Salla Mertsalo

II violin

I have been playing with the Tapiola Sinfonietta ever since it was established in 1987. Having lived on the southern shore of Espoo for all my life, it was a special thing to be accepted for this orchestra in particular. I had previously played with various Finnish municipal orchestras on a temporary basis and was employed at the National Theatre for a few years. I began my violin studies at the Espoo Music Institute at the age of six and have now been teaching the violin there for about 30 years.

I did a lot of session work from 1982 with artists including the Hurriganes, T.T. Oksala, Pekka Pohjola, Pave Maijanen, Aki Sirkesalo, Kari Tapio, Kirka, Tapani Kansa, Yö, Tommi Läntinen… the list goes on. It was a particularly memorable experience to record an album with T.T. Oksala with real sound professionals at the U2 studio in Dublin.

But all work and no play… these days, I spend my spare time in gardening, boating, gourmet cooking and appreciating architecture.