Margit Rahkonen is a Finnish pianist who has performed as a soloist with orchestras, and as a chamber musician. She has also played recitals both in Finland and abroad. She played her debut concert already at the age of 12. She complemented her domestic studies in Vienna, Leningrad and at the Juilliard School in New York. Franz Liszt’s piano works were in the focus of her 1994 artistic doctoral degree in music at the Sibelius Academy. The piano music of the Romantic period is closest to her as a performer but she also follows the music of our own era with interest. Rahkonen has made numerous recordings for the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle and recorded piano etudes by Claude Debussy, among others.
For many years, Rahkonen has worked as a visiting piano teacher in Cologne and Vienna and given lecture recitals and master courses in various locations, including Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Besides her long career in the piano and doctoral departments of the Sibelius Academy, Margit Rahkonen has researched the history of piano performance in Finland, which she still continues to study. Her publications include a monography on a Finnish student of Liszt and articles about Liszt’s continuous pedagogical work and the early performances of his Sonata in B minor in Finland.
In 1964, Rahkonen won the second prize in the Maj Lind Piano Competition. She has also served on the juries of several piano competitions over the years.
