Mati Palm

Mati-Johannes Palm (13 January 1942 – 28 May 2018) was an Estonian bass-baritone and vocal pedagogue. A long-time leading soloist of the Estonia theatre, he was among the most prominent Estonian opera singers of the late Soviet and post-independence periods and later became an influential teacher at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Life and career Palm was born in Tallinn.

He graduated from Tallinn's 4th Secondary School in 1960 and from Tallinn State Conservatory in 1968, where he studied singing with Jenny Siimon. He later continued his training at the Moscow Conservatory under Hugo Dietz and at the singing school of La Scala in Milan under Renata Carosio and Renato Pastorino; in 1984 he also undertook further training at the Komische Oper Berlin. He sang in the chorus of the Estonia theatre from 1967 to 1969 and from 1969 was one of its principal opera soloists. The parts most closely associated with him included Attila, Philip II, Zaccaria and de Silva in Verdi; the title role in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman; Boris Godunov and Pimen in Mussorgsky; Ivan Khovansky and Dosifey in Khovanshchina; and Gremin in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.

As a guest artist, Palm appeared at venues including the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Berlin State Opera, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Prague National Theatre, and the national opera houses of Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. He was also noted as an interpreter of Estonian vocal music by composers such as Artur Kapp, Mart Saar, Eduard Oja, Eduard Tubin and Ester Mägi.

Teaching and legacy Palm taught singing at the Tallinn State Conservatory from 1976 to 1980 and at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre from 1990 onward. He became a professor in 1995 and headed the academy's vocal department from 1995 to 2000. In 2006 he established the Mati Palm Fund within the Estonian National Culture Foundation to support young singers seeking further training in bel canto singing. A commemorative concert marking what would have been his 80th birthday was held at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2022 and featured colleagues and former students including Lill, Liiv, Balakin and Jakobson.

Palm died in Tallinn on 28 May 2018, aged 76. He also received the music endowment lifetime achievement award of the Estonian Cultural Endowment for 2012.

Selected recordings Estonian opera singer Mati Palm (1998)