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Peter Mattei

Peter Mattei
Photo: Hükan Flank

Baritone

The Swedish baritone Peter Mattei has established himself as one of the most sought after singers of his generation and has worked with conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Chailly, James Levine, Antonio Pappano, Zubin Mehta, Herbert Blomstedt, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Gustavo Dudamel, Jeffrey Tate, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniel Harding and others.

The previous season included the Count in Le nozze di Figaro in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of James Levine, Fernando in Fidelio at Teatro alla Scala with Barenboim, Don Giovanni at the Met and Eugene Onegin at Wiener Staatsoper. He begins this season with Wolfram in Tannhäuser at the Metropolitan Opera, followed by Amfortas in Parsifal at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.

Highlights during the last seasons have included the title role in Don Giovanni at Teatro alla Scala’s season opening 2011, Amfortas at the Metropolitan Opera and Wolfram at Staatsoper Berlin. Peter Mattei has also appeared in roles like Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Marcello in La Bohème, Posa in Don Carlo and Yeletsky in Pique Dame. He has sung Shishkov in From the House of the Dead, directed by Patrice Chéreau, at the Metropolitan Opera as well as at Teatro alla Scala and the title role of Billy Budd at the Frankfurt Opera and the Göteborg Opera.

With one of his favorite roles, Don Giovanni, Peter Mattei has had the pleasure to work with directors such as Peter Brook and Michael Haneke. He has delighted audiences at Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera House in London, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Swedish Opera and the Norwegian Opera as well as the prestigious festivals of Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne and Tanglewood.

Mattei’s concert repertoire includes Ein deutsches Requiem, Kullervo, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Bach’s passions, Messiah, Zemlinsky’s Lyrische Symphonie and Britten’s War Requiem. His recent performance of Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen at the Carnegie Hall with the Met Orchestra under the baton of James Levine was nothing but a sensation.

His discography includes DVDs of Don Giovanni (Aix-en Provence), Le nozze di Figaro (Opéra National de Paris), Eugene Onegin (Salzburg) and Parsifal (Metropolitan) and CDs of Mahler’s 8:th Symphony under the baton of Chailly, Berlioz’ Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis (winner of two Grammy Awards), *Fidelio with Abbado as well solo CDs.

Peter Mattei studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. He made his debut in 1990 as Nardo in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera at the Drottningholm Court Theatre and made a sensational Royal Swedish Opera debut as Pentheus in Daniel Börtz’ The Bacchae (directed by Ingmar Bergman) in 1991.

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