Opera Singer. A dramatic soprano whose big voice belied her small stature, she shall primarily be remembered for singing the leading roles created by Richard Wagner. Born in Saaksmaki, she originally trained as a dramatic actress and began her stage career in the mid 1940s before studying voice with Tynne Hase and later with coloratura Lea Piltti; joining the Finnish National Opera in 1955, she refined her craft and began the international phase of her career with her 1960 Stockholm debut as the title heroine of Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca". In 1961 Anita bowed at Covent Garden, London, as Brunnhilde from Wagner's "Die Walkure" and over the next decade was heard in other major cities including Prague, Vienna, and Berlin, as well as at Wagner's own Bayreuth Festspielhaus. While best known for her Wagnerian interpretations, she also earned praise in some of the heavier Italian repertoire including, in addition to "Tosca", the title leads of Puccini's "Turandot" and Verdi's "Aida". Anita used Brunnhilde from "Die Walkure" as the vehicle for her January 23, 1962 bow at New York's Metropolitan Opera and was to be heard at the house a total of 18 times, performing three other Wagner roles, Senta in "The Flying Dutchman", Venus from "Tannhauser, and Kundry in "Parsifal", before making her final appearance there on December 22, 1966 as Turandot. Also numbering the title characters of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" and Leos Janacek's "Kat'a Kabanova" among her characterizations, she was a much admired recitalist who frequently added arias she never sang in performance, such as "O don fatale" from Verdi's "Don Carlos", to her concerts; she returned to Finland in the 1970s and following her 1986 retirement was a professor at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. Much admired in her native land, she received the Pro Finlandia Award in 1965, the Lia Piltti Award in 2002, and the Finland Prize in 2004. Anita died following an extended illness leaving a significant legacy of 'live' and studio recordings including the legendary Sir Georg Solti "Ring Cycle" made for Decca in the early 1960s in which she sang the Third Norn in "Gotterdammerung".