Kaija Saarikettu is herself a graduate of the Sibelius Academy, and began her time as a violin and viola professor there in 1995. She was the winner of the 1980 Kuopio National Violin Competition and has played with most Finnish orchestras as well as the Swedish and Danish radio orchestras.

She has given the world premieres of works by Einojuhani Rautavaara and Esa-Pekka Salonen.