Maria Kalaniemi, a master of free-bass button accordion, is one of Finland's leading contemporary accordionists. Once a member of pioneering groups Niekku and Aldargaz, from the Sibelius Acdemy Folk Music Department, where she now teaches, her roots are in folk and classical music but her sights and abilities go far beyond existing styles. Technically brilliant as a player, and adept at improvisation, she is also a very powerful, intuitive and sensitive composer, with pieces that stylistically touch in numerous areas but feature her own personality as the driving force. Melody is the meaning and with Maria, listeners are sure to feel her message deeply.

Maria has released many albums with many ensembles including the international accordion collective Accordion Tribe. Maria has toured and performed throughout Europe, USA, Canada and Japan. Her next album, Vilda Rosor "Wild Roses", a collection of Finnish-Swedish songs, will be released in autumn 2010. 

                                                                                    Maria Kalaniemi MySpace
                                                                                    Finnish language Kalaniemi website

Latest News:

Folkelarm and WOMEX showcases
Maria Kalaniemi will showcase music from her next album Vilda Rosor "Wild Roses", at Folelarm, Oslo and WOMEX, Copenhagen. Performing the music will be Kalaniemi with guitarist Olli Varis and harmonium player Eero Grundström)
Sept  10: Oslo, Norway - Folkelarm
Sept  11: Oslo, Norway - Folkelarm
Oct 29: Copenhagen, Denmark - WOMEX Nordic Club

Facebook Fan page
Maria Kalaniemi presents her Facebook fan page. Please visit here.
You can also visit Maria at her MySpace page.

New album to be released autumn 2010
Maria Kalaniemi will release her next album Vilda Rosor "Wild Roses", a collection of Finnish-Swedish songs, in autumn 2010 on Aito Records, Finland.  Appearing on the album are guest musicians Olli Varis, Timo Alakotila, Eero Grundström and more.


Tokyo concerts moved to September 2010
Due to the Icelandic volcano and the resulting chaos of canceled flights in Europe, the Maria Kalaniemi and Olli Varis concerts in Tokyo on April 24th and 25th were moved to September. The new dates are:
Sept 22 - Star Pines Cafe
Sept 23 - Musashino Concert Hall

[ More News... ]

Maria Kalaniemi in Finnish (Suomenkielinen Maria Kalaniemi -sivusto) www.mariakalaniemi.com Finnish speaking visitors and others wishing more in depth information about Maria Kalaniemi are invited to visit her newly opened website.