Mati Turi

Mati Turi

Mati Turi graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre as choral conductor (Prof Ants Üleoja) and studied singing with Prof Jaakko Ryhänen. In 1992–2004 he was a member of Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and since 2005 has pursued a free-lance musician’s career.
As a soloist, Mati Turi has appeared with renowned ensembles and orchestras – Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Riga Chamber Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Radio Choir, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the early music ensemble Il Gardellino, etc. He has co-operated with the conductors Tonu Kaljuste, Paul Mägi, Arvo Volmer, Paavo Järvi, Eri Klas, Olari Elts, Mihkel Kütson, Jüri Alperten, Nikolai Alekseyev, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu, Eric Ericson, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Howard Arman, Herbert Böck, Sigvards Klava and many others.
Mati Turi is undoubtedly one of the leading Estonian oratorio soloists whose repertoire spans from major Baroque oratorial works to contemporary music. There are all of the Passions by Bach (both the Evangelist’s parts and arias), Magnificat, Mass in B minor, numerous cantatas; Marian Vespers by Monteverdi, Membra Jesu Nostri by Buxtehude, most of Händel’s oratorios (Jephtha, Judas Maccabeus, The Messiah, Saul), Requiems by Verdi and Dvořák, the cantata Rinaldo by Brahms, Vespers by Rachmaninov, Oidipus Rex by Stravinsky, Sankt-Bach-Passion by Kagel, St John Passion and Litany by Pärt, Stabat Mater by Tonis Kaumann, etc.
Recently, opera roles have started to play an increasingly bigger role in Mati Turi’s career: in co-operation with Nargen Opera and Tonu Kaljuste the operas by Haydn (Gernando in L’isola disabitata, Ecclitico in Il mondo della luna, Rinaldo in Armida, Florestan in Fidelio by Beethoven), Juhana in Viimeiset kiusaukset at Tampere Opera, Cassio in Othello by Verdi at Tampere Opera and Estonian National Opera, Wallenberg 2 in Wallenberg by Tuur, the Prince in Rusalka by Dvořák at Helsinki Alexander Theatre, as well as concert performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Sailor), Rameau’s Les Palladins and Adams’ Nixon in China (Mao).
The year 2009 has brought along collaboration with Kokkola Opera, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO) and Sakari Oramo in Berg’s Lulu (Alwa), and with Schleswig-Holstein Landestheater and Mihkel Kütson (Mefistoteles in Dr Faustus by Busoni). The next season includes also Don José in Carmen by Bizet (Kokkola Opera).
As a chamber musician, Mati Turi has a long-time partnership with pianist Martti Raide (Mahler, Wolf, Schubert, Schumann, Grieg, Sibelius, Saar and the Kapps).
Mati Turi has been performing constantly at numerous music festivals: Savonlinna Opera Festival, Helsinki Church Music Festival, Heidelberg Spring Festival, Holland Festival, Venice Syrinx Festival, Arvo Pärt Festival, Glasperlenspiel, Brigitta Festival, Nargen Festival, etc.