"Harpsichord created magical images. - Pitko combined early and new music in his concert in a fascinating way. The sound of his harpsichord was the most colourful, profound, expressive, and resonating in the dance pieces of François Couperin, where the composer shows his ability to create magic illusions." - Helsingin Sanomat
Petteri Pitko is a versatile keyboard player who is equally at home with early music and the music of our times. He performs regularly as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player with various ensembles in Finland and abroad. He is a senior lecturer in early music at the Novia University of Applied Sciences in Jakobstad, Finland.
Photo: Annette Koroll
As a soloist, Petteri Pitko has performed with renowned orchestras, such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Zürcher Kammerorchester, the Ensemble Resonanz, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. He has played at several European music festivals (Musikfest Berlin, Chamber Music Series of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Ultraschall Festival Berlin, Kissinger Sommer, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Musica Festival Strasbourg, Festival de musique de Besançon, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Time of Music Viitasaari, among others) and performed in the USA, China, Korea (Tongyeong International Music Festival) and the Canary Islands. As an orchestra musician and continuo player, he has worked for numerous ensembles, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the RIAS Chamber Choir, the WDR Rundfunkchor, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra led by Sir Simon Rattle, Nathalie Stutzmann, Fabio Biondi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Justin Doyle, Peter Rundel, Beat Furrer, Susanna Mälkki, Hannu Lintu, and Sakari Oramo, among others.
He was the artistic director of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra from 2018 to 2022.
One of his main interests is in contemporary music for harpsichord, and he has given several world premieres of chamber and solo works by composers such as Misato Mochizuki, Sarah Nemtsov, Willy Merz, Perttu Haapanen, Sebastian Fagerlund, Olli Kortekangas, and Jyrki Linjama.
Petteri Pitko studied harpsichord at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, with Huguette Dreyfus in Paris and Mitzi Meyerson at the University of Arts in Berlin, from which he graduated with Honours.
"Among the highlights of my visit were (...) a perky performance of Beethoven's absurdly exuberant Andante and Variations for mandolin and harpsichord given by Ugo Orlandi and Petteri Pitko." - The Irish Times
“Cembalostück „Continuum“, von Petteri Pitko supervirtuos gespielt, bei dem die Töne so schnell übers Trommelfell flimmern, dass sie zu einer Klangfläche verschwimmen. Genial.” - Hamburger Abendblatt