Karita Mattila

Karita Mattila (born September 5 1960 in Somero, Finland), is a leading opera soprano.

She won the first Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 1983 and graduated from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki where she studied with Liisa Linko-Malmio. She continued her studies in London with Vera Rozsa.

Mattila made her Covent Garden debut with the Royal Opera as Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in 1985. On March 22, 1990, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni. She appears with top orchestras and in major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Vienna State Opera, Berlin Philharmoniker and Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg.

In 2004, Mattila's first appearance in Salome at the Metropolitan Opera in New York created a sensation and her subsequent Káťa Kabanová inspired the New York press to write: "When the history of the Metropolitan Opera around the time of the millennium is written, Karita Mattila will deserve her own chapter."

She was named Musician of the Year 2005 by Musical America which describes her "the most electrifying singing actress of our day, the kind of performer who renews an aging art form and drives the public into frenzies."

Among the awards she has received is one of France’s highest cultural honours, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (2003).

Recent roles and operas

• Tosca, Tosca
• Manon, Manon Lescaut
• Salome, Salome
• Arabella, Arabella
• Leonore, Fidelio
• Amelia, Un ballo in maschera
• Elisabeth, Don Carlos
• Amelia, Simon Boccanegra
• Desdemona, Otello
• Elsa, Lohengrin
• Eva, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
• Sieglinde, Die Walküre
• Chrysothemis, Elektra
• Jenůfa, Jenůfa
• Káťa Kabanová, Káťa Kabanová
• Donna Anna, Don Giovanni
• Lisa, The Queen of Spades
• Tatyana, Eugene Onegin

Recordings

• Arias & Scenes (Erato)
• German Romantic Arias (Erato)
• Strauss: Orchestral Songs; Four Last Songs (DG)
• Strauss: Orchestral Songs (Sony)
• Strauss: Hölderlin Lieder (Sony)
• Excellence - The Artistry of Karita Mattila (Ondine)
• Sibelius Songs (Ondine)
• Grieg and Sibelius Songs (Erato)
• Karita Live! (Ondine)
• From the Heart of Finland (Ondine)
• Wild Rose (Ondine)
• Modern Portrait (Warner/Finlandia)
• Best of Evergreens (Ondine)
• Karita's Christmas (Ondine)
• Marriner: Lollipops (Philips)

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Complete operas:

• Don Carlos (EMI)
• Fidelio (DG)
• Die Meistersinger (Decca, DG)
• Simon Boccanegra (TDK)
• Jenůfa (Erato)
• Le nozze di Figaro (Sony)
• Così fan tutte (Philips)
• Don Giovanni (Philips)
• Fierrabras (DG)
• Der Freischütz (Philips)
• Schumann: Scenes from Goethe's Faust (Sony)

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Symphonic works:

• Shostakovich: Symphony no. 14 (EMI)
• Schoenberg: Gurrelieder (EMI)
• Bernstein: Symphony no. 3 (Erato)
• Mozart: Requiem (DG)
• Beethoven: Symphony no. 9 (DG)
• Sibelius: Kullervo (BIS)
• Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 2 (DG)

External links

• IMG Artists: Biography
• Reviews, articles, photos and future schedules for Karita Mattila from The Opera Critic
• Ondine Records: Biography and discography
• Karita Mattila Forum
• Met Opera Review | "'Salome' Unveils Emotions (and a Soprano)," Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, March 17, 2004
• "Mysteries of Love: Karita Mattila's Salome," Alex Ross, The New Yorker, April 5, 2004
• Interview with Classical Voice