Tommi Hakkala
The Finnish baritone Tommi Hakala studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and Karlsruhe. In addition to permanent engagements in Nuremberg from 1998 to 2001 and in Leipzig from 2001 to 2004, he was a regular guest at the Finnish National Opera and the Savonlinna Opera Festival. In 2003 he won the “BBC Singer of the World” competition and was a member of the Finnish National Opera from 2008 to 2013.
Since then he has given numerous concerts in Europe and the USA, making his highly successful debuts as Almaviva in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in San Francisco and as Valentin in Charles Gounod's Faust at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In December 2008, Tommi Hakala was again a guest at the Metropolitan Opera as Marcello in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème and in 2009 he sang his first Belcore in Gaetano Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at De Nederlandse Oper in Amsterdam. In the following years he appeared, among others, in Richard Wagner's Parsifal as Amfortas, in Twilight of the Gods as Gunther, in Tristan and Isolde as Kurwenal and in Tannhäuser as Wolfram, as Renato in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Escamillo in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Orest in Richard Strauss' Elektra, as Frank and Fritz in Erich Wolfgang Korngold's The Dead City, in the Title roles in Verdi's Macbeth and Nabucco, as Ford in Verdi's Falstaff, Peter in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel and in Kullervo by Jean Sibelius.
Tommi Hakala sang a large repertoire from baroque to new music in concert halls in Europe and the USA. During the celebrations of Finland's 100th anniversary in 2017, he took part in several premieres. He has worked with outstanding conductors, including Leif Segerstam, Okko Kamu, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Sakari Oramo, Susanna Mälkki, Hannu Lintu, John Storgårds, Mikko Franck, Pinchas Steinberg, Jaap Van Zweden, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Colin Davis and Mariss Jansons.
In 2019, Tommi Hakala made his debut as Wotan in The Rhinegold in the Finnish National Opera's new Ring production, Wotan in The Valkyrie followed in the 2022/23 season. He also sang Wanderer in Siegfried at the Stuttgart State Opera, the title role in The Flying Dutchman in Tampere, again Wanderer, completing the Ring cycle in Helsinki, as well as La nuit des rois, a Schumann project with the Insula Orchestra in Paris, Jochanaan in Strauss' Salome in Vienna and most recently the Valkyrie-Wotan at the Greek National Opera in Athens and Rhinegold-Wotan in a new production by Peter Konwitschny at the Theater Dortmund.
The highlights of the 2024/25 season once again include Wotan in The Valkyrie with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Simone Young, his debut as Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca at the Opéra de Limoges, Jochanaan at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the title role in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman in St. Margarethen.
Tommi Hakala has produced a large number of recordings. The recording of Sibelius' Kullervo conducted by Leif Segerstam with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra was awarded the Diapason d'or in 2008.