Monica Groop

Emerging in the 1990s as a prominent operatic mezzo-soprano, Monica Groop ranks among the international vocal talents produced by Finland's fertile musical environment. She concentrates chiefly on Germanic repertoire instead of Italian works while maintaining a vigorous presence across recital and concert platforms.

Her training reached its peak at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. During the 1986 summer festival she took part in Savonlinna Opera before entering the roster of the Finnish National Opera, where her professional stage debut occurred in 1987 as Charlotte, the central female role in Massenet's Werther. While affiliated with that company she performed Olga in Tchaikovsky's Evgeny Onegin, Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Sesto in his La clemenza di Tito, and Octavian in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.

Groop gained notice as a finalist at the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in Wales.

Rather than arising from any single breakthrough event, her prominence crystallized in 1994. Major international attention arrived through recital debuts at New York's Carnegie Hall and London's Wigmore Hall, the premier venues in each nation. After Cecilia Bartoli's success, renewed interest in the lower female register has appeared in restorations of original mezzo-soprano assignments for leading Rossini heroines and in the renewed casting of female mezzos in heroic parts within numerous Baroque operas.

Groop regards the existence of other internationally recognized mezzos as advantageous, allowing her to focus on repertoire best suited to her voice. "The bel canto tradition is not close to me," she has said (referring to the style of operatic singing most associated with Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti), "and Bartoli and [Jennifer] Larmore are brilliant practitioners of that side of things. I have sung a great deal of Mozart, and now I am ready for Strauss."

In keeping with that outlook she added the Straussian part of the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos to her roles during 1995 performances in Frankfurt. That same year she drew global attention for her interpretation of Debussy's Mélisande in Peter Sellars' provocative Los Angeles staging.

Thereafter her schedule has kept her away from home nearly 300 days annually. She has issued more than 40 recordings for major labels including Decca, Sony Classics, Harmonia Mundi, CPO, Accent, Chandos, BIS, and Finlandia. Her recorded output spans composers as varied as Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Grieg, Sibelius, Vivaldi, Sarasate, Kálmán, Madetoja, and Pettersson, among them the first recordings of Vivaldi's Ottone and Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix. Appearances have taken her to leading opera houses worldwide and onto concert stages with foremost conductors and ensembles, both modern and period-instrument.