Aino Ackté

Who was Aino Ackté?

Aino Ackté was a Finnish soprano. She was the first international star of the Finnish opera scene after Alma Fohström, and a groundbreaker for the domestic field.

Ackté was born in Helsinki. Her parents were mezzo-soprano Emmy Achté and the conductor-composer Lorenz Nikolai Achté. Aino Ackté married a doctor, Heikki Renvall, in 1901 and gave birth to a daughter, Glory Leppänen, the same year. Their son, Mies Reenkola, was born in 1908.

The young Ackté studied singing under her mother's tutelage until 1894 when she entered the Paris Conservatory, studying under Edmond Duvernoy and Alfred Girodet. Her debut at the Paris Grand Opera was in 1897 in Faust and she was signed on for six years as a result.

In 1904 Ackté was engaged by the New York Metropolitan Opera where she remained until 1906. She created the title role of Richard Strauss's Salome at its local premieres in Leipzig and London. The Covent Garden premiere was an enormous success and Strauss himself proclaimed Ackté the "one and only Salome". Ackté considered the London performances her real breakthrough.

In 1911, Ackté, Oskar Merikanto, and Edvard Fazer founded the Kotimainen Ooppera. She was to act as its director in 1938-39.