Karita Mattila, soprano and Martin Katz, piano
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
7:30pm
directions
View Pioneer Press Review (PDF)
"Mattila's voice has a seductive, mellow maturity to it, all round edges, velvet undertones and ultra creamy legato. It has the earthy warmth of a mezzo but an upper register that still soars. Most striking was her ability to shape endlessly long lines: the breath control was stunning." - The Guardian
Karita Mattila is one of today’s most exciting lyric dramatic sopranos. She is recognised as much for the beauty and versatility of her voice as for her extraordinary stage ability. A native of Finland, Karita Mattila was trained at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where her teacher was Liisa Linko-Malmio, and subsequently she studied with Vera Rozsa for nearly 20 years. She sings in all the world’s major opera houses and festivals and has performed with the world’s greatest conductors including Levine, Abbado, Davis, Dohnanyi, Haitink, Pappano, Rattle, Salonen and Sawallisch. Her operatic repertoire encompasses works by Beethoven, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Janáček. Karita Mattila’s innate sense of drama has led to remarkable collaborations with major stage directors including Luc Bondy in his highly acclaimed Don Carlos, which she performed in Paris, London and at the Edinburgh Festival; Lev Dodin in his productions of Elektra for the Salzburg Easter Festival and Pique Dame and Salome at the Opéra National de Paris; Peter Stein for his Simon Boccanegra in Salzburg and Don Giovanni in Chicago; and Jürgen Flimm for his Fidelio at the Metropolitan Opera. She is an influential artistic force in the development of new music, regularly collaborating with eminent contemporary composers in the debut performances of significant modern works. Recent performances in this genre include the world premiere of Emilie de Chatelet by Kaija Saariaho at the Opéra National de Lyon.
Karita Mattila has many recordings to her credit on the Phillips, EMI, Sony, DG, and Ondine labels. Her 40th birthday concert, in front of nearly 12,000 people in Helsinki, was released on CD by Ondine. Other recordings include Strauss’s Vier letzte lieder with Claudio Abbado on the DG label; arias and scenes from the operas of Puccini, Verdi, Janáček, Tchaikovsky, Wagner and R. Strauss; German Romantic Arias by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Weber with Sir Colin Davis; Grieg and Sibelius Songs with Sakari Oramo (all on Erato/Warner); complete recordings of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on Decca with the late Sir Georg Solti, which won a Grammy Award in 1998; and Jenůfa on Erato/Warner with Bernard Haitink, which won a Grammy Award in 2004; and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with Sir Simon Rattle on EMI.
Recent highlights include the title role of Janáček’s Katya Kabanova at the Lyric Opera Chicago, Lisa in Pique Dame at the Metropolitan Opera, The Makropoulos Case at San Francisco Opera, and concert appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Throughout her distinguished career, Karita Mattila has won numerous awards. Most importantly, she was named Musical America’s Musician of the Year, one of the most prestigious honours paid to classical artists in the USA, and she has been awarded one of France’s highest cultural honours, the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
Future engagements include Emilia Marty in The Makropoulos Case at the Metropolitan Opera and at the Finnish National Opera, the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at the Opéra National de Paris, Leonore in Fidelio for Houston Grand Opera and recitals at the Edinburgh Festival and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
This is Karita Mattila's second time performing for The Schubert Club. She last appeared on the International Artist Series in 2007.
Program
| Sieben frühe Lieder Nacht Schilflied Die Nachtigall Traumgekrönt Im Zimmer Liebesode Sommertage |
Alban Berg (1885-1935) |
| Meine liebe ist grün Wiegenlied Von ewiger Liebe Vergebliches Ständchen |
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) |
| Aamulaulu | Toivo Kuula (1883-1918) |
| Luulit, ma katselin sua | Leevi Madetoja (1887-1947) |
| Kun päivä paistaa | Oskar Merikanto (1868-1924) |
| -Intermission- |
|
| from Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire Harmonie du soir Le jet d'eau Recueillement |
Debussy |
| Four Songs Der Stern Wiegenlied Wiegenlied Allerseelen Frühlingsfeier |
R. Strauss |
Encores Zueignung - R.StraussViisi Suomalaista Kansanlaulua (Five Finnish Folk Songs) |
|