Mati Palm

Palm was born in Tallinn.^[1][2] Before committing himself fully to music, he trained in athletics at the Kalev Tallinn athletics school under Harry Aumere and Aleksander Tšikin, represented Estonia's youth team from 1958 to 1962, and achieved a personal best of 14.76 metres in the shot put in 1962.^[4][5]

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.^[1][2][5]

Palm gave his first solo concert in the assembly hall of the University of Tartu on 8 April 1964, appearing with the soprano Maarja Haamer.^[2] His first stage role was Lieutenant Champlatreux in Hervé's operetta Mam'zelle Nitouche in 1966, and his opera debut followed as Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto.^[6] He sang in the chorus of the Estonia theatre from 1967 to 1969 and from 1969 was one of its principal opera soloists.^[2][5]

Over the course of his career, Palm built up a repertory of more than 70 operatic roles.^[3][7] 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.^[6][8][7] He was particularly identified with Wagner's Dutchman; a 2012 radio profile noted that he had sung the role on about fifteen European stages.^[9]

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.^[3][5] He was also active as a concert and oratorio singer. According to Estonian music reference sources, his repertory included more than 600 chamber songs, oratorio movements and opera arias, and he gave more than 400 solo concerts in Estonia and abroad.^[2][10] 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.^[10]

Palm recorded extensively for Estonian Radio and also made recordings for Melodiya, Eesti Televisioon and Eesti Telefilm.^[5][10] A portrait film, Laulab Mati Palm, was released in 1978.^[11]

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 professor in 1995 and headed the academy's vocal department from 1995 to 2000.^[2][10][5] He gave masterclasses abroad, served on the juries of international singing competitions, and was a founding member of both the Estonian Performers' Association and the Estonian Richard Wagner Society.^[10][5]

Among his students were Juuli Lill, Monika-Evelin Liiv, Pavlo Balakin and Märt Jakobson.^[10][12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14]

Palm died in Tallinn on 28 May 2018, aged 76.^[1][2]