Biography
Niina Keitel is one of the most successful Finnish mezzos of today. After graduating from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki she started her career at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, where she sang a wide repertoire of roles. Afterwards, she joined the ensemble of Nationaltheater Mannheim before becoming a member of the ensemble at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki. Today she works as a freelance singer.Guest performances led her to renowned houses and festivals such as the Opéra national de Paris, Opera Frankfurt, Opera Cologne, Royal Danish Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Daegu International Opera Festival, and the Munich Biennale.
Recent opera highlights include her debuts as Fricka/Die Walküre and Santuzza/Cavalleria rusticana, as well as the roles of Magdalene/Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Maddalena/Rigoletto at the Finnish National Opera, the latter also at the Royal Danish Opera Copenhagen, Preziosilla/La forza del destino (under Santtu-Matias Rouvali) as well as the title role in Carmen at the Tampere Opera, Carmen at Theater Bonn, Grimgerde/Die Walküre at Teatro Petruzzelli Bari (under Stefan Anton Reck) and at Teatro San Carlo Napoli (under Juraj Valcuha), Waltraute/Die Walküre at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Adalgisa/Norma at the Immling Festival, her debut as Brangäne/Tristan und Isolde at Theater Nordhausen, and the role of Margarita in York Höller’s Der Meister und Margarita at Opera Cologne.
As a versatile concert singer Niina Keitel has performed with numerous symphony orchestras in Finland, Sweden, Germany and France and collaborated with conductors such as Kent Nagano, Philippe Jordan, Sir Roger Norrington, Lawrence Foster, Dan Ettinger, Leif Segerstam, Mikko Franck and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, to name a few.
Highlights on the concert stage include a concert tour in Japan, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Colmar Les Musicales Festival and in Cagliari, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Gothenburg (under Kent Nagano) and Tampere, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Sallinen’s opera Kullervo/Smith’s young wife - each under Hannu Lintu at the Savonlinna Opera Festival - Verdi’s Requiem at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, as well as Sibelius‘ Kullervo in Tokyo with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and with the Finnish Radio Orchestra under Hannu Lintu.
Furthermore, she could be seen and heard in numerous world premieres both on the concert and the opera stage.
In addition to her career as an opera and concert singer, Niina Keitel has been the Artistic Director of the Lemi Music Festival in Finland (2013-18).
Future engagements include her return to the Finnish National Opera as Mère Marie in a new production of Dialogues des Carmélites.
Künstler Website
www.niinakeitel.comManagement
non-exclusiveArtist Manager

