| About Karita Mattila |
| Karita Mattila (pronounced KAH-ree-tah MAHT-ee-lah according to the New York Times) was born in Ervelä, Finland. Raised on a farm and trained at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Karita Matila now resides in London with her husband. |
| Karita Mattila made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1991 as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. |
| Karita Mattila's compact disc Arias & Scenes for Erato is one of the best recital recordings of 2001 according to Opera News of January 2002. |
| Karita Mattila was a prize winner at the Lappeenranta Solo Voice Competition in Finland in 1981. |
| Karita Mattila's recording of German Romantic Arias was released in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2002, where it can be bought from amazon.co.uk, and in the United States on April 23, 2002, where it can be bought from amazon.com. |
| "Taped at the concert [in Helsinki for her 40th birthday, in September 2000,], the CD 'Karita Live!' (on Ondine, a Finnish label) captures Ms. Mattila at her most exuberant, aglow with show-biz pizazz. More representative of her 'serious' career are two recital discs on Erato: 'Arias and Scenes' (with, among other things, souvenirs of her transcendent Met performances in Tchaikovsky's 'Queen of Spades' and Wagner's 'Lohengrin') and 'German Romantic Arias' (dominated by Beethoven and Weber). A complete 'Jenufa,' also on Erato, is due in November [2002]."--Matthew Gurewitsch in the New York Times of Sunday September 22, 2003. |
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| Karita Mattila sang Chrysothemis in Strauss's Elektra at the Met in the autumn of 2002. Associated Press review, September 2002 |
| "[S]he also returns often to Finland, where she is besieged by loving fans. . . . "[But] for truly getting away from it all, Mattila and her husband retreat to their vacation home on the Florida coast -- she won't say where, exactly. "'The Gulf is great, and we don't talk about the politics at all. It's a real hideaway. When I go there, I'm just Mrs. Kuneinen.'"--from an article in the San Francisco Chronicle of November 2, 2002. |
| A recording of Jenufa starring Karita Mattila, with the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Bernard Haitink was released at amazon.com on December 17, 2002. Karita "Mattila and Jorma Silvasti are vocally resplendent as the romantic leads, and Mr. Haitink and the Covent Garden orchestra work wonders with Janacek's often brutally impractical orchestration. Every note can be picked out of the meticulously balanced textures, and even the shortest phrases are lovingly shaped."--from an article by Derek Katz in the New York Times of January 5, 2003. |
| The return of Jenufa to the Metropolitan Opera "was a triumph for sopranos Karita Mattila and Deborah Polaski who gave electrifying performances as the title character and her stepmother, Kostelnicka," wrote Mike Silverman in an Associated Press review of January 14, 2003. |
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| In its 2004-2005 season, the Metropolitan Opera in New York honors the 150th anniversary of the birth of Czech composer Leo Janácek with the revival of "Kát'a Kabanová." The title role will be sung by Karita Mattila, with Magdalena Kozená as Varvara, Judith Forst as Kabanicha, Jorma Silvasti in his company debut as Boris, Chris Merritt as Tichon, Vladimir Ognovenko as Dikoj, and Jirí Belohlávek in his Met debut conducting. |
| 2007 Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 8:00 PM Carnegie Hall, New York Isaac Stern Auditorium Karita Mattila, Soprano Martin Katz, Piano |
| In 2006, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (conducted by James Levine) programmed three performances of the rarely-performed Schoenberg work Gurrelieder. This footage was taken after Part I, as the three illustrious soloists take their bows: Johan Botha, Karita Mattila, and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. youtube.com |