Lea Piltti was a Finnish opera singer and voice pedagog, one of the leading coloratura sopranos of the 1930s and 40s, and one of Finland's most successful singers on the international stage.
13 Facts About Lea Piltti
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Lea Piltti was born to Juho Piltti and Elsa Maria Korhonen; both her parents were teachers.
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Lea Piltti's father was a keen singer, and singing helped form a strong connection between him and his daughter.
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Lea Piltti later continued her training on numerous study trips mainly to Paris, where she was tutored by Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi, and to Berlin, working with Olga Eisner and Hertha Dehmlow throughout the late 1920s.
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Lea Piltti returned there a few more times in the 1940s and 1950s.
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For much of her active singing career Lea Piltti worked in Germany, where she was nicknamed Die Lea Piltti.
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Lea Piltti made many guest appearances in opera houses and concerts in Berlin, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Budapest, and Salzburg, among others, as well as in the USA.
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In 1939, Richard Strauss personally invited Lea Piltti to sing the challenging Zerbinetta aria from Ariadne auf Naxos at his 75th anniversary concert.
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Lea Piltti had a singing role in the German 1942 film Wiener Blut, directed by Willi Forst.
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Lea Piltti's singing career was effectively over, but later on, Piltti taught voice for over 20 years, in music institutes and conservatoires in Lahti, Jyvaskyla, and Turku, as well as privately.
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In 1956, Lea Piltti received the Pro Finlandia medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland.
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The Finnish Cultural Foundation occasionally awards the Lea Piltti Prize, based on Piltti's 1979 endowment, to distinguished opera singers; recipients include Kim Borg, Anita Valkki, Jorma Hynninen and Matti Salminen.
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The marriage ended in 1943, and Lea Piltti returned to Finland, where, in 1946, she married Olavi Killinen.