Hanna Pakkala

Hanna Pakkala (b. 1985) plays principal viola in the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, is leader of the violas in the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, a member of the Kokkola Quartet and a freelance chamber musician. One of Finland’s most internationally active young generation of viola players, she regularly appears at festivals and on concert platforms in Finland and abroad, on both modern and Baroque viola. She also teaches the viola and chamber music at the Sibelius Academy and the Centria University of Applied Sciences. Pakkala studied the viola at the Sibelius Academy, in Berlin and Weimar with Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic, Pauline Sachse and Erich Krüger, and in numerous masterclasses, with Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian and others.

Over the past few years, Pakkala has recorded a wealth of chamber and orchestral music in various ensembles. Her first solo CD, Hans Gál: Music for Viola Volume I (Toccata Classics) released in 2019 won glowing critical reviews in, for example, Gramophone. She spent spring 2022 working on a recording of the suites for solo cello by J.S. Bach on a grant from the Wihuri Foundation.

Salient features of Pakkala’s playing are her style-conscious, dynamic approach and expressive sound. In her work both as a musician and as a teacher she stresses the profound experience of the meanings behind the music and interaction with herself, her instrument, her colleagues and students.