TUOMAS KATAJALA Tenor
Biography
Finnish tenor Tuomas Katajala is one of the most versatile and sought after Scandinavian tenors and remarkable career equally in the opera, oratorio, concert and lied genres.
He has performed over 100 oratorio, orchestra and lied pieces from baroque to contemporary music.
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In the season 2024/25 includes the role of Andrey Khovansky/Khovanshchina under baton Esa-Pekka Salonen at Helsinki Music Festival and at Berwardhallen in Stockholm, He will sing the role of Pollux in Strauss’ Die Liebe der Danae at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa with Fabio Luisi and Michael Zlabinger.
Katajala will perform the roles of Max / Der Freischütz at Opera Leipzig, the role of Erik / Der fliegende Holländer at Grande Auditorium in Luxembourg and at Bozar in Brussels with conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, and the title role of Idomeneo at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and also at Helsinki Music Centre. In addition, he can be heard in Mahler’s Symphony no 8 at Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon as well as in the New Year's concerts of Beethoven’s Symphony no 9 in Toulouse with Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.
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​In the season 2023/2024 included among others a critically acclaimed debut in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde at Teatro alla Scala in Milan with conductor Andrey Boreyko, Mahler´s Symphony No. 8 with Sinfonica di Milano at Duomo di Milano (Mahler Festival) with conductor Claus Peter Flor, The Role of Erik / Der fliegende Holländer at Nacional Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the title role of Lohengrin at Savonlinna Opera Festival under baton Stefan Zilias and Beethoven 9th Symphony at Gulbenkian Foundation Joana Carneiro.
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Engagements in the season 2022/2023 includes among others
Parsifal at Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo with Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano & conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, a New Year concerts of Beethoven´s 9th Symphony at Wiener Konzerthouse with Wien Symphoniker & conductor Klaus Mäkelä, a new production of Weber's Der Freischütz, role of Max at Theater an der Wien,
Britten Sérénade Op.31 at Paris Maison de la France Grand Auditorium with Orchestre Radio de la France & conductor Mikko Franck, Stravinky´s Oedipus Rex (Oedipi) at Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo with Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano & conductor Andrey Boreyko
and Das Lied von der Erde in Dresden with Kremerata Baltica.
The season 2021/2022 included, among others
Don Ottavio / Mozart Don Giovanni at Bolshoi
Theatre Moscow (a new productio) & Conductor Tugan Sokhiev, a new production and French premiere of
Braunfels´s Die Vögel / Hoffegut at Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg, Alfred Schnittke´s Faust Kantate concerts at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Roma & Conductor Antonio Pappano (cancelled of Covid pandemic),
J.S. Bach St.John Passion (evangelist) concert at Gulbenkian, Lissabon. Concert with Potsdam Kammerakademie & conductor Antonello Manacorda and as soloist with Die Deutsche Kammerphilaharmonie Bremen (Summer in Lesmona).
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The season 2020/21 included, among others, Erik/Der fliegende Holländer in Tampere Hall and return to London Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Der fliegende Holländer as Steuermann and Erik and also he had to make his debyt at Opéra de Lyon in a new Dmitri Tcherniakov´s production of Weber´s Der Freischütz as Max, but all productions cancelled because of Covid pandemic.
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In the season 2019/20 included, among others, Loge / Das Rheingold (new RING) at Finnish National with Esa-Pekka Salonen,
Max / Der Freischütz at Grand Théâtre Luxembourg (include to European tour), concert and recording of Beethoven´s Symphony No. 9 in Malmö with Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Robert Trevino, Mahler´s Das Lied von der Erde at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari,
the title role of Mozart`s Idomeneo at The Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv with conductor Michele Gamba and director Kasper Holten (a new production),
Don Ottavio / Don Giovanni at Finnish National Opera (new production) and J.S. Bach´s John Passion in Gulbenkian Main Auditorium Lisbon with maestro Michel Corboz.
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Photo Elina Katajala
Engagements in the season 2018/19 Katajala sang, among others, Wagner´s Der fliegende Holländer at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Roma with Orchestra dell`Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Mikko Frank,
an European tour of Der Freischütz / Max at Théâtre de Caen, Aix-en-Provence Grande Théâtre, Brüssel Bozar, Theatre an der Wien, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and Tamino / The Magic Flute at Opéra de Lille, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 at Leieiszhalle Hamburg with Symphoniker Hamburg and Eivind Gullberg Jensen and also Beethoven´s Symphony No. 9 at the Oslo Concert Hall with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Klaus Mäkelä, Mahler´s Symphony No. 8 at Helsinki Music Centre with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu,
Tuomas Katajala makes also remerkable career as a concert and oratorio singer. He has over 100 pieces on his concert and oratorio repertory ingluding the major works of G. Mahler, B. Britten,
I. Stravinsky, F. Liszt, A. Dvorak, J.S. Bach, G.F. Händel, W.A. Mozart, J. Haydn, F. Mendelssohn. F, Schubert and G. Rossini.
He has performed for example at Leieiszhalle Hamburg,
at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Salle Pleyel in Paris and Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Roma and at several music festivals in the Europe and Japan.
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He has worked with Pablo Heras-Casado, Kent Nagano, Matthias Pintscher,​ Enrique Mazzola, Andrew Lawrence-King, Andrey Boreyko, Peter Schreier, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sakari Oramo, Mikko Franck, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Patrick Lange, Antonello Manacorda, Sir. David Wilcocks, Roy Goodman, Carsten Schmidt, Sebastien Rouland, Christopher Warren-Green, Antonino Fogliani, Leif Segerstam, Michael Güttler, Hannu Lintu, Pietro Rizzo and Howard Arman.
Katajala studied at the Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki and continued his studies at the Udo Reinemann´s International Lied Masterclass at the Consevatory of Amsterdam as well as Alberto Zedda´s Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro.
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Katajala has been a member of the ensemble of Finnish National Opera from 2009 until the end of the season 2013/14.
Katajala was awarded the Benianimo Gigli Prize, Martti Talvela Stipend, Karita Mattila Prize and the Sibelius Birthplace Medal. He has won the first prize in Musica Sacra international competition in Rome and second prize in Gösta Windbergh competition in Stockholm.