Birgit Finnila (Contralto) - Short Biography

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Birgit Finnilä (Contralto)
Born: January 20, 1931 - Falkenberg, Sweden
The Swedish contralto, Birgit Finnilä, inherited her musical gifts from her parents, and after taking lessons with Ingalill Linden in Göteborg, she under took a further period of study at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Roy Henderson. Since her very successful debut in Göteborg in 1963, Birgit Finnilä has sung with many European and American orchestras under such eminent conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Carlo Maria Giulini, Haitink, Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel and Rozhdestvensky, and has given recitals in New York, Chicago (first American tour in 1968), London, Vienna and Paris, as well as in Soviet Union and Australia. Birgit Finnilä has made her career principally on the concert platform, but her stage appearances included roles in Benjamin Britten’s The rape of Lucretia, Gluck’s Orfeo (her operatic was in that role in 1967 in Göteborg), Georg Frideric Handel’s Flavio, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Wagner’s Ring cycle. If she has concentrated on concert and recital work Birgit Finnilä’s range in these fields in vast, covering the oratorios of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel, the Requiems of Dvořák, Mozart and Verdi, major choral works such as Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, solo parts in the orchestral works of Gustav Mahler, with whose music she feels a particular affinity, and a wide repertoire of songs by composers as diverse as Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Sibelius, B. Britten and G. Mahler. Birgit Finnilä recorded for EMI the role of Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro under Daniel Barenboim, has taken part in Bruckner’s Te Deum and also in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk under the baton of Mstislav Rostropovich.

Source: Liner notes to the album ‘Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich (EMI, 1979); Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997) Contributed by Aryeh Oron (May 2001)
Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works
Conductor	As	Works
Michel Corboz	Alto	BWV 232, BWV 243, BWV 245
Wolfgang Gönnenwein	Alto	BWV 243a
Jean-François Paillard	Alto	BWV 53, BWV 54, BWV 169
Helmuth Rilling	Alto	BWV 35
Johannes Somary	Alto	BWV 244
Helmut Winschermann	Alto	BWV 151, BWV 235, BWV 236
Links to other Sites
Birgit Finnilä (Wikipedia)

Short Biographies: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Explanation | Acronyms

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Last update: ýMay 24, 2009 ý15:07:38