Born in
Somero, Mattila graduated 1983 from the
Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where she studied singing with
Liisa Linko-Malmio. She then continued her studies with
Vera Rózsa in London. Also in 1983, Mattila won the first
Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. In 1985, she made her
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut as Fiordiligi in
Mozart's
Così fan tutte. She was seen as Emma in the first ever televised production of Schubert's
Fierrabras at the Vienna State Opera in 1988. In 1990 she made her
Metropolitan Opera debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart's
Don Giovanni. In 1994, she made her Spanish debut as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's
Eugene Onegin in Madrid, and 1996 debuts in Paris in Wagner's
Lohengrin and Verdi's
Don Carlos. Mattila has won
Grammy Awards for "Best Opera Recording" for Wagner's
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1998 and for Janacek's
Jenůfa in 2004. She was awarded the Evening Standard Ballet, Opera and Classical Music Award for "Outstanding Performance of the Year" in 1998 for her performance of Elisabeth in Verdi's
Don Carlos at the
Royal Opera House. In 2001
The New York Times chose Karita Mattila as the best singer of the year for her performance in te title role of Beethoven's
Fidelio at the
Metropolitan Opera, and in the same year she was nominated for the
Laurence Olivier Award "Outstanding Achievement in Opera". Mattila's 2004 New York performances in
Salome and subsequent
Káťa Kabanová inspired the New York press to write: "When the history of the Metropolitan Opera around the time of the millennium is written, Karita Mattila will deserve her own chapter." In 2005, she was named
Musician of the Year 2005 by
Musical America, which describes her "the most electrifying singing actress of our day, the kind of performer who renews an aging art form and drives the public into frenzies."
BBC Music Magazine named Mattila as one of the top 20 sopranos of the recorded era in 2007. Worldwide audiences saw Mattila in Puccini's
Manon Lescaut live in movie theatres in 2008.
Salome by Richard Strauss and Puccini:s
Tosca were seen live from the house in
High Definition worldwide in 2008 and 2009, respectively. In 2010 at
Opéra National de Lyon, Mattila created the role of
Émilie du Châtelet in Kaija Saariaho's monodrama
Émilie, which was dedicated to her. In 2014, Mattila was scheduled to sing
Four Last Songs by R. Strauss with the
Munich Philharmonic at
Carnegie Hall. However, when
Valery Gergiev, who had publicly supported
Vladimir Putin's stance on
Ukraine and
gay rights, was brought in to conduct, she refused to perform if he remained. Gergiev was replaced with
Fabio Luisi. Mattila received threats for her action. In 2020, Mattila played a parody of herself as an opera diva stuck in Finland, in the new comic opera
Covid fan tutte. In December 2020 Mattila was awarded the
Order of the Lion of Finland, Commander, First Class. ==Personal life==