Pirjo Jonas

b. July 8, 1980, Tallinn
Member of the Association of Estonian Professional Musicians

Pirjo Jonas graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2009 with a Master’s degree in opera singing. She also has a BA in English language and literature. Pirjo Jonas has participated in the master classes of several renowned teachers, such as Thomas Wiedenhofer (Germany), Rudolf Piernay (Great Britain), Kevin Smith (Sweden) and Annika Ollinkari (Finland). Since 2010, she is a soloist of Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu.

Her repertoire spans from early music to the works of contemporary composers. Pirjo Jonas has soloed in several oratorical works: Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Charpentier’s Te Deum, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore and Exsultate, jubilate, Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium, Händel’s Messiah and Gloria in excelsis Deo, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat. She has cooperated with conductors such as Nikolai Alekseev (Russia), Normunds Vaicis (Latvia), Ari Angervo (Finland), Arvo Volmer (Estonia), Risto Joost (Estonia), Mihkel Kütson (Estonia) and Paul Mägi (Estonia).

Pirjo Jonas’s roles at the Theatre Vanemuine include Lotte’s mum Anna and Giraffe (Pajusaar’s Lotte in the Dream World), Frasquita (Bizet’s Carmen), Carlotta Giudicelli (Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera), Fräulein of the Manor (Aints’s Rehepapp), Viiu (Tubin’s The Parson of Reigi), Iti (Ehala’s The Imp), Titania/1. soprano (Purcell’s The Fairy Queen), Sophie (Massenet’s Werther), Rabbit Sophie and Moon Rabbit (Pajusaar’s Cosmonaut Lotte), Damon (Händel’s Acis and Galatea), Susanna (Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro), Cupido (Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld) and Dame (Kander’s Cabaret). Additionally, she has participated in Molière’s play The Imaginary Invalid (Angelique) and concert-performances Spanish Night, Evening with Kálmán and Evening with Strauss.

She has also performed on the stage of the Estonian National Opera as Fiakermilli (R. Struass’s Arabella, concert-performance), Madeleine (Ábrahám’s Ball im Savoy), Anastasia von Eggenberg (Kálmán’s Silva) and Oscar (Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera), sang La Charmeuse (Massenet Thaïs) at Pärnu International Opera Music Festival PromFest and participated in the performances of Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Opera Studio: Papagena (Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte), Ninetta (Mozart’s La finta semplice) and Adele (Isouard Le billet de loterie).

In 2011, Pirjo Jonas received an award for her portrayal of Susanna from the Estonian Theatre Union as a promising young singer. She is a finalist of the 7th Klaudia Taev Competition for Young Opera Singers where she was awarded a special prize for her performance of Schubert’s "Ave Maria". In 2011, Pirjo Jonas also received the Bayreuth Scholarship from the Estonian branch of the International Richard Wagner Association.

Pirjo Jonas’s roles:
Linda - Gaetano Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix (Theatre Vanemuine, 2021)
Julia/Liia – Loone Ots's, Anu Tonts's, Ain Mäeots's, Rein Pakk's/Ardo Ran Varres's, Tauno Aints's, Leslie Laasner's W (Theatre Vanemuine, 2019)
Johanna Barker – Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (Theatre Vanemuine, 2018)
Pepi Pleininger – Johan Strauss’s Wiener Blut (Theatre Vanemuine, 2018)
Juta – Tauno Aints’s Guugelmuugelpunktkomm (Theatre Vanemuine, 2017)
Woman – Märt-Matis Lill’s Into the Fire [Tulleminek] (Theatre Vanemuine, 2017)
Madam Herz – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor (Theatre Vanemuine, 2016)
Fiakermilli – Richard Strauss’s Arabella (concert performance at the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn, 2015)
Frasquita – Georges Bizet’s Carmen (Theatre Vanemuine, 2015)
Lotte’s mother and Giraffe – Priit Pajusaar’s Lotte in the Dream World (Theatre Vanemuine, 2015)
Carlotta Giudicelli – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s/Tim Rice’s The Phantom of the Opera (Theatre Vanemuine, 2014)
Viiu – Eduard Tubin’s The Parson of Reigi [Reigi õpetaja] (Theatre Vanemuine, 2014)
Lady of the Manor – Tauno Aints's The Old Barny [Rehepapp] (Theatre Vanemuine, 2013)
Madeleine – Paul Ábrahám’s Ball im Savoy (Estonian National Opera, 2013)
Sleep Fairy and Dew Fairy – Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel (concert performance at the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn, 2013)
Dame – John Kander’s/Ebb’s/Masteroff’s Cabaret (Theatre Vanemuine, 2012)
Sophie –  Jules Massenet’s Werther (Theatre Vanemuine, 2012)
Rabbit Sophie, Pots the Moon Rabbit – Priit Pajusaar’s Cosmonaut Lotte (Theatre Vanemuine, 2012)
Soprano, Titania, First Fairy – Henry Purcell’s The Fairy-Queen (Theatre Vanemuine, 2011)
Anastasia von Eggenberg – Imre Kálmán’s Die Csárdásfürstin (Estonian National Opera, 2010)
Susanna – Wolfgang Amadues Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Theatre Vanemuine, 2010)
Cupido – Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld (Theatre Vanemuine, 2010)
Iti – Olav Ehala The Imp [Nukitsamees] (Theatre Vanemuine, 2010)
Oscar – Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (Estonian National Opera, 2009)
La Charmeuse – Jules Massenet’s Thaïs (Pärnu International Opera Music Festival PromFest, 2009)
Soprano – Sunleif Rasmussen’s The Madman’s Garden (Veronika Portsmuth’s doctoral performance at the Tallinn Creative Hub, 2009).
Damon – Georg Friedrich Händel’s Acis and Galatea (Theatre Vanemuine, 2006)
Papagena – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Diploma performance of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre)
Ninetta – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s La finta semplice (Diploma performance of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre)
Adele – Nicolas Isouard’s Le Billet de loterie (Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre)

© EMIK 2012
(updated in December 2015)

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