The Steersman is always one to watch, and Miles Mykkanen was one of the sweetest and most clarion-voiced I’ve heard in some time, with effortless ascents and a creamy top. This was a reminder that this music is completely steeped in bel canto traditions.
Opera Wire, Benjamin Poore

Finnish-American tenor Miles Mykkanen, with a blossoming international career, sang “Comfort ye” with operatic drama and charisma. On the line, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,” he almost shrieked “wilderness” — a wonderfully raw and utterly theatrical delivery. Later in his lone aria — the tenor gets just one in this abbreviated version — Mykkanen’s rapid runs were beautifully controlled, his high notes clear and almost boyishly charming.
ArtsAtl.com, Piere Ruhe

As Albert, tenor Miles Mykkanen displayed a lovely lyric voice with an appealing honeyed sweetness in the timbre, which he employed with intelligence and humor.
Opera News, Mark Thomas Ketterson

Tenor Miles Mykkanen produced a larger than life portrait of the Nutrice and Arnalta, hamming up the comedy for all it was worth, for which he showed a definite talent. The fact he is playing female roles, and at one point disguises himself as as man allowed for plenty of deliberate confusion over gender, and the seduction scene with Valletto was very amusing. He has naturally loud voice and would have no problem singing in large venues. For the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume, however, he was too loud, occasionally drowning out the orchestra. Apart from this fact, he sang well, characterizing his voice very skillfully. He was also parted as Familgliare 1.
Opera Wire, Alan Neilson

Les rôles que concocte Miles Mykkanen (Arnalta, la Nourrice, Famigliare I) font du chanteur et de ses personnages, bouffes avant l’heure, la clé de voûte du drame. Ses rôles, tous travestis, font appel à la mâle et robuste assurance de son émission, à l’ambre rocaille de son timbre, ainsi qu’à la diversité virtuose de ses registres d’expression.
Olyrix, Florence Lethurgez

Miles Mykkanen’s brilliantly projected tenor vivified the role of Brighella.
Opera News, Fred Cohn

Wadsworth chooses to elevate the figure of the Simpleton—a character who as scripted appears in one scene in the opera—to be Godunov’s virtual co-protagonist here, displacing the Russian people in that role. Spinning like a top and scattering balletic anguish, the Simpleton appears continually, siphoning focus. The fine American tenor Miles Mykkanen gave it his all and sang very beautifully.
Opera News, David Shengold

It was very easy to lose oneself in Miles Mykkanen’s voice: even at his loudest he sang with a ravishing yet tender tone, as if caressing each note with his voice. Lensky’s aria from Eugene Onegin was the perfect choice for Mykkanen, showcasing his sugar-plum pianissimo and soaring head voice.

His performance of “Je crois entendre encore” from Les Pêcheurs de Perles was the musical highlight of the program, Mykkanen bringing out a velvety glow even in Bizet’s more declamatory phrases. The tenor’s smoothness and control (especially evident in his finely-spun high register) gave a sense of time-stopping weightlessness to Bizet’s sweeping musical gestures.
Parterre.com, Callum John Blackmore

Miles Mykkanen was a knockout as Lensky. The Russian language brought out a squillante quality in his tenor, thrilling to hear in the confines of the Willson Theater. The lyric intensity of his singing made each moment count, and the duel-scene aria was a stretch of sheer vocal gold.
Opera News, Fred Cohn

Tenor Miles Mykkanen stood out for his ardent, irascible performance as Nikolaus Sprink, the German soldier voicing his disillusion with the overlords who make war happen.
Minnesota Star Tribune, Terry Blain

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A winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Miles Mykkanen garners recognition and praise on the world’s concert and operatic stages for his “focused, full-voiced tenor” (New York Times).  Of his performance in the title role of Albert Herring, Opera News reported, “Miles Mykkanen displayed a lovely lyric voice with an appealing honeyed sweetness in the timbre, which he employed with intelligence and humor.”

