultaneously. With this piece she has continued overwhelming her public on several concert podiums throughout Europe. She also recently gave the world premiers of Minna Leinonen's 2 Song for Mezzo Soprano and Accordion and Oliver Kohlenberg's Die weisse Barke. In addition, Virpi collaborated with the Mondriaan Quartet to perform the world premier of Dimitris Andrikopoulos' Gacela de la Muerte Oscura in Amsterdam. In the Barockt 08 festival in Sweden she had great success performing old and contemporary music together with Camerata Nordica under Terje Tønnesen. In the October of New Music-festival in Finland 2008 she gave premiers to several new works mainly by Finnish composers.
She will be performing as a soloist of the Ostrobothian Chamber Orchestra in the opening concert of this year's Korsholm Music Festival, one of the leading music festivals in Finland, where she will also give her own song recital with 20th-century lied repertoire.
Virpi's recent opera engagements include Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice and Nicklausse/La Muse in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann in Oulu, Finland (conductor Dimitri Slobodeniouk), Pipetto in Donizetti's Viva la Mamma, which toured the Netherlands, Street Angel in Fagerrud's The Beggars and the world premier of Jouni Kaipainen's X-citement Op.81' (a musical theater play, written for Virpi Räisänen-Midth, Timo Kinnunen and The Screaming Men).
Last June she performed "Elmira" in Haendel's opera "Floridante" at the renowned Haendel-Festspiele in Halle (Germany) under the baton of Christopher Moulds. Furthermore Virpi Räisänen-Midth performed one of the leading roles (soprano 4) in Luigi Nono's opera 'Al gran sole carico d'amore' at the world renowned Salzburger Festspiele 2009 (Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Ingo Metzmacher).
Upcoming engagements include Baroness de Simiane in Juha T. Koskinen's new opera Markiisitar de Sade (Ooppera Skaala, Helsinki). Roles of Dorabella in Così fan tutte, "Cherubino" in Le nozze di Figaro, "Hexe" in Hänsel und Gretel and "Sesto" in Julius Caesare among others also belong to her repertoire. During the season she will also appear in "Le Vin herbé" by Frank Martin (in the Netherlands, Rotterdam and on tour).
This Summer (2010) Virpi Räisänen returns to the Salzburger Festspiele to take part at the world-creation of the opera “DIONYSOS” by Wolfgang RIHM. A production that will be revived at "De Nederlandse Opera" Amsterdam in 2011.
As a lied and chamber singer, Virpi has appeared on several occasions in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, as well as in other major concert venues in the Netherlands, Finland and Scandinavia. Further afield, she was featured with Vivaldi's Solo Cantata Cessate omai Cessate during the European Union Chamber Orchestra's Central American tour to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Among others, her repertoire includes oratorias such as Bach Matthäus Passion (conductor Vytautas Lukocius), Saint Saëns Oratorio de Noël, Duruflé Requiem (conductor Jos Vermunt), Mozart Requiem, which she has performed in the Netherlands and in her native Finland.
Next season (2010/2011) she will sing at Concertgebouw Amsterdam with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and appear in Liget’s Requiem under the baton of Esa Pekka Salonen at “Festival Présences” (Paris, Radio France).
cv-update : November 2009