His real name (which he only used when singing in Finland) was Timo Mustakallio. Originally a lawyer, he studied voice in
Helsinki from 1957, then in Stockholm with Carl Martin Öhman (1959/60). He made
his debut in Helsinki in 1961 as Radames, and sang there until 1965 (although he also undertook additional vocal studies in Rome
with Luigi Ricci from 1963 to 1965).
From autumn 1965, he was a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg; it was there that his friend,
the Finnish basso Martti Talvela, advised him to simplify his name for non-Finnish audiences, and so he became Timo Callio. In
1967, he moved on to Stuttgart, where he stayed until 1976, making many guest appearances: at the Monnaie in Brussels, the
Deutsche Oper Berlin, in Paris both at the Opéra and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, at the
Vienna Staatsoper, at La Scala, La Fenice, in Toulouse, Athens, Munich, Nürnberg, Helsinki, at the Schwetzingen and
Savonlinna festivals.
Callio was a highly regarded lieder interpreter, and on stage a heroic tenor: Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Stolzing, Parsifal,
Radames, Andrea Chénier, Calaf, Otello.
From 1981 to his early death, he was director of the Savonlinna festival.
Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 2
