Biography
The Finnish baritone Arttu Kataja studied singing in Helsinki and is a two-time winner of the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. He has been a permanent member of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin ensemble since 2006, where he has already sung the major Mozart roles in his repertoire, as well as Peter Besenbinder/Hänsel und Gretel, Marcello/La Bohème and Sharpless/Butterfly. In addition to Daniel Barenboim, his partners on the podium in Berlin have included Philippe Jordan, Andris Nelsons, Sir Simon Rattle and Omer Meir Wellber.
Guest engagements have taken him to the Theater an der Wien (Mr. Slender/Salieri's Falstaff), the Théâtre du Capitole (Sprecher/Zauberflöte, Scherasmin/Oberon, Schaunard/La Bohéme), the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile (Mr. Flint/Billy Budd, Belcore/L'elisir d'amore), the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Figaro, Masetto, Guglielmo), the Strasbourg Festival, the Savonlinna Opera Festival (Leporello/Don Giovanni, Papageno, Morales/Carmen, Marullo/Rigoletto), the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki (Il viaggio a Reims, Le nozze di Figaro, Arabella, Così fan tutte, Andrea Chénier), the Tampere Opera (Belcore, Sharpless, Marcello, Germont) and to Japan, together with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatsoper. He also appeared in the production of Orlando Paladino under the direction of René Jacobs.
His busy concert schedule includes many national and international appearances. He has repeatedly worked with René Jacobs in concerts and recordings with the Akademie für Alte Musik, the RIAS Kammerchor, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and the Basel Chamber Orchestra, among others, as well as with Frieder Bernius and the Musikpodium Stuttgart. He has also performed his wide-ranging repertoire with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester (Rinaldo Alessandrini), the Int. Bachakademie Stuttgart (Hans-Christoph Rademann), the Zürcher Sing-Akademie (Florian Helgath), the Dresdner Philharmonie (Michael Sanderling), the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra (Hartmut Haenchen), the NDR Radiophilharmonie and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Andrew Manze), the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (James Gaffigan), the Symphoniker Hamburg (Andris Poga) and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Nicholas Collon).
Recent highlights include the release of his latest CD together with mezzo-soprano Katharina Kammerloher and pianist Eric Schneider with Mahlers‘ songs from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, the Brahms Requiem at the Rheingau Music Festival, Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust with the Coro e Orquestra Gulbenkian in Lisbon under Hannu Lintu, Bruckner's Mass no. 1 with the RIAS Chamber Choir at the Philharmonie Berlin, a tour of the Christmas Oratorio through the Netherlands with the Nederlands Kamerkoor, B' Rock and under the direction of Peter Dijkstra, and Leoš Janáček's “The Excursions of Mr Broucek” with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. On the opera stage, he made his role debut as Germont in Verdi's Traviata at Tampere Opera in Finland and at his home in Berlin as the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro and Capulet in Roméo et Juliette under Giuseppe Mentuccia.
Arttu Kataja's recordings include, among others:
Winterreise (Alba 2022) and Serious Songs (Alba 2020) with pianist Pauliina Tukiainen, Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (Carus, 2019), St Matthew Passion (Harmonia Mundi, 2013)
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Download german biography as PDF file
Download complete artist info as PDF file
Guest engagements have taken him to the Theater an der Wien (Mr. Slender/Salieri's Falstaff), the Théâtre du Capitole (Sprecher/Zauberflöte, Scherasmin/Oberon, Schaunard/La Bohéme), the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile (Mr. Flint/Billy Budd, Belcore/L'elisir d'amore), the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Figaro, Masetto, Guglielmo), the Strasbourg Festival, the Savonlinna Opera Festival (Leporello/Don Giovanni, Papageno, Morales/Carmen, Marullo/Rigoletto), the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki (Il viaggio a Reims, Le nozze di Figaro, Arabella, Così fan tutte, Andrea Chénier), the Tampere Opera (Belcore, Sharpless, Marcello, Germont) and to Japan, together with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatsoper. He also appeared in the production of Orlando Paladino under the direction of René Jacobs.
His busy concert schedule includes many national and international appearances. He has repeatedly worked with René Jacobs in concerts and recordings with the Akademie für Alte Musik, the RIAS Kammerchor, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and the Basel Chamber Orchestra, among others, as well as with Frieder Bernius and the Musikpodium Stuttgart. He has also performed his wide-ranging repertoire with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester (Rinaldo Alessandrini), the Int. Bachakademie Stuttgart (Hans-Christoph Rademann), the Zürcher Sing-Akademie (Florian Helgath), the Dresdner Philharmonie (Michael Sanderling), the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra (Hartmut Haenchen), the NDR Radiophilharmonie and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Andrew Manze), the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (James Gaffigan), the Symphoniker Hamburg (Andris Poga) and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Nicholas Collon).
Recent highlights include the release of his latest CD together with mezzo-soprano Katharina Kammerloher and pianist Eric Schneider with Mahlers‘ songs from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, the Brahms Requiem at the Rheingau Music Festival, Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust with the Coro e Orquestra Gulbenkian in Lisbon under Hannu Lintu, Bruckner's Mass no. 1 with the RIAS Chamber Choir at the Philharmonie Berlin, a tour of the Christmas Oratorio through the Netherlands with the Nederlands Kamerkoor, B' Rock and under the direction of Peter Dijkstra, and Leoš Janáček's “The Excursions of Mr Broucek” with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. On the opera stage, he made his role debut as Germont in Verdi's Traviata at Tampere Opera in Finland and at his home in Berlin as the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro and Capulet in Roméo et Juliette under Giuseppe Mentuccia.
Arttu Kataja's recordings include, among others:
Winterreise (Alba 2022) and Serious Songs (Alba 2020) with pianist Pauliina Tukiainen, Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (Carus, 2019), St Matthew Passion (Harmonia Mundi, 2013)
Download english biography as PDF file
Download german biography as PDF file
Download complete artist info as PDF file
Artist Website
www.arttukataja.comManagement
Worldwide exclusiveArtist Manager

