Tenor Miles Mykkanen Announces 25/26 Season Highlights
Tenor Miles Mykkanen / photo by Katja Hentschel
“A discovery… Mykkanen is a singer of vast power and lyricism, whose dramatic abilities match his fine vocal apparatus.” Opera Today
Tenor Miles Mykkanen Announces 2025/26 Highlights
Metropolitan Opera Season Opener
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
September 21–October 11, 2025
Role and House Debuts in Seattle and Los Angeles
Seattle Opera Daphne • January 16–18, 2026
LA Opera The Magic Flute • May 30–June 21, 2026
plus a return to the Met for Innocence April 6–29, 2026
and concerts in Chicago, Cleveland, and Maastricht
CHICAGO, IL – June 16, 2025 – The 2025/26 season is set to propel exuberant young Finnish-American tenor Miles Mykkanen into the international spotlight. Since his Grand Finals win at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in 2019, Mykkanen has steadily built a reputation for a deft balance of power, lyricism, and dramatic acuity, appearing at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Canadian Opera Company, and Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where Opera Magazine dubbed his performance “so striking and brilliant” that “he managed to turn the Steersman into a principal character.” This season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera for two leading roles, makes dual house and role debuts at LA Opera and Seattle Opera, and appears in concert with Cleveland Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, and the Maastricht Festival.
Mykkanen kicks off this pivotal season starring as Sam Clay in the house premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the Metropolitan Opera’s season opener, from September 21–October 11, 2025. This new opera by Mason Bates and Gene Scheer is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon, set shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. The story follows two Jewish cousins – a refugee from Prague and a closeted queer Brooklynite – as they invent an anti-fascist superhero and launch their own comic book series, hoping to recruit America into the fight against Nazism.
Under the baton of Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Mykkanen stars opposite Andrzej Filończyk as Joe Kavalier, Edward Nelson as Sam’s love Tracy Bacon, and Sun-Ly Pierce as Joe’s girlfriend Rosa Saks. The eclectic score incorporates electronic elements and a variety of musical styles to conjure the three distinct worlds of the Bartlett Sher production: Nazi-occupied Prague, the bustling streets of New York City, and the technicolor realm of comic-book fantasy. Mykkanen expects the relationship between Sam and Tracy to be a highlight.
“In a society that tries to villainize and suppress our community, having the opportunity to tell a queer love story with dignity, beauty, and visibility on one of the world’s most iconic stages is both a personal and collective triumph,” said Mykkanen, who identifies as gay. “While starring in the Met’s season opener is absolutely a career highlight, getting to play Sam Clay – a gay protagonist whose emotional world is rendered with such nuance and lyricism – makes it truly extraordinary. This marks the first time in 142 years that the Met has told a story like this, and I’m incredibly proud to be a part of that step forward.”
Mykkanen returns to the Metropolitan Opera later in the season as The Groom in the house premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence. He first performed the role at San Francisco Opera in the work’s North American premiere, with Opera Magazine writing, “A uniformly excellent cast captured the knife-edged emotions of denial and retribution, fear and rage.” Mykkanen sings in Finnish, French, and English in Saariaho’s eerie, darkly beautiful sound-world, which blends traditional opera with Scandinavian folk music. He joins celebrated mezzo Joyce DiDonato, soprano Jacquelyn Stucker, and ethno-pop singer Vilma Jää as principal cast, with Susanna Mälkki leading seven productions from April 6–29, 2026.
Elsewhere this season, Mykkanen brings his “lovely lyric voice with an appealing honeyed sweetness…employed with intelligence and humor” (Opera News) to two dual house and role debuts. At Seattle Opera on January 16 and 18, 2026, he sings the passionate Leukippos in Strauss rarity Daphne, opposite soprano Heidi Stober in the title role and David Butt Philip as Apollo. In the spring, he portrays the determined Tamino in Barrie Kosky’s iconic silent film-inspired production of The Magic Flute at LA Opera. Notably, James Conlon will conduct the run from May 30–June 21, 2026, in his final performances as Music Director.
Mykkanen also brings his flexible tenor to returns with the Cleveland Orchestra for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, led by Franz Welser-Möst in four performances from October 23–26, 2025, and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque for Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Dame Jane Glover November 30–December 1, 2025. He marks his first appearance at the Maastricht Festival in the Netherlands as soloist in a rather unique Carmina Burana featuring acclaimed piano duo Lucas and Arthur Jussen. Billed as an immersive experience, the production runs from October 30–November 2, 2025, and includes a large choir and six percussionists alongside the vocal soloists.
While 2025/26 marks a breakout performance year, Mykkanen remains equally committed to building access and belonging through the arts as a creative leader and cultural entrepreneur. A proud Yooper from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, he is the founding Artistic Director of the Emberlight Festival in his hometown of Ironwood. Mykkanen leveraged his pandemic downtime to build a formidable board of directors, raising $750,000 in a county where the median income is $29,000. Through its annual summer programming, Emberlight has now produced 140 events – including chamber music, cabaret, theater, visual art, and folk art – and its film festival has received submissions from more than 80 countries. More than 70% of those events have been free to attend, ensuring that the arts are accessible to everyone in the rural region.
