Miles Mykkanen’s Jam-Packed January • January 2026
Following a star turn as Sam Clay in the Metropolitan Opera season opener, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and a fall of international concert appearances, tenor Miles Mykkanen embarked on a jam-packed winter season of role and company debuts.
Mykkanen bookended January 2026 with performances at Seattle Opera as Leukippos in Strauss rarity Daphne, and his first solo recital at Carnegie Hall, where he paired little-known Finnish music with lush German and Russian art songs, capped with a Sondheim encore. In between coastal engagements, he made an unexpected company debut at Houston Grand Opera, jumping in for the lead role of Nikolaus Sprink in a new production of Kevin Puts’ Silent Night.
Later this season, he returns to the Met for encore performances of Kavalier & Clay and for the house’s first production of Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence, before making another dual role and house debut as Tamino in Barrie Kosky’s silent film-inspired production of The Magic Flute at LA Opera.
Acclaim for Daphne
“The stamina required here is formidable, matched by Miles Mykkanen as Leukippos, another of Strauss’ rare high-tenor creations. Mykkanen shaped the role’s lyrical writing with ardor, allowing flashes of Dionysian frenzy to break through the music’s pastoral surface.”
–Bachtrack
"Mykkanen’s expressive face and lyric sound brought to mind the great Fritz Wunderlich, proved a perfect partner in their duet, another knockout.”
–Post Alley
“Mykkanen was in prime voice, in volume, expressive range, and stage presence [with] a gleamingly sung portrayal of Leukippos. Unfazed by the role’s high tessitura, he emitted the strong, golden tones of a pure lyric tenor. His instrument, which has rapidly opened doors at the Met, San Francisco Opera, and Los Angeles Opera, was a joy to listen to. In addition, thanks to Gately’s direction and a telling change in background lighting, he portrayed his character’s death effectively. I’d love to hear him again in Seattle soon.”
–Classical Voice North America
“Mykkanen expressed his ideal love for Daphne with sincerity and passion combined with engaging bits of humor. His voice was perfectly suited to the role: full and round in its sound and consistent from top to bottom.”
–Broadway World
Acclaim for Silent Night
“Mykkanen, in his HGO debut as Nikolaus Sprink (a German opera singer drafted to fight), sang with a sweet and focused sound that was equally affecting whether expressing devastation over the war's toll or demonstrating his facility with late-eighteenth-century opera and Romantic art song.”
–Houston Chronicle
“Mykkanen belts like he’s in a Puccini opera…his [character’s] anti-war stance comes through loud and clear.”
–Houston Press
“Mykkanen unleashed clarion tones as the most intense of Silent Night‘s main characters: Nikolaus Sprink, an opera star conscripted into the German army. After killing a man in battle, Sprink agonizes about the literal blood on his hands; his condemnation of Germany’s motivations for war agitates him further. As Sprink’s anger grew more and more heated, Mykkanen’s intensity made Sprink’s denunciations unstintingly fierce. But Mykkanen summoned gentler shadings in the scenes with Sprink’s paramour, the opera diva Anna Sørensen.”
–Texas Classical Review