Vienna based Finnish mezzo-soprano Tuija Knihtilä graduated from the Sibelius-Academy and continued her studies at Die Hochschule der Künste Berlin as well as at the Zürich International Opera Studio. Initially ensemble member at the Finnish National Opera, she works as a freelancer since 2010.
The 2023/24 season includes Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Organ Night and Aria festival in Espoo, the staged version of Verdi’s Requiem and the role debut as Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites/ Poulenc at the FNO under the baton of Hannu Lintu, who also conducted Tuija’s debut as Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust/Berlioz 2020 with the Finnish RSO in Helsinki. She will also perform her first Waltraute on-stage in Die Götterdämmerung/Wagner in Helsinki.
Recently Tuija had her debut as Judith in Bartok's Bluebeard’s Castle with Pori Sinfonietta. She sang in Beethoven’s 9th with Sakari Oramo and the Wiener Symphoniker and will appear in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Ryan Bancroft.
Other roles to be mentioned are Santuzza/ Cavalleria Rusticana and Venus/Tannhäuser at the Norwegian National Opera, Amneris/Aida, Ortrud/ Lohengrin and the title role of Carmen at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Santuzza/ Cavalleria Rusticana in São Paulo and Brangäne at Teatro La Fenice under the baton of Myung Whun Chung, Kundry/ Parsifal at the FNO Helsinki, Mannheim and Linz, as well as her celebrated Ortrud/Lohengrin at the Danish Royal Opera in Copenhagen.
Tuija made her US debut at the Austin Opera (TX) as Amneris, the role in which she has appeared also in São Paulo, Bonn, and Malmö. In Malmö she also sang Laura Adorno/La Gioconda.
As a sought-after concert singer some of her notable performances have been Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with Hannu Lintu at the Helsinki Festival, Das Lied von der Erde with Malmö Symphony Orchestra and of Herodias/ Salome as concert set up with Turku Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam.