Prof. LIINA LEIJALA

Liina Leijala is a distinguished Finnish cellist and internationally recognized musician, born in 1984 in Keuruu, Finland. She began her musical studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where she studied with Heikki Rautasalo and Marko Ylönen, and continued her chamber music training at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid with Ralf Gothoni. She completed her Master’s degree with highest honors at the Sibelius Academy in 2012, and pursued further postgraduate studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Liina Leijala has won numerous international awards and honors, including being a finalist in the EBU Young Soloist Competition and prize‑winner at competitions such as the International Gaetano Zinetti and Majano Chamber Music Competitions. Her chamber group, the Gironcoli Quartet, won the International Chamber Music Competition in Bled in 2013.

She made her significant solo debut at the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna as part of the “Young Talents” concert series in 2013 and has performed widely throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia. Her orchestral experience includes serving as solo cellist in the Orchestra Academy of the Vienna Philharmonic (2009–2011), and she has collaborated with leading ensembles such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Soloists, and the Verbier Festival Orchestra.

In addition to her performance career, Liina Leijala is a respected professor of cello at the Barenboim‑Said Foundation Center and the Wiener Musikakademie in Vienna, and serves as Executive Director of the Barenboim‑Said Foundation. She also performs as a chamber musician, including with her ensemble Trio Global.

Liina Leijala plays on a historic Vincenzo Postiglione cello (1896), generously supported by the Finnish Culture Foundation.