Pianist Tuija Hakkila enjoyed a close friendship with composer Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) that lasted for over 40 years until the composer’s death in 2023. Tuija Hakkila played a pivotal role in Saariaho’s creations for the solo piano and harpsichord. Although Kaija Saariaho wrote several compositions featuring the piano, the composer felt that writing music for solo piano was particularly challenging due to the restrictions of the instrument. Although few in number, Saariaho’s piano works are 21st-century gems continuing the path set by Debussy’s late works and Messiaen.

Tuija Hakkila holds a senior position in piano music at the Sibelius Academy and earned a Doctor of Music degree in 2005. She also taught at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen from 2005 through 2008. In 2014 she was appointed Professor of Piano Music at the Sibelius Academy. Her repertoire ranges from Bach to contemporary music: she has developed her interest in period instrument performance, presenting classical and romantic programmes on period pianos. She works with a number of today’s composers and is invited to give world-première performances of new works. Hakkila’s solo discography includes the complete cycle of Mozart keyboard sonatas, a compilation of Jean Sibelius’s piano works, a recital of 20th-century piano music and a world-première recording of the early 19th-century Finnish Lithander brothers’ music. A recording with Kaija Saariaho’s chamber music for trio ensembles came out in autumn 2012. In addition to this, she has recorded Niccoló Castiglioni’s chamber music, Haydn flute trios and Byström sonatas for piano and violin. Her discography also includes Brahms’s violin sonatas, Gabriel Fauré’s cello works and all Beethoven’s works for cello and piano.