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The Finnish baritone, Arttu Samuel Kataja, started his musical education with oboe lessons at the age of 9 at Mikkeli School of Music (1988-1997), and singing at and joined the vocal department of the Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki (1998-2008). His voice teachers were Hilkka Tarkiainen (1995), Jorma Hynninen (1998), Irina Gavrilovici (2001) and Elisabeth Werres (2004). He also attended master-classes with Ilmo Ranta (Lied), Hartmut Höll (Lied), Rudolf Bautz (voice), Peter Kooy (Baroque music), Olaf Bär (Lied) and Roger Vignoles (Lied). He is a prize winner of several competitions including: 1st prize at Kangasniemi Competition (2000), Martti Talvela scholarship (2001), 1st prize at Lappeenranta National Competition (2002), Special prize for Young Talent at Mirjam Helin International Competition (2004), 3rd prize and 1st public prize at the International Mozart Competition Salzburg (2006).
Guest engagements led Arttu Kataja to the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki (Viaggio a Reims, Le nozze di Figaro, Arabella, Cosi fan tutte, Andrea Chenier, 2003, 2004, 2005), Tampere Opera (Belcore in L’elisir d’amore) the Savonlinna Opera Festival (Carmen 2006-2007, Rigoletto 2008), the Strassburg Festival, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf (Figaro, Masetto, Guglielmo, 2004, 2005) and Japan, together with Daniel Barenboim and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Since 2006 he has been an ensemble member of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, performing such parts as Count in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri, Masetto in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Don Fernando in L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio, Ottokar in Freischütz, Schaunard in Bohème, Sprecher in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Silvano in Un ballo in maschera, Heerrufer in Lohengrin, to name but a few. He has also apperad at the Estonian National Opera in Tallinn (2002) and Thèatre du Capitole in Toulouse (2010, 2011).
Arttu Kataja is very active as a recitalist and concert singer. He has appeared in several European countries as well as the USA, with such orchestras as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester-Berlin, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Sixth Floor Orchestra, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, Freiburger Barockorchester, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, Joensuu City Orchestra, Kymi Sinfonietta, Lappeenranta City Orchestra, and Mikkeli City Orchestra. He performed at the renowned Finnish music Festivals of Kuhmo and Naantali and sang Haydn’s Creation under Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Helsinki Festival in 2004, as well as the Finnish music festivals of Kuhmo and Naantali. Conductors he has performed with include Alain Altinoglu, Ari Angervo, Philippe Auguin, Maurizio Barbacini, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Ottavio Dantone, Dennis Russell Davies, Gustavo Dudamel, Olari Elts, Dan Ettinger, Sascha Goetzel, Theodor Guschlbauer, Tuomas Hannikainen, Pietari Inkinen, René Jacobs, Marek Janowski, Philippe Jordan, Okko Kamu, Juha Kangas, Eri Klas, Hannu Koivula, Juhani Lamminmäki, Andrew Lawrence-King, Paul Mann, Anssi Mattila, Andres Mustonen, Andris Nelsons, Sakari Oramo, Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jan Söderblom, John Storgårds, Anu Tali, Muhai Tang, Kari Tikka, Osmo Vänskä, Ralf Weickert, Massimo Zanetti.
Arttu Kataja’s recordings include a DVD’s of Massenet’s:Manon with Daniel Barenboim, Netrebko and Villazon (Deutsche Grammophon 2007) and Haydn’s Orlando Paladino (Euroarts, 2010), several Programmes for the Finnish broadcast as well as CD’s of Rautavaara’s Aleksis Kivi (Ondine, 2002), Fredrick Pacius’s Die Loreley with Sinfonia Lahti and Osmo Vänskä (BIS, 2003); Armas Launis’ Aslak Hetta with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo (Ondine, 2005), Aulis Sallinen’s Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan (The King goes forth to France) (Ondine, 2006), and Wahlström’s Kahdeksan laulua Aaro Hellaakosken runoihin (Fuga, 2007). |
