Waltteri Torikka in world premiere of "Sanatorio Express"

Waltteri Torikka (Image: Finnish National Opera)

Regular readers may recall our posts about Finnish barihunk Waltteri Torikka being named "Sexiest Man in Finland" and for winning MTV's singing competition Tähdet, Tähdet (Stars, Stars) with his hip swinging rendition of Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca.  

He is currently slated to appear in the world premiere of Iiro Rantala and Minna Lindgren's  Sanatorio Express, a comic opera about today’s neuroses and relationships. The opera plays on the spirit of 19th century comic opera, including catchy melodies, plot twists, and troubled, if not complicated, romantic relationships. The opera deals with more modern issues of weight loss, peacefulness/mindfulness, social media, as well as the timeless issues of deception and addiction.

Waltteri Torikka sings Don Giovanni's serenade:

Torikka plays Sports Addict, the husband of the female lead, who has fallen in love with Meditation Addict while at a sanatorium where she's trying to lose a few extra pounds.

The opera opens on September 27 and runs through January 11. Tickets and additional information is available online.

Waltteri Torikka & Tapani Plathan in Don Giovanni at Castle Olavinlinna

Tapani Plathan and Waltteri Torikka

Barihunks Waltteri Torikka and Tapani Plathan will sing Don Giovanni and Leporello in Mozart's masterpiece at the Savonlinna Opera Festival on July 9, 20 and 25. The opera will be performed in the Castle Olavinlinna, a 15th-century three-tower castle located in Savonlinna, Finland. The Savonlinna Opera Festival has been held annually at the castle each summer since 1912. They'll be alternating their roles with Kartal Karagedik and Arttu Kataja, who perform on July 18 and 22.

Regular readers will recall that Waltteri Torikka won the Finnish MTV competition Tähdet, Tähdet (Stars, Stars), which is similar to America's X-Factor or American Idol. He performed a variety of different musical genres, including Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca, Whitesnake's Still of Night, a country version of "Ring of Fire," the punk rock song "Hei hei mitä kuuluu," a Finnish tango, and even an Ozzy Osbourne-esque version of Scarpia from Tosca!

Waltteri Torikka sings "Deh, vieni alla finestra":

Finnish bass-barihunk Tapani Plathan is currently an ensemble member at Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken in Germany. He has performed Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Sparafucile in Rigoletto with the company. Plathan began his classical studies with oboe and piano but switched to voice at age 23, when he was admitted to Sibelius Academy. He made his debut at the Finnish National Opera in August 2012 as Strojnik in Janacek's Makropulos Affair and later also performed  Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Masetto in Don Giovanni.

Tickets and additional cast information for Don Giovanni is available online.

Waltteri Torikka documentary launches today

Ever since Finnish barihunk Waltteri Torikka won MTVs talent show Tähdet tähdet, he's had quite a whirlwind of a life, with requests for new booking, being named "Finland's Sexiest Man" by the readers of the women's magazine Eeva (Eve), releasing a new album Sydän (Heart), being dubbed the "Ricky Martin of Finland" and being stopped on the street as the new music celebrity of his country.

Now he's the feature of a brief 5-part documentary series, which you can watch HERE. New episodes will be available Tuesday and Thursday.

Time is running out to order your 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar, featuring 18 of the sexiest men in opera. ORDER TODAY by clicking below (you won't regret it!)

 

Waltteri Torikka named "Sexiest Man in Finland"

Waltteri Torikka: Finland's Sexiest Man

Waltteri Torikka has had quite a year. First he wins MTVs talent show Tähdet tähdet, which we covered extensively on this site and now he's been named "Finland's Sexiest Man" by the readers of the women's maagazine Eeva (Eve). Since winning the show, he's been dubbed the "Ricky Martin of Finland" and finds people staring at him on the street.

Torikka beat out Finnish actor Tommi Korpela and hockey player Pekka Rinne for the title. Readers who voted for Torikka offered all kinds of interesting reasons including comments about his "supple thighs" and "regal stature."

Waltteri Torikka offered this Finnish serenade to readers who voted him Sexiest Man:

Torikka will be performing Sibelius' Kullervo at the BBC Proms in London on August 28 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Next summer, he'll appear as Don Giovanni at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

Opera singer Waltteri Torikka wins MTV competition

Waltteri Torikka during the finale of Tähdet, Tähdet

Finnish barihunk Waltteri Torikka won MTV's singing competition Tähdet, Tähdet (Stars, Stars) garnering 58% of the vote and bringing the audience to its feet with his own hip swinging rendition of Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca.  Sunday's finale culminated a two month journey that included performances of Whitesnake's Still of Night, a country version of "Ring of Fire," the punk rock song "Hei hei mitä kuuluu," a Finnish tango, and even an Ozzy Osbourne-esque version of Scarpia from Tosca!

