studied singing initially at the Päijät-Hämeen Conservatory in Lahti. Then she studied at the "J. Sibelius" Academy under Arja Rislakki, Mirja Klemi and professor Liisa Linko-Malmio (the teacher of Karita Mattila). In 1995 she concluded her studies of music education, and in 1997 she became a Master of Music in the context of the Sibelius Academy’s first Conferment of Masters’ and  Doctors’ Degrees. She has toured frequently with her husband, pianist Folke Gräsbeck. They have performed together in Finland, Germany, Israel, England and the USA, presenting standard Lied repertoire, Finnish Lied programmes including Sibelius songs, and Suvi Lehtonen-Gräsbeck’s speciality, Hebrew Songs. A selection of Finnish and Israeli songs are available on the CDs The Song of Songs (1997) and The Desert Shall Rejoice (2014).

In addition, Suvi Lehtonen-Gräsbeck plays the Finnish national instrument, the kantele.
At the Nurmes Summer Music Festival in 2001, she played the world première performances of Sibelius’s only works for solo kantele, Dolcissimo and Moderato. They had both been forgotten as unpublished mansucript pieces. Lehtonen-Gräsbeck also performed them at the international Summer Festival in Figéac 2003, at the III International Sibelius Conference in Denton, Texas, in 2005, at concerts in Israel and Italy in 2007; the festival concert in Torre del Lago was attended by the granddaughters of Puccini and Sibelius. In each country mentioned, Suvi Lehtonen-Gräsbeck performed Sibelius’s kantele works as premières.

She studied kantele playing at the Päijät-Häme Conservatory and later under Anneli Kuparinen and Ritva Koistinen at the "J. Sibelius" Academy. She has been a player and song soloist in the ensemble Finn-Kanteleet (c. 20 players, founded in 1940, the oldest group of its kind in Finland). She has participated in The Finn-Kanteleet’s tours in the USA, Germany, Estonia (The Festum Finnicum Festival), etc. Suvi Lehtonen-Gräsbeck performs on the CD MILS-0291; the composition is the Ciacona for violin and kantele by Gottfrid Gräsbeck, her father-in-law. She also plays together with the Finn-Kanteleet group on the CD-disc Soitto (Playing) containing modern Finnish music for kantele groups.