Tommi Hakala impressive baritone

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Tommi Hakala in receiving the renowned “BBC Singer of the World 2003 in Cardiff” award at the International Singing Competition, Finnish baritone Tommi Hakala has made an important step towards a truly promising international career. Tommi Hakala graduated from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with special distinction 1998. He has received the first Matti Salminen Grant in 1997 and was awarded the 1st prize at the national Merikanto Singing Competition in 2001. From 1998 to 2001 the young artist performed numerous leading roles in the ensemble of the Nuremberg Opera.

Tommi Hakala impressive baritone 1970-

Tommi Hakala years at the Leipzig Opera 2001-2004 won him increasing renown for such parts as Wolfram, Posa, Germont, Ford, Conte / Le nozze di Figaro, Chorèbe / Les Troyens. Guest engagements have included further perfomances in Nuremberg, and Leipzig, as well as at the Finnish National Opera (Guglielmo & Escamillo), Staatsoper Dresden (Guglielmo, Ford), Strasbourg (Ford), Kopenhagen (Posa & Wolfram), Tel Aviv (Silvio) De Vlaamse Opera (Danilo, Don Giovanni & Onegin), Teatro Real, Madrid (Carmina Burana & Szenen aus Goethes Faust), San Francisco & Atlanta (Conte), Savonlinna Opera Festival (Valentin, Silvio, Wolfram) and the Metropolitan Opera, New York (Valentin & Schaunard). At a moment Hakala is member of the ensemble in the Finnish National Opera.
Tommi Hakala has given concerts in many European cities as well as in the U.S.A. Further engagemants have included Orff: Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn: Paulus, Britten: War Requiem, Schumann: Szenen aus Goethes Faust, Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen & 8 th Symphony, Sibelius: Kullervo Symphony, Zemlinsky: Lyrische Sinfonie, Vaughn-Williams: Sea Symphony, James MacMillan: St.John’s Passion to name but a few.

Tommi Hakala has worked with conductors like Leif Segerstam, Okko Kamu, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, Osmo Vänskä, John Storgords, Mikko Franck and like Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Michael Schnwandt, Friedemann Layer, Howard Arman, Axel Kober, Marc Albrecht, Dmitri Jurowski, Carlo Rizzi, Riccardo Frizza, Asher Fish, Bertrand de Billy, Sir Simon Rattle & Sir Colin Davis.

Recently Tommi Hakala sang Wolfram in Kopenhagen, Lysiart in Toulouse, Onegin in De Vlaamse Opera, Belcore in De Nederlandse Opera. He was also heard as Germont and Onegin, Marcello, Valentin & Amfortas at the Finnish National, as Orest in Montpellier as well as in the 8th Symphony of Mahler with Concertgebouw Orchestra and Mariss Jansons. Recent engagements include also Frank in Bilbao as well as Posa, Renato and Kurwenal in Helsinki.

Experienced performances

Opera Roll Operahus Datum
Pajazzo Silvio Dalhalla Operafestival 7.8.2004
Don Carlos Posa Den Kongelige Opera i Köpenhamn 21.11.2007
Tannhäuser Wolfram Den Kongelige Opera i Köpenhamn 20.12.2009

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