Matti Salminen

Towering in physical stature, Finnish bass Matti Salminen offers a voice to match. From the beginning of a career that has made him one of the leading singers of Wagner's bass roles, there was no question about his voice placement. It was no bass baritone, but a true bass, huge, dark, focused, and possessed of a reassuring steadiness. By the time he had reached his mid-thirties, he had both mastered the tradition of great Wagner singing and discovered the means to pace himself in that most arduous of all repertoires. By the start of the 1990s, he had become the pre-eminent Hag...