Biography in English
Tuuli Takala is a soprano from Helsinki, Finland, praised for her luscious voice (HBL), captivating stage radiance (Helsingin Sanomat) and her rich timbre and brilliant coloratura singing (Opernwelt Magazine). She performs regularly both in her native Finland and at renowned opera stages of the world. In addition to guest appearances in opera and in concerts, she is also a member of the soloist ensemble of the famed Semperoper Dresden in Germany since 2015.
In the current season 2023/24 Tuuli makes several anticipated role debuts, first as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème at the Opéra-Théâtre de Metz Métropole in France, followed by Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at the Semperoper Dresden and Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites for the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki. Furthermore, she returns to the Staatsoper Hamburg in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, conducted by Evelino Pidò and to her home stage the Semperoper Dresden as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro). Tuuli ends her busy and exciting season with another role debut at the Semperoper Dresden, where she embodies Teresa in a new production of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, directed by Barbora Horáková Joly and conducted by Giampaolo Bisanti. On the concert podium Tuuli can be heard as the soprano soloist in Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony (Symphony no.2) at the Calouste Gulbenkian Center in Lisbon, Portugal, with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir led by maestro Hannu Lintu.
In the season 2022/23 Tuuli Takala performed as La Contessa di Folleville (Il Viaggio a Reims) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Semperoper Dresden, and in the Autumn 2022 she was heard on the concert podium as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Eva Ollikainen, and in concerts featuring the world premiere of Olli Kortekangas’ new song cycle ’Songs of Meena’ with the Helsinki Philharmonic under Osmo Vänskä, as well as Christmas concerts in Turku and Helsinki. In May 2023 she returned to the stage from maternity leave first as soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Dalia Stasevska, and then in Mahler’s 8th Symphony (Mater Gloriosa) with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Ingo Metzmacher at the Kunstfestspiele Hannover. In the summer of 2023 she performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival as Pamina and gave lied recitals at the “Organ Night and Aria” Festival as well as the Savonlinna Music Academy concert series.
Highlights of previous seasons include Tuuli’s shining debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte 2019, La Contessa di Folleville in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims for both the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow and at the Semperoper, a role debut as Violetta Valéry in La Traviata at the Opéra-Théâtre de Metz-Métropole in France, as well as her praised debut as Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Semperoper Dresden.
For season 2020-21 Tuuli was Artist-in-Residence of the Tapiola Sinfonietta in Finland. Fruits of this collaboration were brought forth in concerts including Mozart arias conducted by Jonas Rannila, Alban Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder lead by Klaus Mäkelä and Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations with maestro Ryan Bancroft conducting.
Tuuli made her professional operatic debut in 2013 at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki as the Queen of the Night in W.A. Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. She returned as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro the next year (2014). Since joining the Dresden Semperoper in 2015, she has performed in roles including Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Gilda (Rigoletto), Micaëla (Carmen), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), both the Queen of the Night and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Marzelline (Fidelio), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), La Contessa di Folleville (Il Viaggio a Reims), Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Valencienne (Die lustige Witwe), Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and Waldvogel (Siegfried).
Guest appearances have taken her to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Volksoper Wien, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Bayreuth Festival, Staatsoper Hamburg, Oper Zürich, the Finnish National Opera, Oper Essen, Opéra de Toulon, Opéra-Théâtre de Metz, Komische Oper Berlin and the Tampere Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland. Her further opera repertoire includes roles such as Marguerite (Faust/Gounod), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Adina (L’elisir d’amore) Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and Musetta (La Bohème).
In 2018 Tuuli thrilled audiences in Finland as Amanda Rossi in the new opera Veljeni vartija (My Brother’s Keeper) by Olli Kortekangas, commissioned by the Tampere Opera to commemorate 100 years from the Finnish civil war in 1918. The opera had its world premiere at the Tampere Opera conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
Tuuli is a prize winner in various international and national singing competitions. In July 2013 Tuuli won First Prize in both the Timo Mustakallio and the Kangasniemi singing competitions in Finland, and in April 2013 she was a finalist and the Arnold Schönberg Center Special Prize recipient in the 8th International Hilde Zadek singing competition in Vienna, Austria. In July 2015 Tuuli was a finalist and prize winner at the 34th International Hans Gabor Belvedere singing competition in Amsterdam.
In 2014 Tuuli was named Young Musician of the Year by the Pro Musica Foundation in Finland and in 2018 she was the recipient of the Curt Taucher Award of the Dresden Semperoper Foundation as well as Female Singer of the Year at the 1st AINO Opera Gala in Finland.
In addition to opera and musical theater, Tuuli is an active performer of lied and oratorio music, and is a sought-after concert soloist. Concert and recital performances have taken her all around Finland, and to Germany, Austria, Japan, England and Slovakia. In December 2017 Tuuli performed as soprano soloist of the renowned Advent Concert in the Frauenkirche, Dresden, alongside Diana Damrau and Benjamin Appl, with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Christian Thielemann. The concert was televised by the ZDF channel and broadcast all over Europe.
Other recent concert highlights include Orff’s Carmina Burana and songs by Richard Strauss with the Tampere Philharmonic lead by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mendelssohn’s Ein Sommernachtstraum with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Debussy’s Verlaine songs with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Mario Venzago, as well as W.A. Mozart’s Great Mass in c-minor at the Savonlinna Opera Festival conducted by Jaakko Kuusisto.
Tuuli’s church music and concert repertoire includes various cantatas, the Christmas Oratorio, St. John Passion and Mass in B minor by J.S. Bach, Händel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mendelssohn’s Elias, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem and Exsultate jubilate, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle.
Tuuli received her education (Master of Music) at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, under the guidance of soprano Ritva-Liisa Korhonen. During her studies she performed in the roles of Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and La Contessa di Folleville (Il viaggio a Reims). Before her Master’s degree, Tuuli studied music education in the Sibelius Academy (Bachelor of Music) as well as singing and vocal pedagogy at the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (2011-2014).
Tuuli was born into a musical family in Helsinki, Finland in 1987. She began her musical education at age 5 with the violin, which remained her main instrument for almost 15 years. Since she was 6 years old she also sang in various choirs, including the renowned Tapiola Choir and the EMO Ensemble.
© Please contact tuulitakala.com before reproducing this biography. All details correct and current at March 2024.