Ville Rusanen

Baritone

Baritone Ville Rusanen is one of Finland’s best-known opera singers. His versatile vocal technique and expressive stage presence have taken him to the stages of several major opera houses in Finland and abroad. He has also appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras around the world.

Rusanen has been a frequent guest at the Finnish National Opera. His recent roles include Pelléas in Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Billy Budd in Benjamin Britten’s opera of the same name, and Petter Kummel in Jaakko Kuusisto’s opera Ice. Rusanen has sung the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hugely successful The Phantom of the Opera. At the Savonlinna Opera Festival, he has appeared in the title role of Aulis Sallinen’s Kullervo, among other roles, and in summer 2023 he once again sang the title role in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

Ville Rusanen has also established an international opera career. His appearances include La Scala in Milan, the Opéra de Lyon in France, Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Scottish Opera and the Nederlandse Reisopera in the Netherlands. On concert stages abroad, he has performed as a soloist with Sydney Philharmonia in Australia, at the BBC Proms in London and at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago.

Rusanen won the men’s category of the Lappeenranta Singing Competition in 2004 and was named Artist of the Year at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2014. In 2020, he released his first solo album, Polkuja – lauluja suomalaisesta luonnosta (Paths – Songs of Finnish Nature), with pianist Pami Karvonen.

Photo: Mikko Mäntyniemi