King, preacher and peasant
Mika Kares is a Finnish opera singer from Eurajoki. He is currently one of the most successful opera singers in the world and Finland’s leading male vocalist. He has performed in the world’s best opera houses, including the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Paris Opera. Next summer he will be heard in the role of Sarastro in Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Kares is known for the beauty, flexibility, and power of his voice, as well as his charismatic stage presence. His greatest successes have been in interpreting the roles in the operas of Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi.
Wagner and Verdi will also be heard at a concert in Leppävirta Church, where Kares will perform royal roles from the operas Tristan and Isolde and Don Carlos. The concert will also feature a sample from Joonas Kokkonen’s The Last Temptations. The concert will culminate in powerful interpretations of Toivo Kuula’s Southern Ostrobothnian folk songs. This concert is Kares’ only recital in Finland in the summer of 2023.
The pianist for the concert will be Kirill Kozlovski, who has won both domestic and international piano competitions. He has performed solo concerts and as a chamber musician at several international festivals in France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Estonia, and Spain. He has given solo concerts not only in Finland but also in other Nordic countries. Kirill Kozlovski regularly performs as a lied pianist in Finland and abroad.
The versatile organist Ilpo Laspas performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician in Finland and abroad. Laspas has also been successful in competitions, receiving the Pro Musica Foundation’s scholarship in 2014. He has recorded Aimo Känkänen’s organ music in the Lahti Cross Church in 2015 and recorded Bach’s harpsichord music on Yle’s magnetic tape. He has arranged Italian and Spanish early music and performed it as a harpsichordist.
The concert will also feature piano and organ solos, including Toivo Kuula’s beloved “Lampaanpolska” and excerpts from Wagner’s operas.
Duration: 1 h / no interval
Price: 45 € / 35 €
