Dr. Marie Alatalo has appeared in concerts throughout the United States and Japan, capturing attention with a repertoire embracing both classical and contemporary literature.   She has been heard in Chicago at such popular venues as Mayne Stage, Music Institute of Chicago, Chopin Theater, Pick-Staiger, Pianoforte, and more.  Her interest in contemporary music has resulted in performances of works by Bolcom, Rzewski, and others, and includes Chicago premieres of Lee Hoiby’s piano quartet “Dark Rosaleen” and George Crumb’s “Sun and Shadow” with singer Barbara Martin.  Her performance of George Crumb’s Makrokosmos, Book 1 at the Music Institute brought critical acclaim, describing Alatalo as having “a special sort of pianistic, and extra-pianistic, virtuosity”.  She began learning and performing the music of George Crumb at the Eastman School of Music and continued with recitals and lectures at the Chautauqua Institution, WFMT radio, the People’s Music School and more.   She received additional coaching on Crumb’s works with Jeff Jacob (Makrokosmos I) and George Crumb (Five Pieces for Piano, Eleven Echoes of Autumn). 

Her recordings, available on streaming services, include “Sonatas”, featuring the genre from Scarlatti through Prokofiev, the complete Chopin Preludes, supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, and a third project with pieces by American composers.  She can be heard on the SONY release, “Live in Osaka”, with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, playing Joseph Schwantner’s “… and the mountains rising nowhere”.

Alatalo is the recipient of numerous awards and competition prizes, including fellowships to the Chautauqua Institution and the Eastman School of Music and funding from City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.  She was awarded both music and academic scholarships for her university and conservatory studies. 

Alatalo’s distinguished teaching career was recently recognized by the Royal Conservatory of Music with a Teacher of Distinction award.  She is a member of the Conservatory’s College of Examiners and is named as a Founding Teacher in the US.  She is a former faculty member of the Interlochen Center for the Arts and currently is on the Artist Faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago.

In addition, Alatalo has worked in various producing and administrative roles.  She designed and produced concert series both as Managing/Artistic Director of Mostly Music Chicago and Founder/Artistic Director of the much-loved Batavia Classics, in the western suburb of Chicago.  Featured artists included the Vermeer Quartet, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and guest musicians from around the US and beyond.  She was a leader in organizing the Emilio del Rosario Foundation’s Concerto Competition at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago.  Alatalo opened the first Chicago examination center for the Royal Conservatory of Music, shepherding them to their current home at Symphony Center.   She currently is the Director of the Chicago campus of the Music Institute of Chicago. 

Alatalo was raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Michigan, and earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she was Teaching Assistant to Rebecca Penneys.