 Waltteri Torikka sings Livin' La Vida Loca:

Waltteri Torikka finished ahead of Laura Voutilainen. Both finalists performed three songs during the finale. Torikka was a relatively unknown opera singers to most Finns when the competition began, but quickly became a fan favorite with his energetic and often sexually charged renditions of pieces. 

He now heads to the Rijeka Opera in Croatia to sing the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni from May 21-29. Fans in the UK can see him on August 29th at the Proms, where he will be performing Jean Sibelius' Kullervo.

Waltteri Torikka advances to final round in MTV competition

Waltteri Torikka sings Fiddler on the Roof

Finnish barihunk Waltteri Torikka has advanced to the final round of the singing pop competition Tähdet, tähdet on MTV against Laura Voutilainen.

The two will compete head-to-head on Sunday to see who takes away the top prize. With Broadway musicals being the theme this week, Voutilainen sang  "Memory" from Cats and "All That Jazz" from Chicago, while Torikka sang "Stars" from Les Miserables and "If I were a rich man" from Fiddler on the Roof. The judges have praised him for his versatility and he has become a fan favorite with viewers.

You can watch his performances HERE and HERE.

Waltteri Torikka's bloody good rendition of Whitesnake

Waltteri Torikka singing Whitesnake

Waltteri Torikka continues to take Finland by storm on the vocal competition show Tähdet, Tahdet on MTV. This week he sang Whitesnake's Still of Night and got so into swinging the microphone that he hit his mouth, cut his lip and drew blood, but kept on singing.

Over the weeks he's had to perform a number of different genres, including country, punk, tango, Latin pop and even some opera. For heavy metal week he actually worked with David Coverdale from Whitesnake to hone his performance skills, including mic management.

 Waltteri Torikka sings Whitesnake's "Still of the Night"

There are five other singers remaining in the competition, who covered a wide range of heavy metal classics. Laura Voutilainen sang Rainbow's I Surrender, Roope Salminen sang Motörhead's Ace of Spades, Krista Siegfrids sang Def Leppards Pour Some Sugar on Me, Arja Koriseva sang Stratovarius' Eagleheart and Jarkko Ahola sang Metallica's The Unforgiven. 

He's still performing classical music during the taping of the show. He has three dates left on his tour with the Concert Band of the Conscript Band of the Finnish Defence Forces, where he's the featured soloist on their Finlandia Tour. On April 11th they'll be in Tampere, with additional shows on April 13th at the Hyvinkää Church and April 14 in Lahti. 

Waltteri Torikka advances to finals of MTV competition

The many faces of Waltteri Torikka on Finnish MTV

Barihunk Waltteri Torikka is competing on a voice competition called Tähdet, Tähdet (Stars, Stars) on Finnish MTV and this week's challenge is Heavy Metal. So he took some time out with David Coverdale from White Snake to work on his rocker technique. You can watch the video HERE.

Over the weeks he's had to perform a number of different genres, including country, punk, tango, Latin pop and even some opera. He's currently one of the finalists in the competition. You can enjoy his performances below.

Country version of "Ring of Fire":

Punk rock song "Hei hei mitä kuuluu" (Hey, hey, what's up?):

The Finnish Tango "Satumaa" (Fairyland):

Singing "Livin' La Vida Loca":

He even sang an Ozzy Osbourne-esque version of Scarpia!:

You can hear Waltteri Torikka live this month on tour with the Concert Band of the Conscript Band of the Finnish Defence Forces. He's the featured soloist on their Finlandia Tour, which plays April 10th in Mikkeli, April 11th in Tampere, April 13th at the Hyvinkää Church and April 14 in Lahti. 

Waltteri Torikka's semi-finals performance at the Mirjam Helin Competition

Waltteri Torikka singing Look! Through the port

There is an amazing group of baritones competing in the semi-final round of the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition and Waltteri Torikka is among the best.

His set included Benjamin Britten's Look! Through the port from Billy Budd, Kuula's Sinipiika, a Sibelius lieder set (Serenade; Jägargossen; Den första kyssen; Im Feld ein Mädchen singt) and Adam Norden's Jag är ett träd. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

The finals will be held on August 13 with eight prizewinners performing on August 15th. Singers will perform two works with orchestral accompaniment. Each singer will have a maximum of 20 minutes.

There will be 4 female and 4 male prizes, beginning at €30000 for 1st prize, €20000 for 2nd prize, €10000 for 3rd prize and €5000 for 4th prize. Tickets for all rounds are available online or at the Lippupiste ticket shop. 

