Matti Salminen (Bass)

Born: July 7, 1945 - Turko, Finland

The Finnish bass, Matti Salminen, has studied music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and with the famous Maestro Luigi Ricci in Rome.

In 1969 at the age of 25, Matti Salminen made his debut as Philipp in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Helsinki National Opera and after this he became a very successful singer in the German speaking countries. In 1972 he became member of the Opera Houses of Köln and Zürich. He was invited to perform at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg, at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Münich and Stuttgart and also at the Opera House in Nürnberg. He performed also successfully at Covent Garden London, the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, in Budapest and in Nancy. In 1973 he performed as Fafner in Nibelungenring at Scala di Milano. He participated many times in the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland.

In the Bayreuth Festival the 1978 edition Matti Salminen performed as Daland in Der fliegende Holländer and year after year he performed as Landgrave in Tannhäuser, as Titurel in Parsifal, as King Marke in Tristan and Isolde and also in some other base parts in the Ring-cycle.

Matti Salminen's repertoire includes the main parts for an authentic base voice in the works belonging to Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Glinka and Mussorgsky. Since 1981 he performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Opernhaus Zürich, Grand Opéra de Paris (as Fafner and Hunding).

On the Hallenstadium in Zürich and during this season at the Deutsche Oper Berlin he performed successfully in Boris Godunov. The critics appreciated he is the best Hagen on can hear in our times. His concert repertoire includes also the bass parts in the most famous oratorios.

Source: George Enescu Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (May 2001)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Karl Richter

Bass

BWV 244 [5^th ]

Links to other Sites

Matti Salminen (Virtual Finland)
Matti Salminen – bas (George Enescu)

CULTURE: Matti Salminen - A little boy lives in the great body (Welcome to Finland)
HS: Matti Salminen steals show