Mika Kares
Bass
The young Finnish Bass Mika Kares (born in 1978) began his professional career at the age of 26 in Baden State Theater (Badisches Staatstheater), Karlsruhe. Before that he studied with Professor Sirkku Wahlroos-Kaitila in Sibelius-Academy, Helsinki. He is at the moment a private student of Professor Roland Hermann in Karlsruhe.
Mr. Kares made his professional debut at the Ilmajoki Music Festival, where he played the Sheriff in Leevi Madetoja's opera Osthrobothians in May 2005. Subsequently, his career expanded very rapidly in Germany. In his first two seasons there, he has acquired a large repertoire, including the following roles: Timur (Turandot), Colline (La Bohème), Angelotti (Tosca), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), and Bartolo (Le Nozze di Figaro). He also performed his first Der Ring des Nibelungen and debuted in the following roles for it: Fafner (Das Rheingold), Hunding (Die Walküre) and Fafner (Siegfried).
In the 2007/2008 season, he went on contract at Karlsruhe, Germany, where he further expanded his repertoire to include several new roles: Il Commendatore in Le Nozze di Figaro, Vodník in Rusalka, and Johann in Werther. He also repeated the roles of King Philip in Don Carlo, Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Fasolt in Das Rheingold, Ein Eremit in Der Freischütz, Timur in Turandot, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Verdi's Requiem. Mr. Kares then made his debut at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in the title role of Boito's Mefistofele in the summer of 2008. He received an Artist of the Year prize there and sang his own concert in Savonlinna in July 2008.
For the 2008/2009 season, Mr. Kares is currently scheduled to sing the following roles while at Karlsruhe: Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia; Ein Eremit Samiel in Der Freischütz; King Philip in Don Carlos; Lodovico in Otello; Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro; Radamisto in King Farasmane; Hunding in Die Walküre; and Fafner in Das Rheingold. In 2009, he is scheduled to perform Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Savonlinna, and Leuthold in a concert version of William Tell at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.