Final five baritones perform at Finnish vocal competition

Ilya Silchukov and Waltteri Torikka

Today marks the final day of the preliminary round of the Mirjam Helin International singing competition and five more baritones have performed. After today's singers wrap up, they will announce 16-20 singers who are moving on to the semi-finals on August 9-10. In the semi-finals each singer must perform a song by a Finnish composer, a group of solo songs lasting 15-20 minutes, and an opera or concert aria.

Finnish baritone Waltteri Torikka, baritoni sang with Marko Hilpo at the piano. He performed J.S. Bach's Ich habe genug from Cantata #82, Schumann's Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen, Mozart's Così dunque tradisci and Tchaikovsky's Don Juan Serenade. You can watch his performance HERE.

Belarusian baritone Ilya Silchukov performed with Kiril Kozlovsky at the piano. He sang Graun's So steht ein Berg Gottes, Rimsky-Korsakov's Drobitsia i pleštšet, Schumann's Du bist wie eine Blume, and Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo from Mozart's Così fan tutte. You can watch his performance HEREhttp://areena.yle.fi/tv/2351004.

Ukrainian baritone Oleksandr Pushniak sang with Kristian Attila at the piano. He performed Spohr's Judas Gott hat geredet, Schubert's Die Forelle,  Tchaikovsky's Otšego? and Lysenko's Khto vbyv joho? Tse vy? Oh tatu, tatu..." from Taras Bulba. You can watch his performance HERE.

Latvian baritone Rihards Millers performed with Ērika Apeine at the piano. He performed Händel's Why do the nations from the Messiah, Schubert's Der Wanderer,  Tchaikovsky's Don Juan Serenade and Tutto e disposto from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. You can watch his performance HERE.

Croatian baritone Matija Meić sang with Tuula Hällström at the piano. He sang  Händel's Revenge, revenge from Alexander's Feast, Tchaikovsky's Notši bezumnie, Schubert's Auf dem Flusse and Avant de quitter ces lieux from Gounod's Faust. You can watch his performance HERE.

The finals will be held on August 13 with eight prizewinners performing on August 15th. Singers will perform two works with orchestral accompaniment. Each singer will have a maximum of 20 minutes.

There will be 4 female and 4 male prizes, beginning at €30000 for 1st prize, €20000 for 2nd prize, €10000 for 3rd prize and €5000 for 4th prize. Tickets for all rounds are available online or at the Lippupiste ticket shop. 

HD Live Stream of Don Giovanni with Waltteri Torikka

Waltteri Torikka as Don Giovanni

The New Generation Opera Ensemble is experimenting with High-Definition streaming video of their current production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Helsinki Festival. The production features Finnish barihunk Waltteri Torikka in the title role, who we introduced to readers two years ago.

If you're not sure that you want to invest the €9,90 to watch the performance the site lets you watch the first ten minutes for free before deciding. There are two performances remaining on August 22 and 24 at 7 PM EEST (12 PM EST/9 AM PST). Click HERE to watch the live stream.

Waltteri Torikka and Timo Riihonen

New Generation Opera Ensemble is tinkering with new technologies with the goal of bringing opera to more people. Their advisory board includes some of the biggest Finnish names in classical music and opera, including Jorma Hynninen, Soile Isokoski, Markus Lehtinen, Karita Mattila, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kaija Saariaho, Aulis Sallinen and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Torikka won the Finnish national “Lappeenrannan laulukilpailut” song competition in 2010 and received the “HSBC Laureates” prize at the prestigious  Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2009. Torikka recently wrapped up a stint as an apprentice artist at the Finnish National Opera. You can follow the 27-year-old barihunk on Twitter at @WaltteriTorikka.

Reader Submission: Waltteri Torikka

Waltteri Torikka (Photo by Kurt Rodahl Hoppe)

Our latest reader submission is Finnish baritone Waltteri Torikka, who is wrapping up a run as Don Giovanni at the Royal Danish Opera Academy today. Torikka won the Finnish national “Lappeenrannan laulukilpailut” song competition in 2010 and received the “HSBC Laureates” prize at the prestigious  Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2009. 

Torikka has performed with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg. In 2009, he made his debut at the Finnish National Opera as Herastuomari in Leevi Madetoja's “The Ostrobothnians.” Other roles he has performed include “Il Re di Scozia” in Handel's “Ariodante,” Vorotov in Ville Raasakka's “Kohtalokkaat Oppitunnit” and Masetto in Mozart's “Don Giovanni.” Next year, he is scheduled to appear at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Torikka is apprentice artist in the Finnish National Opera 2012-13.

We'll be keeping an eye on this young talent.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com