update 03/2006

 

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KIRSI TIIHONEN, soprano                              

 

The Finnish soprano Kirsi Tiihonen graduated from the Sibelius Academy, where she studied with Liisa Linko Malmio.  After  winning several major international singing competitions, Kirsi was soon known as one of the most interesting dramatic sopranos in Europe.

She started her career with engagements at the Finnish National Opera (1994-96) where she sang Elisabetta (Don Carlos), Donna Anna, Leonore (Fidelio) and Desdemona and has ever since been frequently invited back for guest appearances. In 1997, she made her role debut as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Soon after she sang Sieglinde in Die Walküre and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung at the Braunschweig State Theatre and joined the Staatsoper Berlin on a tour to Japan, where she sang several parts in Wagner’s Ring conducted by Daniel Barenboim. During the fhe following seasons she made her debut as Amelia in “Un ballo in maschera” at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, sang a brilliant role debut as Isolde at the Gothenburg Opera, and returned as Senta to the Savonlinna Opera Festival. In the 2003-04 season, Kirsi Tiihonen made her debut at the Komische Oper Berlin as Leonore in Fidelio, including a tour to Hongkong, and sang the role of Riita in The last Temptations by Joonas Kokkonen at Tampere Opera and Prague Spring festival.

Last season Kirsi sang the huge title role in Mare and her son by Tauno Pylkkänen at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn, Isolde at the Halle Opera, Germany, and also made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser under the baton of Jeffrey Tate. In the summer of 2005, she was Aida at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and returned to the Komische Oper Berlin for Fidelio. Recent engagements include her Richard Strauss-debut as Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Lyon Opera. Her role as Die Färberin in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten in Helsinki was a sensation. Kirsi’s future engagements include Isolde at Leipzig Opera, Aida at Tampere Opera.

In addition to her performances on opera stages, Kirsi Tiihonen has appeared as a concert singer in many of the most prestigious concert halls all over Europe, such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with Ingo Metzmacher, the Philharmonic of St Petersburg, the BBC Proms in Royal Albert Hall in London with Maestro Osmo Vänskä and the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Additionally she has also sung under the conductors Mark Wigglesworth, Paavo Berglund, Jukka-Pekka Saraste etc.

Kirsi has recorded two solo-CDs for the NAXOS label: the songs of Toivo Kuula and Leevi Madetoja (1999) and Sibelius (2001) and  “Mare and her son” by Tauno Pylkkänen(2005, Ondine).

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