AnuKomsiisoneofFinland’sforemostinternationalsingers,acoloraturasopranowithastrongreputationon theworld’sconcertandoperascenes.Sheispraisedforherperfectmusicianship,technicalskills,expressive interpretations and vast repertoire that ranges from renaissance music to the most advanced contemporary scores. By commissioning and premiering new works for her voice type, she has helped to widen and enlarge its repertoire for the last 30 years, whilst also singing bel canto and presenting forgotten coloratura master- works for today’s public. In 2020, she was awarded the Madetoja prize by Finnish composer ́s society and was also a nominee for the Nordic Council ́s Music Prize. In 2021, she received the prestigious Erik Bergman Prize for her special achievements in performing and commissioning new vocal repertoire internationally.
Anu Komsi made her debut as an opera singer in 1991 in Ligeti’s Aventures & Nouvelles Aventures at the Helsinki Festival. Internationally, she appeared at the Frankfurt Opera in 1993 as Olympia (Hoffmann’s Tales). Her 70 opera roles contain several critically acclaimed performances of Zerbinetta, Lulu, Gilda, Norina, Queen of the Night and Mother-in-Law in Kaija Saariaho ́s Innocence in 2021. She sang the huge coloratura role of Catherine in the Finnish premiere of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s l’Etoile du Nord. Recently, she also performed roles such as Salome, Nannetta, Susanna, Micaela, Rosalinde and Tiresias (Poulenc). John Zorn’s Machine de L’Etre at the New York City Opera brought her the attribute “Pyrotechnic Grace”. Among important title roles she has per- formed James Dillons Philomela (Casa da Música Porto), Peter Eötvös’ Lady Sarashina (Polish National Opera) and Heinz Holliger’s Schneewittchen (Theater Basel).
George Benjamin dedicated the soprano role in his opera Into the Little Hill especially to Anu. Since the prem- iere in Paris 2006, she has performed this work in Europe and the USA already 50 times, and most recently at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Wigmore Hall London in 2019. Eva’s role in Karlheinz Stockhausen’s opera Donnerstag from Licht at the Theater Basel was another critically acclaimed performance. Anu is the only singer ever to have performed all of Eva’s massive role in this 6-hour opera. She has appeared at the Semperoper Dresden, Stuttgart State Opera, Berliner Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen, Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals, Opéra National de Paris and Lyon, Teatro La Scala Milan, Suomen kansallisooppera and Lincoln Center Festival NYC i.a.. She premiered large works including Kaija Saariaho’s Saarikoski (2013-2020) and Leino Songs (2000- 2007), Jonathan Harvey’s White as Jasmine (2000), Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Floof (1988) and Wing on Wing (2004) and Unsuk Chin’s Cantatrix Sopranica (2005).
Concerts let her to the Musikverein Vienna, Wiener Konzerthaus, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Royal Albert and Festival Hall, the Barbican Centre London, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Kölner Philharmonie, the Walt Disney Concert Hall LA, the Osaka Concert Hall, the Bir- mingham Symphony Hall, the Auditorio della Musica Rome, the Rudolfinum Prague, the Konserthuset Stock- holm, the KKL Lucerne and the Musiikkitalo Helsinki. Anu Komsi has performed with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester, the Gürzenich Orchestra, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, La Scala Orchestra Milan, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome, the New York Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the LA Philharmonic, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Česká filharmonie, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Ensemble Intercontemporain Paris, the Orquestra Gulbenkian Lisbon i.a..
She has worked with conductors and directors such as Sir Roger Norrington, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alan Gilbert, Franz Welser-Möst, Heinz Holliger, Peter Eötvös, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Susana Mälki, Hannu Lintu, Francois-Xavier Roth, Martyn Brabbins, Pierre Audi, Arturo Marelli, Lydia Steier, Christoph Loy, Achim Freyer and Claus Guth. A highlight was her collaboration with Christoph Waltz in Matthias Pintscher’s l ́Espace Dernier.
Anu has enjoys a long partnership with pianist Pia Värri, with whom she has released two albums: O’Heart (songs to Eino Leino poetry) and Sumun Läpi (vocal music with piano by Kaija Saariaho). György Kurtag’s Kafka Fragments have been featured in her repertoire since 1988, first with Sakari Oramo (Ondine), and later also with violinists Andras Keller, Isabelle Faust, Minna Pensola and Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Her discography includes hundreds of recordings such as Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and B.A. Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten and Gramo- phone Award winners Langgaard’s Symphony No. 2, Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 and Saariaho’s Leino Songs.
AnimportantphaseinAnuKomsi’scareeroccurredin2004-2018,whenshewasfounder,ArtisticDirectorand in the last years also Managing Director of the West Coast Kokkola Opera company. Between 2006-2017, the company presented the Kokkola Opera summer festival. Anu was also director in five operas: Vivaldi’s La Verita, Glanert’s Leviathan and Der Engel auf dem Schiff, Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Weill’s Der Silbersee.
