Irma Urrila

Finnish operatic soprano, born 29 January 1943.

She won a singing competition organized by Yleisradio at the age of 18 in spring 1961. He gave his first concert at Helsingfors Conservatorium on November 26, 1962, accompanied by Pentti Koskimie. Urrila began her singing studies under her teacher Aino Elenius and continued them at the Sibelius Academy under Jolanda di Maria Petris and later in Milan under Carla Castellani and Tomaso Jappelli.

Urrila won the singing competition Lonigo in 1965 and came second in the Verdi competition in Parma in 1966. At the Finnish National Opera, Urrila had a soloist engagement from autumn 1965 to spring 1967, after which he moved to the Royal Opera in Stockholm.

She married in Norway and moved to the Oslo Opera in 1970. Urrila's singing career lasted more than 30 years and included more than 40 operatic roles, including Pamina (The Magic Flute), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), The Countess (The Marriage of Figaro), Mimì (La Bohème), Liù (Turandot). ), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Tatjana (Eugene Onegin), Sophie (Rose Knight) and the title parts of Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini and Arabella by Richard Strauss. In addition to her opera work, Irma Urrila has given concerts extensively and often performed as an oratorio soloist. In addition to Finland, Sweden and Norway, he has performed in Denmark, Germany, France, Brazil and Greece.

She is best known internationally for her role as Pamina in Ingmar Bergman's 1975 film production of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute.

She is married to Per-Åke Andersson.