Matti Kalervo Salminen (born 7 July 1945) is a Finnish operatic bass, now retired,[1][2] who has sung at the most important opera houses of the world, including the Metropolitan and Bayreuth Festival.[3] He is distinguished by an imposing figure and height (6' 5"),[4] a cavernous, heavy, dark voice with an expansive upper register, and an expressive face. According to one reviewer, in his prime Salminen was "... simply the largest bass voice in captivity. It is not just its roar in powering over Wagner's maximum orchestra, but the way he carves the sonority and forms the color."[5]
Matti Salminen in 2009Matti Salminen singing Finnish tangos in Helsinki; July, 1997
Salminen has a special gift for playing menacing, threatening characters. He performed as Fafner and Hagen in the PBS video broadcast Ring Cycle from the Metropolitan Opera, for the largest viewing-audience of the Ring in history.
Salminen was born in Turku. In his youth he earned money for voice lessons by singing Finnish tangos in night clubs.[6] He has published an anthology of Finnish tangos.[7] He first caught public eye as a lucky understudy in the role of King Philip II, when he was just 24 years old. He continued performing this role until (almost) the end of his career; a DVD was released in 2014.[8]
He sang in the premiere of Sallinen's Kuningas Lear in 2000 (King Lear, title role),[10] and Jukka Linkola's Robin Hood in 2011 (Sheriff).
Aside from operatic roles, Salminen also performs in sacred music and concert recitals. He gave a farewell concert at the Zürich Opera House in December 2016.[11]
Awards and honorsedit
Salminen has won two Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording, in 1982 and 1991, both for recordings of Wagner.[12]
In 2017, Salminen received the ICMA Lifetime Achievement Award.[13]
In 1988 he received the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland.[14]
He was recognized with the title Kammersänger in three times: in Berlin in 1995, and in Bavaria and Austria in 2003.[15]
See alsoedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matti Salminen.
^Ruth-Esther Hillila, Barbara Blanchard Hong (1997) Historical dictionary of the music and musicians of Finland Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 359 ISBN0-313-27728-1
^"Lawrence Journal-World - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
^. andersmanagement.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009.
^"At Bottom, He's an Actor Who Sings : Music: When Matti Salminen was 17, he had a brief role in an amateur ensemble. That's when the 'basso cantante' decided to go classical instead of pop". Los Angeles Times. 13 December 1995.
^"Matti Salminen: "I realised the importance of the economy in expression: less is more"". Pizzicato. Luxemburg. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
^"Suomen Leijonan Pro Finlandia -mitalin saajat 1945-2019". www.ritarikunnat.fi. 6 January 2021.
^"Finnisches Urgestein, basstönend – Matti Salminen zum 75. Geburtstag - neue musikzeitung". nmz (in German). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
matti, salminen, finnish, olympic, rower, rower, matti, kalervo, salminen, born, july, 1945, finnish, operatic, bass, retired, sung, most, important, opera, houses, world, including, metropolitan, bayreuth, festival, distinguished, imposing, figure, height, ca. For the Finnish Olympic rower see Matti Salminen rower Matti Kalervo Salminen born 7 July 1945 is a Finnish operatic bass now retired 1 2 who has sung at the most important opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan and Bayreuth Festival 3 He is distinguished by an imposing figure and height 6 5 4 a cavernous heavy dark voice with an expansive upper register and an expressive face According to one reviewer in his prime Salminen was simply the largest bass voice in captivity It is not just its roar in powering over Wagner s maximum orchestra but the way he carves the sonority and forms the color 5 Matti Salminen in 2009 Matti Salminen singing Finnish tangos in Helsinki July 1997 Salminen has a special gift for playing menacing threatening characters He performed as Fafner and Hagen in the PBS video broadcast Ring Cycle from the Metropolitan Opera for the largest viewing audience of the Ring in