Miles Mykkanen
A further significant cast change was the role of the groom, Tuomas, in San Francisco taken by Michigan tenor Miles Mykkanen. Of beautiful, clear voice and vibrant presence he was the exuberant lover at his wedding, the insecure son arguing with his father, and finally the conflicted accomplice to the shooter who cowardly fled the scene of the shooting. In the end he was ruined, but freed from the innocence he had feigned.
Opera Today, Michael Milenski
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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Discography
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 2024-25 season includes his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Die Tote Stadt led by Lothar Koenigs and a return to The Cleveland Orchestra for staged performances of Jenufa under the baton of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. The tenor’s broad artistic range is also showcased in two productions at Dutch National Opera: he bows as Alfred in a new production of Die Fledermaus staged by Barrie Kosky with chief conductor Lorenzo Viotti on the podium, as well as in the world premiere creation of We Are The Lucky Ones by composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman conducted by Bassem Akiki. On the concert stage, he joins Music Director Tito Muñoz and the Phoenix Symphony for performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and returns to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann.
Last season, the tenor debuted at San Francisco Opera in the North American premiere of the gripping one-act drama by Kaija Saariaho and Sofi Oksanen, Innocence, directed by Simon Stone and conducted by Saariaho specialist Clément Mao-Takacs and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Steuermann in Der Fliegende Holländer in a production by Tim Albery led by Henrik Nánási. Other highlights included 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.
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; debuts at the Festival d’Aix en Provence in L’incoronazione di Poppea in a new production by Ted Huffman conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón, at Staatsoper Hamburg as Fenton in Falstaff, and at Chicago Opera Theater in the title role of Albert Herring. Additional performances include Der fliegende Holländer with the Canadian Opera Company, a 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 in a fully-staged presentation. One of his signature roles, Candide has been performed at Arizona Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Opéra de Lausanne, 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 Messiah with the symphonies of Atlanta, Indianapolis, and New Jersey, 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.
Equally distinguished in chamber music, he has spent many summer at the Marlboro Music Festival where 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. The tenor 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.
Miles Mykkanen is the Artistic Director of the Emberlight Festival in Ironwood, Michigan.
Falstaff: Dal labbro il canto
Boris Godunov: Holy Fool's Aria
Another Time
The Rake's Progress: Where art thou, Venus?
Die Zauberflöte: Wie Stark ist nicht dein Zauberton
Silent Night: Nous insistons pour que vous nous arrêtier
The Turn of the Screw: Peter Quint highlights
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: [email protected]
Representation (Europe)
Askonas Holt
Keiron Cooke, Associate Director
Email: [email protected]
www.askonasholt.com