Born in Helsinki as the son of opera singer , Salomaa began his musical studies as a cellist. In 1976, at the age of 15, he entered the
Sibelius Academy where he began to pursue studies as a vocalist for the first time. His vocal teachers have included
Kim Borg,
Hans Hotter,
Yevgeny Nesterenko and
Erik Saedén. In 1981, at the age of 20, he won the National Singing Competition in
Lappeenranta. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Sibelius Academy in 1989 and a doctor of music degree in 2003. Salomaa made his professional singing debut in Helsinki at the age of 17 singing the part of Raphael in
Joseph Haydn's
The Creation. He has since had a highly active career as a concert soloist with major orchestras and ensembles in Europe, especially in Scandinavia. In 1984 he was the bass soloist in a nationally broadcast performance of
Johann Sebastian Bach's
St John Passion in Switzerland. He soon after appeared at
Royal Albert Hall in London as the Levite in Handel's
Solomon. He has also performed
Gustav Mahler's
Kindertotenlieder with the
Orchestre de Paris. He has also performed in
Giuseppe Verdi's
Don Carlos conducted by
Herbert von Karajan at the
Salzburg Festival, and has made appearances at the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the
Grand Théâtre de Genève, the
Norwegian National Opera, the
Prague State Opera, the
Royal Opera, London, the
Semperoper, the
Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi, and the
Théâtre du Châtelet. ==References==