Matti Turunen continues the great tradition of Finnish bass singers. He first studied church music at the Sibelius Academy and then specialized to singing. His most important tutors have been basses Matti Salminen and Jaakko Ryhänen.

The Helsinki based bass has been a soloist of the Finnish National Opera since 2019 and performs with the biggest Finnish orchestras and festivals including Savonlinna Opera Festival. Turunen has sung Colline (Puccini – La bohème) with Patrick Fournillier at the Finnish National Opera, Hunding (Wagner – Die Walküre) and Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) in several productions. His roles also include Eremit (Der Freischütz), Zuniga (Carmen), Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni) and Bartolo (Le Nozze di Figaro).

In the 2022/23 season Matti added several new roles to his repertoire: Timur (Turandot) and Fafner (Siegfried), both at the FNO, as well as Daland (Der fliegende Holländer), which he sang at the Tampere Opera in February 2023.