Miles Mykkanen’s 2023-24 season includes a debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Steuermann in Der Fliegende Holländer in a production by Tim Albery led by Henrik Nánási, a role debut as Ernesto in Don Pasquale with Opera Omaha under the baton of Gary Thor Wedow, as well as a San Francisco Opera debut in the North American premiere of the gripping one-act drama of Kaija Saariaho and Sofi Oksanen, Innocence, directed by Simon Stone and conducted by Saariaho specialist Clément Mao-Takacs.  Other performances of the season include Carmina Burana with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Krzysztof Urbański, Mozart’s Requiem with the Oregon Symphony and Music Director David Danzmayr, and Handel’s Messiah with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra led by Norman Mackenzie and with the Kansas City Symphony conducted by Aram Demirjian.

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Last season, Miles Mykkanen gave three prominent role debuts: Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer in a return engagement with the Canadian Opera Company, the title role of Albert Herring in his debut at Chicago Opera Theater, and his first Fenton in Falstaff for a company debut at the Staatsoper Hamburg.  Other operatic engagements included the tenor’s return to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Tamino in the company’s new production by Simon McBurney of Die Zauberflöte and the title role of Candide in performances with the Opéra de Lausanne.  Concert engagements were anchored by multiple performances of Handel’s Messiah at University Musical Society, Ann Arbor and with the Atlanta and New Jersey Symphonies.

Highlights of recent seasons include Metropolitan Opera productions of Boris Godunov conducted by Sebastian Weigle, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg led by Sir Antonio Pappano, Ariadne auf Naxos with Marek Janowski, and Wozzeck with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a debut at the Festival d’Aix en Provence in L’incoronazione di Poppea in a new production by Ted Huffman conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón, his Minnesota Opera debut in the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Opera Philadelphia in Robert Carsen’s production conducted by Corrado Rovaris, and Ariadne auf Naxos with Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra.  One of his signature roles, Candide has been performed at Arizona Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and at the Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals in concert with The Knights.

The tenor’s vibrant concert schedule has included performances of Bruckner’s Te Deum with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony, the world premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’ Another Time with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Requiem with David Danzmayr and the San Antonio Symphony, a New York Philharmonic debut with excerpts from West Side Story conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and Handel’s Messiahwith the symphonies of Atlanta, Indianapolis, and New Jersey, with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center, and at the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium under the auspices of the University Musical Society.

Miles Mykkanen has spent numerous summers at the Marlboro Music Festival where his performances have spanned from art songs of Brahms and Britten to chamber music of Brett Dean with distinguished guest artists Mitsuko Uchida, Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles, and many others.  He frequently appears with Steven Blier, Michael Barrett, and the New York Festival of Song and also has collaborated with Juilliard415, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New World Symphony, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

 The tenor is a 2019 Sara Tucker Study Grant winner, youngARTS Gold winner and the recipient of prizes from the Sullivan Foundation, Toulmin Foundation, Novick Career Advancement Grant, and Juilliard’s Joseph W. Polisi Award.  Miles Mykkanen is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and earned his Artist Diploma in Opera Studies, along with his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Cynthia Hoffmann.

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Falstaff: Dal labbro il canto

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Boris Godunov: Holy Fool's Aria

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Another Time

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The Rake's Progress: Where art thou, Venus?

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Die Zauberflöte: Wie Stark ist nicht dein Zauberton

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Silent Night: Nous insistons pour que vous nous arrêtier

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The Turn of the Screw: Peter Quint highlights

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West Side Story: Maria

Contact

General Management
Bill Palant, Étude Arts
Ansonia Station,Post Office Box 230132
New York, New York 10023
Tel: 929.777.0775
Email: bp@etudearts.com

Representation (Europe)
Askonas Holt
Keiron Cooke, Associate Director
Email: keiron.cooke@askonasholt.com
www.askonasholt.com