Natascha van Randenborgh
Associate Director
natascha@orlob.net
Mobil: +49-173-7 76 88 20
Repertoire
Repertoire Concert
Bach, C.P.E. | Magnificat |
Bach, J.S. | Christmas Oratorio |
St. John Passion | |
Cantatas | |
Magnificat | |
St. Matthew Passion | |
Messe h-moll | |
Beethoven | Symphony no. 9 |
Missa Solemnis | |
Brahms | Ein deutsches Requiem |
Haydn | Die Schöpfung |
Die Jahreszeiten | |
Händel | Messiah |
Mahler | Des Knaben Wunderhorn |
Mendelssohn | Elias |
Mozart | Requiem |
Schostakowitsch | Symphony no. 14 |
Schumann | Faust Szenen (Faust, Marianus) |
Sibelius | Kullervo |
Repertoire Opera
Beethoven | Fidelio | Don Fernando |
Bernstein | Candide | Maximilian |
Britten | Billy Budd | Mr. Flint |
Donizetti | Don Pasquale | Malatesta |
L’elisir d’amore | Belcore | |
Maria Stuarda | Cecil | |
Eötvös | Sleepless (UA) | Asleik |
Haydn | L’Isola disabitata | Enrico |
Orlando Paladino | Licone/Caronte | |
Massenet | Manon | Bretigny |
Humperdinck | Hänsel und Gretel | Vater |
Mozart | Così fan tutte | Guglielmo |
Die Zauberflöte | Papageno | |
Sprecher | ||
Don Giovanni | Leporello | |
Le nozze di Figaro | Figaro | |
Il Conte Almaviva | ||
Puccini | La Bohème | Marcello |
Schaunard | ||
Madama Butterfly | Sharpless | |
Rossini | Il barbiere di Siviglia | Figaro |
Il viaggio a Reims | Don Alvaro | |
L’Italiana in Algeri | Taddeo | |
Salieri | Falstaff | Mr. Slender |
Strauss, R. | Ariadne auf Naxos | Musiklehrer |
Wagner | Lohengrin | Heerufer des Königs |
Weber | Freischütz | Ottokar |
Oberon | Scherasmin | |
Weill | Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny | Sparbüchsen-Bill |
News

A summer full of role debuts!
To our great delight, this year's Savonlinna Opera Festival again features several BOM artists in central roles - all of whom are celebrating exciting role debuts!Beginning on July 11th, the audience can look forward to a great Russian spectacle when Mussorgsky's powerful opera Boris Godunov is presented at the Olavinlinna Castle! Starring in perhaps one of the most famous leading roles for a bass, Mika Kares will be making his long-awaited debut in the main role of Boris, alongside fellow BOM artists and debutants Tuomas Katajala as Grigori and Arttu Kataja as Tschelkalov. The production by Nicola Raab is conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk.
All performance dates: 11/14/17/19/24 July 2025
Shortly before, on July 4th, Johan Krogius will be making his debut as Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth, staged by Ralf Långbacka and conducted by Lorenzo Passerini.
All performance dates: 04/07/09/12/15 July 2025
Finally, from July 8th, and for the first time ever, the audience can experience Sonja Herranen as Liù when she embodies the role in Pet Halmen's staging of Puccini's Turandot. The production is conducted by Yves Abel.
All Sonja's performance dates: 08/10/18/25 July 2025
In addition, the Finnish "opera landmark" 'The Last Temptations' (J. Kokkonen), which celebrated its premiere earlier this season in Tampere and is a co-production between Tampere Opera and the Savonlinna Opera Festival, will be shown at the Castle during this festival season. Mika Kares and Johan Krogius again reprise the leading roles of Paavo and his son, Juhana. Mikko Kouki's production is conducted by Ville Matvejeff.
All performance dates: 22/26/28/30 July 2025
More information about the productions and casts:
www.operafestival.fi/en/ ...

From Berlin to London with Janacek's Broucek
Arttu Kataja will perform Janáček's rarely performed opera ‘The Excursions of Mr Broucek’ in Robert Carsen's new production at the Berlin State Opera and in concert at the Barbican Hall in London with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle from March to May.Information and performance dates:
staatsoper-berlin.de
barbican.org.uk
Media
Images
Photo: Markus Henttonen
Download available

Photo: Markus Henttonen
Download available

Photo: Markus Henttonen
Download available

Photo: Markus Henttonen
Download availableAudio/Video
R. Schumann: "Scenes from Goethe's Faust" in Helsinki (2020):
www.areena.yle.fi/...
Press
Weihnachtsoratorium / Utrecht / 12.12.2024 / NRC Netherlands
"Among the soloists, it is Arttu Kataja who stands out with his endearing baritone voice: few can sing a very difficult aria like Großer Herr with such apparent ease"CD - Serious Songs / 11.11.2020 / Rondo Magazine
"this is one of the best Finnish Lied-CDs for a long time"