Mattila Sings Wagner

Karita Mattila is one of the Nordic countries' brightest vocal stars. Over a long and eventful career, this Finnish soprano has sung lead roles at the Metropolitan, Covent Garden, the Opéra Bastille, and many other venues. A two-time Grammy Award winner, she was also named Musician of the Year in 2005 by Musical America magazine. In 2007, BBC Music Magazine named her one of the 20 best sopranos in the past 100 years. In her first performance in Iceland, she performs the sensuous Wesendonck Lieder, composed by Wagner to poems by his friend and putative lover, Mathilde Wesendonck.

Yan Pascal Tortelier is certainly on his home turf when conducting French music, and this concert features one of his favourites. Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique is one of the cornerstones of Romantic music, an adventure-filled program work describing the life of a young artist driven to despair by unrequited love.