JUSSI SALONEN

Biography

Jussi Salonen was hailed by the main Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat to have a tenor voice of ”sinewy and a bright timbre” and his interpretation of the Evangelist part was described being ”splendid”, where ”each German word got its own distinct affect color and rhythmical accent” and he ”managed to carry the narrational tension throughout the passion”. He has been sought after as an oratorio soloist in his home country Finland and has appeared in works such as the great Passions by Bach, Requiem by Mozart, Elijah by Mendelssohn and Messiah by Handel. He has sung with a number of city orchestras, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and the Tallinn Baroque Orchestra with conductors such as Andreas Spering, Julian Wachner, Aapo Häkkinen and Michele Vannelli.

His professional stage debut was at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki in 2015 in the role of Ulrich Eißlinger in Wagner’s Meistersinger von Nürnberg. At the FNO he later sung the roles of Lucano in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and Jaryzkin in The Nose by Shostakovich. In 2016 he appeared as Monostatos in Åbo Svenska Teaters popular production of The Magic Flute and as Harlequin in Kaiser von Atlantis by Ullmann. His roles at the Sibelius Academy Opera and Opera McGill include Britten’s Albert Herring, Peter Quint (The turn  of the screw) as well as the highly acclaimed haute-contre roles of Tacmas and Valère in the Finnish premiere of Les index galantes by Rameau.

Jussi Salonen holds master degrees in Church Music and Voice Performance, both from the Sibelius Academy in Finland. He has also studied voice at McGill University in Montreal (prof. Stefano Algieri) and continued his studies privately with Sami Kustaloglu in Berlin. He won the 3rd prize in the Lohja Tenor Competition in 2008 and has been awarded with numerous grants including the Wegelius Price in 2011.

Photo Gallery

”Matteus-passiolla oli oiva evankelista, kirkasääninen ja jäntevä tenori Jussi Salonen, joka oli oppinut hallitsemaan Schützin saksankielisen deklamaation taitavasti ja ilmeikkäästi. Meilahden kirkon valoisassa akustiikassa joka saksankielinen sana kuului selvästi ja sai oman affektivärinsä rytmisine aksentteineen. Salonen onnistui pitämään yllä kärsimysnäytelmän kerronnallista jännitettä.” – Hannu-Ilari Lampila, Helsingin Sanomat 19.4.2014

”Johannes-passiossa erittäin suuri merkitys on evankelistalla eli kertojalla, joka resitatiivien kautta kuljettaa juonta ja tapahtumia eteenpäin. Jussi Salonen hoiti roolinsa erinomaisesti, ilmeikkäästi, elävästi ja innostuneesti sujuvassa yhteistyössä urkuri Laura Vihreäpuun kanssa.” – Antti Juvonen, Karjalainen 31.3.2015