Performance Database

Mika Kares is one of the most internationally sought-after basses of our time. His wide-ranging repertoire includes Mozart and the great Verdi and Wagner roles as well as important works from the Slavic and Finnish tradition.

Characterised by his vocal beauty of tone, Kares has performed at the most prestigious opera houses and concert halls as well as at leading festivals and has worked with conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Teodor Currentzis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Fabio Luisi, Marc Minkowski, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Franz Welser-Möst, Sebastian Weigle, François-Xavier Roth, Klaus Mäkelä, Kent Nagano, Kirill Petrenko, Marco Armiliato and Thomas Guggeis.

Opera highlights of recent seasons have included Hagen/Götterdämmerung at the Bayreuth Festival and at the Vienna State Opera, Sarastro/The Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Il Commendatore/Don Giovanni at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and at the Salzburg Festival, Jacopo Fiesco/Simon Boccanegra at the Opéra National de Paris (R: Calixto Bieito), König Marke/Tristan und Isolde, Padre Guardiano/La forza del destino and Balthazar/La Favorite at the Bavarian State Opera, Gremin/Eugen Onegin at the Vienna State Opera, Landgraf Hermann/Tannhäuser at the Zurich Opera House, Zaccaria/Nabucco at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Inquisitor/The Fiery Angel at the Teatro Real de Madrid, Grand Inquisitor/Don Carlo at the Teatro alla Scala and Ramfis/Aida at the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie in Brussels.

Mika Kares is also a highly sought-after concert singer. His wide-ranging concert repertoire includes key works such as Mozart's Requiem, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Missa solemnis, Verdi's Messa di Requiem, Mahler's 8th Symphony and Shostakovich's Symphonies Nos. 13 and 14.

Concert highlights in recent seasons have been the concert performances of Tchaikovsky's Jolanthe/King René with Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker and Adriana Lecouvreur/Prince de Boullion with Anna Netrebko and Marco Armiliato at the Salzburg Festival, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and at the BBC Proms conducted by Sakari Oramo. Symphony with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and at the BBC Proms under the baton of Sakari Oramo, Mozart's Requiem with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Riccardo Muti) and the Vienna Philharmonic, Shostakovich's 14th Symphony under the baton of Klaus Mäkel. Symphony under Klaus Mäkelä with the Oslo Philharmonic, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu, as well as a concert performance of Bluebeard's Castle with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Susanna Mälkki, which has been released on CD by BIS Records and was nominated for a Grammy in 2021.

In the 2022/23 season, Mika Kares took on the title role in Bluebeard's Castle at the Salzburg Festival and appeared in three roles (Fasolt, Hunding, Hagen) in the new Ring at the Berlin State Opera, conducted by Christian Thielemann / Thomas Guggeis and staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov.

He also returned to the Vienna State Opera as Hagen and to the Royal Opera House in London as Landgrave Hermann in Tannhäuser and appeared on stage as Heinrich der Vogler in a new production of Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera.

Engagements for the 2023/24 season include his return to Chicago's Lyric Opera as Daland/Der fliegende Holländer, the Opéra national de Paris as Timur/Turandot and Fiesco/Simon Boccanegra and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin for two new productions: Dvorák's Rusalka/Vodník (Mundruczó/Ticciati) and Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina/Ivan (Guth/Young).

In summer 2024, he will also return to the Bayreuth Festival (Hagen/Götterdämmerung), the Savonlinna Opera Festival (Zaccaria/Nabucco and Commendatore/Don Giovanni) and the Salzburg Festival, where he will be heard as La Roche in Strauss' Capriccio under Christian Thielemann. He will also sing the bass role in Verdi's Messa da Requiem with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst.

Mika Kares was nominated for Male Singer of the Year at the 2023 International Opera Awards.