history Contents 1 Biography 2 Awards and honors 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksBiography editSalminen was born in Turku In his youth he earned money for voice lessons by singing Finnish tangos in night clubs 6 He has published an anthology of Finnish tangos 7 He first caught public eye as a lucky understudy in the role of King Philip II when he was just 24 years old He continued performing this role until almost the end of his career a DVD was released in 2014 8 Salminen is a widely video taped singing actor with three different performances as Hagen available on DVD also two performances as the Commendatore several as Sarastro two as Hunding and two as Daland Videotaped performances and films are also available as King Phillip II the Grand Inquisitor Seneca Gurnemanz Pogner King Marke Kaspar Rasputin Boris Godunov and Prince Ivan Khovansky At the Bayreuth Festival he first appeared in 1976 as Titurel Parsifal Hunding Die Walkure and Fasolt Das Rheingold in the Jahrhundertring Centenary Ring in 1976 celebrating the centenary of both the festival and the first performance of the complete cycle conducted by Pierre Boulez and staged by Patrice Chereau recorded and filmed in 1979 and 1980 He continued until 1989 adding Fafner Das Rheingold Siegfried Daland Der fliegende Hollander King Marke Tristan und Isolde Heinrich Lohengrin Pogner Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg Landgraf Tannhauser and Hagen Gotterdammerung to his roles there He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as King Marke on 9 January 1981 and performed 132 times there in several roles until 28 March 2008 9 He sang in the premiere of Sallinen s Kuningas Lear in 2000 King Lear title role 10 and Jukka Linkola s Robin Hood in 2011 Sheriff Aside from operatic roles Salminen also performs in sacred music and concert recitals He gave a farewell concert at the Zurich Opera House in December 2016 11 Awards and honors editSalminen has won two Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording in 1982 and 1991 both for recordings of Wagner 12 In 2017 Salminen received the ICMA Lifetime Achievement Award 13 In 1988 he received the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland 14 He was recognized with the title Kammersanger in three times in Berlin in 1995 and in Bavaria and Austria in 2003 15 See also edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matti Salminen Finnish opera Music of FinlandReferences edit Matti Salminen Bass Retired www operamusica com He is listed as retired but he apparently sang as Pogner the Goldsmith in Die Meistersinger in April 2019 see here https bachtrack com review meistersinger barenboim moses koch vogt kleiter staatsoper berlin april 2019 Ruth Esther Hillila Barbara Blanchard Hong 1997 Historical dictionary of the music and musicians of Finland Greenwood Publishing Group p 359 ISBN 0 313 27728 1 Lawrence Journal World Google News Archive Search news google com Mariedi Anders Artist Management andersmanagement com Archived from the original on 26 October 2009 At Bottom He s an Actor Who Sings Music When Matti Salminen was 17 he had a brief role in an amateur ensemble That s when the basso cantante decided to go classical instead of pop Los Angeles Times 13 December 1995 Label Koch Schwann Germ ASIN B00005B5MZ VERDI Don Carlo Complete opera 2014 27 October 2014 Metropolitan Opera Association archives metoperafamily org Anderson Martin Strong and Simple Interview with Aulis Sallinen Finnish Music Quarterly magazine 2 1999 ZURICH Opernhaus ABSCHIEDSKONZERT MATTI SALMINEN Personlichkeit ist das Geheimnis oder Der Fels in der Brandung 13 November 2016 Matti Salminen GRAMMY com 19 November 2019 Matti Salminen I realised the importance of the economy in expression less is more Pizzicato Luxemburg 9 February 2017 Retrieved 6 March 2018 Suomen Leijonan Pro Finlandia mitalin saajat 1945 2019 www ritarikunnat fi 6 January 2021 Finnisches Urgestein basstonend Matti Salminen zum 75 Geburtstag neue musikzeitung nmz in German Retrieved 9 December 2020 External links editMatti Salminen at IMDb His bio on allmusic com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Matti Salminen amp oldid 1074234136, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
