| Biography | Baritone Waltteri Torikka is quickly establishing himself as one of the most promising new talents in the next generation of opera singers from Finland. This spring he will be one of the 10 well-known Finnish artists on Tähdet Tähdet (Stars Stars) Primetime Music Show on Finnish MTV3. He was named as the Young Musician of the Year 2014? by the Finnish Pro Musica Foundation. Upcoming performances and concerts include e.g. Harashta in a new production of Cunning Little Vixen (Janacek) at the Finnish National opera as well as Messiah (Handel) with the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Sakari Oramo. He will debut as Kullervo by Sibelius with BBC Symphony orchestra at the BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall) and Lahti Sibelius Festival (Sibelius Hall) in 2015.
In the year 2014 he performed first time at the Savonlinna Opera Festival as Morales in Carmen and as Yamadori in Madame Butterfly. He received great acclaim from his debut as Marcello in Danish National Operas new touring production of La Boheme. Torikka was the only Finnish male singer accepted to the VII Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition held by the Finnish Cultural Foundation on 413 August in Helsinki. He has performed to great acclaim under the baton of Leif Segerstam (Sibelius recording) and in january 2014 was selected as the 1st ever Finnish candidate to compete for the Emmerich Smola Förderpreis in Germany (SWR Fernsehen). His portrayal of Don Giovanni at the Helsinki Festival in the first production of New Generation Opera in 2013 was very well received by Finnish press. He is the 2013 recipient of Martti Talvela Award from the Martti Talvela Foundation. He won the 1st male prize in the Lappeenranta National Singing Competition in 2010 and was awarded the HSBC laureates 2009 -prize at the prestigious Mozart Academy of Festival International dArt Lyrique dAix-en-Provence including several concerts in France and in Festival dAix-en-Provence.
Waltteri Torikka has his Masters degree from the Sibelius Opera Department and from the Royal Danish Opera Academy in Copenhagen. He studied under guidance of Susanna Eken, Kirsten Buhl Møller, Roland Hermann and Pekka Kähkönen. He has attended masterclasses and received private tuition from high level teachers such as Paul Farrington, John Evans, Julia Varady, Karita Mattila, Jeffrey Goldberg, Dale Fundling, Christen Stubbe Teglbjaerg, Elisabeth Werres, Helmut Deutsch, Mikael Eliasen, Jose Van Dam and Udo Reinemann. The year 2008 he studied in Germany as Erasmus student at the Karlsruhe Hochschule für Musik. He continues working regularly with vocal coach Fiona MacSherry in the UK and Soprano Irja Auroora in Finland. Torikka has received several grants from Finnish foundations such as Martti Talvela Award, Pro Musica Prize, Wegelius Foundation Scholarship as well as several study grants from the Finnish Culture Foundation.
Torikka made his debut at the Finnish National Opera in 2009 as Herastuomari in Madetojas Ostrobothnians. For the 2012-2013 season he was appointed as an Apprentice Artist and performed on stage as Silvio (Pagliacci), Belcore (Elisir damore), Robin Hood (by Jukka Linkola) and Papageno (Zauberflöte) among others. In the season 2013-14 Torikka was heard in Finland as Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro and Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar musical at the Åbo Svenska Teatern as well as soloist of Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (Sibelius recording with Leif Segerstam) and Vantaa Pops Orchestra. He sung Melot in the internationally acclaimed Tristan production by Salonen, Sellars & Viola at the Helsinki Festival and Baltic Sea Festival in 2012. Waltteri Torikka is the artistic director for a new comissioned work, the life of nobelist in literature F.E.Sillanpää, which will be premiered in 2017 in Finland. |