Satu Ala

Satu Ala began her musical studies at the age of seven in music classes and at the East Helsinki Music Institute, with piano as her instrument. At the age of eleven, she picked up the oboe under the guidance of Marjatta Teirilä and continued her studies at the Sibelius Academy as a student of Sven-Erik Paananen. She has furthered her education through courses with Ingo Goritzki and English horn specialist Bo Eriksson.

Since 1990, she has served as associate principal oboist and English horn player in the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. She has always been fascinated by the beautiful and characterful sound of the English horn. On recordings by the Turku Philharmonic, her English horn can be heard in Sibelius’s The Swan of Tuonela, the Pelléas and Mélisande suite, and Kuula’s Landscape.

She has also gained orchestral experience with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra, and has performed with several other Finnish orchestras. She is an active chamber musician, and as a member of the wind quintet Wiis Weisaan, she has premiered quintets by Kalevi Aho and J-P Lehto. Teaching has always been close to her heart, and since 1996 she has guided young oboists at the Turku Conservatory.

As a counterbalance to her life as a musician, she enjoys exercising and reading good books.