• about Ilkka

>Ilkka Vihavainen did get his basic vocal education as member of the Helsinki Cathedral Boys' Choir "Cantores Minores" following professional studyis at the Sibelius Academy and at its opera studio in Helsinki. To define his studies he joined the Zürich International Opera Studio. After singing some years at the Finnish National Opera he was discovered in 1996 by the Intendant Tobias Richter, who invited him to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, in which ensemble he sang for nine years.

Ilkka Vihavainen has additionally performed successfully a.o. at the International Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Opera Cava Festival, the Royal Opera House in Stockholm as well as in Zürich, Köln, Essen and Frankfurt am Main opera houses. >His repertoire emcompasses a great number of the important bass roles, such as Speaker of the Temple, Sarastro (Zauberflöte), Masetto, (Don Giovanni), Bartolo (The Marriage of Figaro), Rocco, Don Ferrando (Fidelio), Oroveso (Norma); Colline (La Bohème), Timur (Turandot), Il Re (Aida), Sprafucile (Rigoletto); Lodovico (Otello), Ferrando (Il Trovatore), Banco (Macbeth); Kaspar (Freischütz); Titurel  (Parsifal), Count Waldner (Arabella) and Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin).

>Ilkka Vihavainen’s concert repertoire includes also the bass parts in the

famous oratorios.