Ingunn Sighvatsdóttir
Artist Manager
ingunn@orlob.net
Mobil: +49-173-2 067 821
Repertoire
Repertoire Concert
Bach, J.S. | B minor mass |
Christmas Oratorio | |
Magnificat | |
St. John Passion | |
St. Matthew Passion | |
Beethoven | Symphony no. 9 |
Mass in C major | |
Missa solemnis | |
Berg | Altenberg-Lieder |
Sieben frühe Lieder | |
Berlioz | Les nuits d'été |
Dvorak | Stabat Mater |
Elgar | Dream of Gerontius |
Händel | Messiah |
Haydn | Nelson-Messe |
Heininen | Musta kehtolaulu (UA) |
Mahler | Das Lied von der Erde |
Des Knaben Wunderhorn | |
Kindertotenlieder | |
Rückert-Lieder | |
Mozart | Mass in C major |
Requiem | |
Vesperae solennes de confessore | |
Pergolesi | Stabat Mater |
Rossini | Petite Messe Solennelle |
Stabat Mater | |
Schubert | Mass No. 5 in A flat major |
Sibelius | Kullervo |
Orchestral Songs | |
Verdi | Requiem |
Wagner | Wesendonck-Lieder |
Repertoire Opera
Bartók | Bluebeard's Castle | Judith |
Bizet | Carmen | Carmen |
Mercedes | ||
Britten | Albert Herring | Nancy |
Noye's Fludde | Mrs Noye | |
Cilea | Adriana Lecouvreur | Dangeville |
Händel | Giulio Cesare in Egitto | Sesto |
Humperdinck | Hansel and Gretel | Hansel |
Janacek | The Makropulos Affair | Komorna |
Poklizecka | ||
Joneleit, Jens | Piero - Ende der Nacht (UA) | Mezzo-soprano |
Kokkonen | The Last Temptations | 2nd woman |
Korngold | Die tote Stadt | Lucienne |
Kuusisto,Jaakko | Jää | Lydia Manström |
Mascagni | Cavalleria rusticana | Santuzza |
Mozart | Apollo et Hyacinthus | Zephyrus |
Così fan tutte | Dorabella | |
Die Zauberflöte | 2. Dame | |
Don Giovanni | Zerlina | |
Le nozze di Figaro | Marcellina | |
Mussorgsky | Boris Godunov | Marina Mnischek |
Offenbach | Les contes d'Hoffmann | Nicklausse |
Orff | De temporum fine comoedia | Sibylle |
Puccini | Madama Butterfly | Suzuki |
Suor Angelica | La badessa | |
La maestra delle novizie | ||
Reinvere, Jüri | Purge (UA) | Zara |
Rossini | Il barbiere di Siviglia | Berta |
La Cenerentola | Angelina | |
Sallinen | Kullervo | Smith's young wife |
Shostakovich | Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District | Sonjetka |
Smetana | The Bartered Bride | Ludmila |
Strauss, J. | Die Fledermaus | Prinz Orlowsky |
Strauss, R. | Der Rosenkavalier | Octavian |
Tchaikovsky | Eugene Onegin | Olga |
Verdi | La forza del destino | Preziosilla |
La traviata | Flora | |
Otello | Emilia | |
Rigoletto | Maddalena | |
Wagner | Die Meistersinger v. Nürnberg | Magdalene |
Die Walküre | Fricka | |
Waltraute | ||
Rossweiße | ||
Grimgerde | ||
Götterdämmerung | 2. Norn | |
Parsifal | 2. Knappe | |
Blumenmädchen | ||
Stimme aus der Höhe | ||
Tristan und Isolde | Brangäne |
News

One Act Thriller in Mainz
After successful role debuts as Brangäne and Fricka in the past seasons, Niina Keitel can now celebrate another upcoming debut! From June 2 she will be on stage as Herodias, wife of the Tetrarch Herodes, in Strauss’ Salome at Staatstheater Mainz for the first time – alongside her the current Bayreuth Brünnhilde, Daniela Köhler, in the title role, among others. The director behind the new staging is Alexander Nerlich.Further performances until the end of the season:
08 June & 09/12 July, 2023
Performance dates in the coming season:
17/22 Sep, 04/20/25 Oct, 01/19/27 Nov and 12/22 Dec, 2023
Media
Images
Photo: Anja Daniela Wagner
Download available

Photo: Anja Daniela Wagner
Download available

Photo: Saara Salmi
Download available

Photo: Alice Pittacolo
Download available

Theater Nordhausen
Photo: Julia Lormis

Photo: Heikki Tuuli

Photo: Heikki Tuuli

Photo: Heikki Tuuli

Theater Bonn
Photo: Thilo Beu

Theater Bonn
Photo: Thilo Beu

Theater Bonn
Photo: Thilo Beu
VIdeo

Oktavian
"Wie Du Warst! Wie Du Bist!"

Marina Mnishek
Arie

Op 37 No 4.

Op.17 No. 1 (Runeberg)
Press
Der Meister und Margarita / Oper Köln / 08.05.22 / fabiuskulturschockblog
"Niina Keitel - tatsächlich die derzeit einzige rollenerfahrene Sängerin weltweit! - begeisterte mit dunkler konzentrierter Mezzo-Glut und präzisem, differenzierten Vortrag und ausgezeichneter Diktion."
Der Meister und Margarita / Oper Köln / 15.04.22 / Das Opernmagazin
"Keitel war kurzfristig eingesprungen und sang die komplexe Partie von der Seite vom Blatt souverän."
Tristan und Isolde / Theater Nordhausen / 08.02.22 / deropernfreund.de
"Niina Keitel verkörpert eine anrührende Brangäne. Ihre Warnrufe vor dem anbrechenden Tag, die aus dem Nichts zu kommen scheinen, gehören zu den Höhepunkten des zweiten Aufzugs."
Kullervo / Savonlinna Opera Festival / 10.07.17 / bachtrack.com
"cherry-dark mezzo, seductive and sensual"