BIOGRAPHY

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Finnish soprano Silja Aalto is hailed for the beauty and clarity of her voice and her captivating stage presence. She holds a master’s degree in opera singing from the Sibelius Academy Finland. She is a Grand Prize Winner of Metropolitan International Music Festival (New York, 2017), Second Prize winner in Elizabeth Connell Prize Competition (Sydney, 2017), Winner of Toivo Kuula Singing Competition (Alavus, Finland, 2016). Her studies have been funded by Finnish Cultural Foundation. She holds a stipendium from Finnish Wagner Society (2018) and appeared as a soprano soloist in concert at the Bayreuth Festspiele in the same year.

 

She made her professional debut as Contessa in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, at the Estonian National Opera, in 2018. Since then, she has appeared there as a regular guest, singing the roles of Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème, Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore and, latest, as Elsa von Brabant in Wagner’s Lohengrin.

 

In Finland, Silja Aalto has sung at Savonlinna Opera Festival, Tampere Opera, Oulu Theatre and Jyväskylä Opera, among others. Her operatic repertoire includes roles of Elsa von Brabant, Leonora, Mimi, Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Gutrune and Dritte Norn in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre, Contessa Almaviva, Erste Dame, Frasquita, First Woman in Kokkonen’s Last Temptations, Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff and Helena in Britten’s Midsummernight’s Dream.

 

Highlights of Aalto’s 2024-25 season include Elisabetta in Verdi’s Don Carlo, at the Finnish National Opera; Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Elsa von Brabant in Wagner’s Lohengrin, at the Estonian National Opera; solo part in K. Saariaho’s Mirage, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Riitta in Kokkonen’s The Last Temptations, at the Savonlinna Opera Festival; solo part in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, with Choir and Orchestra of Opéra du Capitole de Toulouse; and solo part in Mahler’s 8th Symphony, at the Theatre Vanemuine (Estonia).   

 

In the season 2023-24, Silja Aalto performed as Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, at the Eurajoki Festival; Elsa von Brabant and Leonora in Tallinn; the solo part in Messa da Requiem by G. Verdi, at the Finnish National Opera; and the solo part in Knussen’s Cleveland Pictures, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.  

 

Aalto has sung with numerous symphony orchestras in Finland, Estonia and Latvia. She has collaborated with conductors such as Sakari Oramo, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Tarmo Peltokoski, Arvo Volmer, Eduardo Strausser, Kristiina Poska and Ville Matvejeff. Her wide concert repertoire includes Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder, Mozart and Faurè’s Requiems, Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue and Saariaho’s Mirage. She also has an extensive lied repertoire with Sibelius and Strauss songs.