“What excites me most about this season isn’t just the scale of the projects – it’s the humanity in them,” said Mykkanen. "These are stories that speak to people’s real lives, and I feel a deep responsibility to meet that with honesty and openness. That sense of connection drives everything I do – whether it’s on the nation’s biggest opera stage or in a small-town setting, my goal is the same: to invite people in.”
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Metropolitan Opera • New Production
Composer: Mason Bates
Librettist: Gene Scheer
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Production: Bartlett Sher
Sam Clay: Miles Mykkanen
Joe Kavalier: Andrzej Filończyk
Tracy Bacon: Edward Nelson
Sarah Kavalier: Lauren Snouffer
Sunday, September 21, 2025 @ 6:30pm *Gala
Friday, September 26, 2025 @ 8:00pm
Monday, September 29, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, October 2, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, October 4, 2025 @ 8:00pm
Wednesday, October 8, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 1:00pm
Metropolitan Opera
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
https://www.metopera.org/season/2025-26-season/the-amazing-adventures-of-kavalier--clay/
Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Cleveland Orchestra
Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst
Soprano: Joélle Harvey
Mezzo-Soprano: Taylor Raven
Tenor: Miles Mykkanen
Bass-Baritone: Dashon Burton
Thursday, October 23, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Friday, October 24, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, October 25, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, October 26, 2025 @ 3:00pm
https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/attend/concerts-and-events/2526/severance/wk-04-beethoven/
Carmina Burana
Maastricht Festival • Company Debut
Thursday, October 30, 2025 @ 8:30pm
Friday, October 31, 2025 @ 8:30pm
Saturday, November 1, 2025 @ 8:30pm
Sunday, November 2, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Sunday, November 2, 2025 @ 8:30pm
MECC Maastricht
Forum 100, 6229 GV
Maastricht, Netherlands
https://www.mecc.nl/en/events/carmina-burana-2025/
Handel’s Messiah
Music of the Baroque
Conductor: Dame Jane Glover
Soprano: Yulia Van Doren
Mezzo-Soprano: Sasha Cooke
Tenor: Miles Mykkanen
Baritone: Will Liverman
Sunday, November 30, 2025 @ 2:00pm
North Shore Center
9501 Skokie Blvd
Skokie, Illinois
Monday, December 1, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Friday, December 5, 2025 @ 5:00pm *On Demand
Symphony Center
220 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
https://www.baroque.org/Seasons/2025-2026/handel-s-messiah
Daphne in Concert
Seattle Opera • House Debut
Conductor: David Afkham
Daphne: Heidi Stober
Apollo: David Butt Philip
Gaea: Melody Wilson
Leukippos: Miles Mykkanen
Friday, January 16, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, January 18, 2026 @ 2:00pm
McCaw Hall
321 Mercer Street
Seattle, Washington
https://www.seattleopera.org/performances-events/daphne-in-concert/
Innocence
Metropolitan Opera • Role Debut
Conductor: Susanna Mälkki
Production: Simon Stone
Bride: Jacquelyn Stucker
Bridegroom: Miles Mykkanen
Waitress: Joyce DiDonato
Markéta: Vilma Jää
Monday, April 6, 2026 @ 7:00pm
Saturday, April 11, 2026 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, April 18, 2026 @ 1:00pm
Wednesday, April 22, 2026 @ 7:00pm
Saturday, April 25, 2026 @ 8:00pm
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Metropolitan Opera
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
https://www.metopera.org/season/2025-26-season/innocence/
The Magic Flute
LA Opera • House Debut
Conductor: James Conlon
Director: Suzanne Andrade
Production: Barrie Kosky
Pamina: Sydney Mancasola
Tamino: Miles Mykkanen
Papageno: Kyle Miller
Queen of the Night: Aigul Khismatulina
Sarastro: Kwangchul Youn
Monostatos: Zhengyi Bai
Saturday, May 30, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, June 6, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, June 11, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, June 14, 2026 @ 2:00pm
Wednesday, June 17, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, June 21, 2026 @ 2:00pm
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
135 N Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, California
About Miles Mykkanen
The career of exuberant young Finnish-American tenor Miles Mykkanen was launched with a national win of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in 2019. He has since impressed with a series of important debuts on the world’s major stages, including the Met, Bayerische Staatsoper, Canadian Opera Company, Dutch National Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Royal Opera House Covent Garden, excelling in roles that require a deft balance of power, lyricism, and dramatic acuity. He has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic, and his compelling blend of charisma and honesty has engaged audiences in cabaret performances at Joe’s Pub, Neue Galerie’s Cabaret at Café Sabarsky, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he curated a live installation of queer anthems. Mykkanen is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and earned his BM, MM, and Artist Diploma in Opera Studies from The Juilliard School. milesmykkanen.com
Press Contact: Beth Stewart
Verismo Communications
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