Karita mattila biography of donald
•
© Lauri Eriksson
Winner of the first 'Singer of the World' competition in Cardiff, Karita Mattila is recognised as much for the beauty and versatility of her lyric voice as for her extraordinary stage ability. Under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Sir Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen, she has sang in all the major opera houses and festivals of the world performing repertoire which encompasses Mozart, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Janácek. Her affinity with the dramatic side of opera has produced marvellous results when working with fine stage directors such as Luc Bondy who helped her to achieve a remarkable performance in his highly acclaimed Don Carlos, seen in Paris, London and at the Edinburgh Festival. Likewise, Lev Dodin in his productions of Elektra for the Salzburg Easter Festival and Pique Dame and Salome at the Opera Bastille, Peter Stein for his production of Simon Boccanegra in Salzburg, Robert Carsen in h
•
Karita Mattila
Born in Finland, Karita Mattila trained at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, and with Vera Rózsa. Her Royal Opera roles include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Elisabeth de Valois (Don Carlo), Liza (The Queen of Spades), Elsa (Lohengrin), Chrysothemis and Klytämnestra (Elektra), Jenůfa and Kostelnička (Jenůfa), Amelia (Un ballo in maschera), Leonore (Fidelio), Marie (Wozzeck) and the title roles of Arabella and Ariadne auf Naxos. Recordings include Jenůfa (Grammy Award for Best Opera, 2004), Don Carlo, Strauss Four gods Songs with Abbado, German Romantic arias with Colin Davis, Grieg and Sibelius songs with Oramo and Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder and Shostakovich’s Symphony no.14 with Rattle. Recent engagements include Ariadne, Ortrud and Kostelnička (Bayerische Staatsoper), La zia principessa in Suor Angelica (Salzburg Festival), Foreign Princess in Rusalka and E
•
Born in Somero, Finland, on September 5, 1960, Karita Mattila graduated 1983 from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where she studied singing with Liisa Linko-Malmio. She then continued her studies with Vera Rózsa in London. Also in 1983, Mattila won the first Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
In 1985, she made her Covent Garden debut with the Royal Opera as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte. She was seen as Emma in the first ever televised production of Schubert's Fierrabras at the Vienna State musikdrama in 1988. In 1990 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni.
In 1994, she made her Spanish debut as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in Madrid, and 1996 debuts in Paris in Wagner's Lohengrin, Verdi's Don Carlos.
Mattila has won Grammy Awards for "Best Opera Recording" for Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1998 and for Jenůfa in 2004. [Vis-à-vis the recording shown at right, see my i