By MATTHEW GUREWITSCH [NY Times, 9 April 2006]

A DISCIPLE of Maria Callas, la Divina? Who would have suspected?

The soprano Soile Isokoski, a preacher's daughter from rural Finland, is not the glamorous type. Onstage and off, her body language retains its rustic accent. Her Nordic timbre — true, clear silver — has nothing to do with Callas's thousand hues of smoke and fire. Of the roles in her eclectic repertory (Mozart and Richard Strauss, light Wagner, gentle Verdi, unfashionable French), none are associated with Callas.