Matti Salminen
Finnish singer · Finland · On the map · Musicians · Born 1945 · age 81
Matti Kalervo Salminen is a Finnish operatic bass, now retired, who has sung at the most important opera houses of the world, including the Metropolitan and Bayreuth Festival. He is distinguished by an imposing figure and height, a cavernous, heavy, dark voice with an expansive upper register, and an expressive face.
Matti Salminen is read about 22 times a day, in 16 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 3 August 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A life in dates
People around Matti
Close ties
Lea Piltti Taught Matti
Brian Large Directed Wagner: Das Rheingold (1980)
Siegfried Jerusalem Also in Wagner: Das Rheingold and Das Rheingold
Patrice Chéreau Directed Wagner: Das Rheingold (1980)
Thomas Hampson Also in Parsifal and Verdi - Don Carlo
Hildegard Behrens Also in The Flying Dutchman and Götterdämmerung
Otto Schenk Directed Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung
Waltraud Meier Also in Parsifal, Fidelio and Tristan und Isolde
Hanna Schwarz Also in Wagner: Das Rheingold (1980)
Heinz Zednik Also in Wagner: Das Rheingold and Das Rheingold
Peter Seiffert Also in Der Freischütz and Fidelio
James Levine Also in Das Rheingold and Siegfried
Christa Ludwig Also in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Directed L'Incoronazione di Poppea (1979)
Anja Harteros Also in Verdi - Don Carlo and Verdi: Don Carlo
Malin Hartelius Also in Der Freischütz and Die Zauberflöte
James Morris Also in Das Rheingold and Siegfried
Donald McIntyre Also in Wagner: Das Rheingold (1980)
Birgitta Svendén Also in Das Rheingold and Siegfried
Hermann Becht Also in Wagner: Das Rheingold (1980)
Media & music
Awards
About this person
According to one reviewer, in his prime, Salminen was "... simply the largest bass voice in captivity. It is not just its roar in powering over Wagner's maximum orchestra, but the way he carves the sonority and forms the color."
