Mika Kares

Mika Kares Bass

Biography

Finnish bass Mika Kares studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and was a member of the ensemble of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe from 2005 to 2010. His operatic roles include Hagen (Götterdämmerung), Hunding (Die Walküre), Fafner (Siegfried), Fasolt (Das Rheingold), Hermann (Tannhäuser), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Heinrich der Vogler (Lohengrin), the Commendatore (Don Giovanni), Jacopo Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Zaccaria (Nabucco), King René (Iolanta), Ivan (Khovanshchina), and Bluebeard (Herzog Blaubarts Burg), a role he recorded for BIS in 2021, earning him a Grammy Award nomination. Mika Kares also appears in concert, with a repertoire including Mozart’s Requiem, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa solemnis, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, and Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 13 and 14.

During the 2026–2027 season, he performs Hagen at the Royal Ballet and Opera, the Philharmonie de Paris, and Carnegie Hall in New York, as well as Fafner and Hagen in Wagner’s Ring cycle at the Paris Opera.

At the Paris Opera: Il trovatore (Ferrando, 2018); Simon Boccanegra (Jacopo Fiesco, 2018, 2024); Turandot (Timur, 2023); Das Rheingold (Fafner, 2025); Siegfried (Fafner, 2026).

Currently in

Immerse in the Paris Opera universe

Corporate Partnerships