Photo: Aki-Pekka Sinikoski
Piia Komsi
Finnish soprano coloratura Piia Komsi (b. 1967) is an internationally acclaimed performer with an exceptionally large repertoire from early music to the newest contemporary works. Komsi is known for her unique virtuoso, voice acrobatic and various special skills; including singing and playing the cello simultaneously, as she started her musical career as a cellist. Komsi has worked with many composers around the world like Pascal Dusapin, György Kurtag and Liza Lim. She has premiered numerous works by contemporary composers, and many composers (including Vinko Globokar, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kaija Saariaho, Unsuk Chin, Peter Eötvös, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Rolf Riehm, Liza Lim and Heinz-Juhani Hofmann) have written music particularly for her voice.
Komsi has performed with several orchestras all over the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchester, Philharmonic Orchestre de Radio France, BBC Symphony Orchestras of London and Cardiff, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra (MDR), Oslo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain,
Musik Fabrik Köln, Ensemble Modern, Remix Porto Casa da Musica, Stockholm Royal Filharmonic Orchestra and Finnish Radio Orchestra.
Piia Komsi’s many successful roles such as Medea (Dusapin/Medea), Gepopo (Ligeti/Grand Macabre), Maid (Adès/Powder her Face), Cat (Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland), Queen of the Night and Brünnhilde (Wagner-Dove/Ring Saga) have taken her around the world. Komsi’s opera engagements include Bayerisches Staatsoper, Théatre et Musique Paris, Théatre Capitole Toulouse, Teatro Comunale Bologna, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Theater Chemnitz, Finnish National Opera, as well as many independent opera companies in Finland and Nimrod company productions.
Piia Komsi’s latest recordings include “Soita.Kirjoita joskus.Ruf an.Schreib doch mal.” by Heinz-Juhani Hofmann (2021), Liza Lim’s Singing in Tongues (2021), Exil3 by Vinko Globokar( NEOS) and Die Schreckliche gewaltige Kinder by Rolf Riehm (WERGO), and SOLARIS (Naxos). Komsi has also been composing and arranging music, as well as performing as a singer, cellist and actor in the new play by Juha Hurme at the
Helsinki City Theatre during the season 2022-2023.