Finnish violist Mari Viluksela studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama. She is a multiple prizewinner of the Elise Meyer Foundation and the Paulo Foundation, among others, and a scholarship holder of the Claussen Simon Foundation 2019-20. She has performed as a soloist with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Hamburg University of Music and Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra.

Viluksela is always on the lookout for forgotten works by composers outside the canon. In August 2016, her own festival “Kokonainen Festival” with a focus on female composers took place in Finland for the first time. She also plays regularly at other chamber music festivals, such as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Kaakko Festival and Blurred Edges Festival.

Viluksela is also interested in baroque and contemporary music. She has played baroque viola with various ensembles and baroque orchestras, including the Finnish Baroque Orchestra. She enjoys working with young composers and has premiered and commissioned many of their works. In 2021 she co-organized the composer competition “Musequal Composer Competition”, where she was also a jury member.

Viluksela is a much sought-after chamber music partner and orchestral musician in Germany and Finland. Viluksela has played with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, and was guest solo violist with the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Hamburg Camerata, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. 2020-2023 she played as solo violist with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra.