Sami Luttinen

Ensemble: Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Freelancer: Teatro alla Scala, Bavarian State Opera, Finnish National Opera, Staatstheater Oldenburg, Stadttheater Klagenfurt

The Finnish bass Sami Luttinen studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He began his professional career in 1993 after winning the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, where he also made his debut the same year. Two years later, he received third prize at the Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition in Gütersloh, Germany.

Since 1997, Mr. Luttinen has been a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. In recent seasons, he has appeared as Fasolt, Hunding, and Hagen at the Staatstheater Oldenburg, and as Hagen in Götterdämmerung at Stadttheater Klagenfurt. He returned to the Bavarian State Opera in 2008 as Kadmos in Die Bassariden, following his 2006 debut there as Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea. In 2003, he performed the role of Polizeikommissar in Der Rosenkavalier at Teatro alla Scala, conducted by Jeffrey Tate. He had made his debut at La Scala in 2000 as Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos under Giuseppe Sinopoli. That same year, he sang Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Finnish National Opera. Earlier in his career, he held an ensemble position at the Kiel Opera from 1995 to 1997.

Mr. Luttinen’s extensive repertoire includes roles such as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Rocco (Fidelio), Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Banco (Macbeth), Ramfis (Aida), Filippo II (Don Carlos), Colline (La Bohème), Gremin (Yevgeny Onegin), and Pimen (Boris Godunov). He has portrayed numerous Wagnerian characters including Daland, Pogner, Fasolt, Fafner, Hunding, Hagen, and Gurnemanz, and has also sung Méphistophélès (Faust), Le Père (Louise), Claggart (Billy Budd), and the four villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann.

In addition to his operatic engagements, Mr. Luttinen appears regularly as a concert and recital singer throughout Europe. He features on numerous radio broadcasts and two Deutsche Grammophon recordings of Richard Strauss operas conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli: Friedenstag (as Der Prälat) and Ariadne auf Naxos (as Truffaldino). His recital work includes a wide-ranging repertoire, from German Lieder to French mélodies and Scandinavian and Russian song literature.