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Miina-Liisa Värelä
Shirley Thomson
Zoe Band
Peppie Johnson
“Miina-Liisa Värelä is currently proving to be one of the most promising sopranos in the dramatic field and is increasingly appearing on the larger opera stages.”
(Opernmagazin, March 2022)
Soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä has risen to prominence through recent acclaimed performances including as Die Färberin in two new stagings of Die Frau ohne Schatten: at renowned Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with conductor Kirill Petrenko conducting Berliner Philharmoniker, and at Semperoper Dresden under Christian Thielemann. Hailed as one of the most promising sopranos in the dramatic field by Opernmagazin, Miina-Liisa Värelä “was pearly-voiced and intimate in a way one rarely hears in this role” in Wagner’s monumental Tristan und Isolde in which she has appeared with Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel and under Robin Ticciati at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and at London’s BBC Proms.
Other recent successes on the opera stage include Värelä’s debut as Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio under Johannes Debus at Canadian Opera Company, the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos both at Gran Teatre del Liceu under Josep Pons, and at Finnish National Opera under Hannu Lintu as well as Ortrud in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Salzburg Landestheater and Oper Frankfurt. In Die Frau ohne Schatten, she has further appeared in productions at Oper Frankfurt, Bayerische Staatsoper, and at the Verbier Festival. At Finnish National Opera, she sang Sieglinde in the new production of Die Walküre and she portrayed the title role in Strauss’ Elektra at Landestheater Linz. Equally comfortable in the roles of the Italian repertoire, recent debuts as both Tosca at The Savonlinna Festival, conducted by Lorenzo Passerini, and as Turandot at Finnish National Opera under Hannu Lintu, were met with universal acclaim.
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Miina-Liisa Värelä’s 2024/25 season includes her debut at Bayreuther Festpiele as Ortud in a new production of Lohengrin under Christian Thielemann, and her return to the stage of Finnish National Opera as Anna in a new production of Aulis Sallinen’s Ratsumies under Hannu Lintu. In concert version, she performs as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and conductor Jaap van Zweden, as Leonore at Tampere Hall under Susanne Mälkki, and as Isolde with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Tarmo Peltokoski. On the concert stage, she will join conductors Dalia Stasevska with Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Sibelius’ Kullervo, Tarmo Peltokoski and Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich’s Symphony No.14 and Andris Poga and Liepāja Symphony Orchestra in Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder.
Frequently invited to the concert stage, Värelä has in recent seasons joined Aziz Shokhakimov and Seattle Symphony Orchestra in Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Klaus Mäkelä and hr-Sinfonieorchester in Shostakovich’s Symphony No.14, Hans Graf and Odense Symphony Orchestra in Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder, Otto Tausk and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Verdi’s Messa di Requiem and Hannu Lintu and Finnish National Opera in Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène as part of the Helsinki Festival. Earlier highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with Ingo Metzmacher and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Shostakovich’s From Jewish Folk Poetry with piano accompaniment also for Finnish Radio and with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Andris Poga, Sieglinde in Act 1 of Die Walküre, recorded for TV broadcast.
A native of Finland, Värelä is a graduate of Helsinki’s renowned Sibelius Academy and has taken prizes in numerous competitions including at Lappeenranta and Belvedere.
Gallery
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“Miina-Liisa Värelä sang with full bodied authority, having rich, creamy tones… Her final “Liebestod” […] was particularly moving and impressive.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä as Isolde was pearly-voiced and intimate in a way one rarely hears in this role.”
“Blessed with an impressive soprano voice that is confident and slender right up to the highest notes, Värelä is also a magnificent actress who credibly traces the development from the initially gruff chain smoker from the working class to an empathetic, loving wife.”
“Her portrayal of the Dyer’s Wife with a soprano voice full of warmth and empathy is a pleasant addition to the young human woman who is often characterized as nagging — and so misunderstood. Värelä managed to put all the emotions of disgust and despair, but ultimately also love and affection, into the beautiful sound of her voice.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä was superb as his wife, singing generously with bright, dramatic tone and bringing plenty of wit and humanity to the role.”
“Sensual, haughty and above all very sensitive, the Finnish soprano asserts her character. In full vocal deployment, the generosity and vibrato of the singer are coated in an almost velvety liquid.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä’s Isolde seduces with an attractive timbre, solid singing, defined nuances, and clear expressiveness.”
“Värelä is a bulwark of strength as Leonore, possessing an incandescent voice that vibrantly enlivens the colourful score.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä was a fierce, piercing Isolde, on fire from the start.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä as the Dyer’s wife is sensational, with sparkling top tones, a warm middle register and great depth.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä as the Dyer’s wife enchants with her lyrical timbre and dramatic abundance.”
“Dramatically and vocally, Miina-Liisa Värelä as Ortrud is so outstanding that you almost feel more drawn to evil than to the supposedly good.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä celebrated her house debut at Oper Frankfurt in the role of the Dyer. She is currently proving to be one of the most promising sopranos in the dramatic field and is increasingly appearing on the larger opera stages”
“Her beautiful voice, which is particularly pronounced in the high notes, did not appear particularly dramatic at first, but increased in the course of the opera to a volume and depth of penetration that was second to none.”
“In Värelä, a Dyer was finally found who created a role portrait entirely in the spirit of the composer. She embodied a vocally young, misunderstood woman full of dreams and passions and not the drooling, unsympathetic Dyer’s wife, as one hears so often elsewhere.”
“She already presents an assured and rounded version of the character [Isolde], both vocally and in her movement. Apart from raw power and impressive stamina, she brings many vocal nuances to a role that, all too often, singers mainly survive rather than shape.”
“Her assured lower register can compete with many mezzos for its intensity and core; she also deployed a clean, straight tone at moments of icy focus and resolve, especially in Act one. This kind of vocal control makes the backstory delivered in Act one compelling. Her entry in Act three, tending to the fallen body of Tristan, was heart-stoppingly tender.”
“The soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä led the listener with flexible vocal colouring and a large dynamic range”
“The Finnish soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä was top-class and at the same time a competent interpreter of the vocal part…[she was] able to utter words of thunder with all Russian texts, but also to articulate the bitterly evil and the hopeless quietly and clearly”
“A flexible, highly dramatic soprano, Värelä took this up with a wealth of nuances and was responsible for the finely chiselled drama”
“Värelä has developed into an exquisite lyric-dramatic soprano whose sustained sound flows freely, with fresh, beautiful silvery lines.”
“Mina-Liisa Värelä (replacing the expected Nina Stemme) is an excellent Tintora, more lyrical than dramatic, more sarcastic than afflicted, of great vocal security, capable of nuances and of a remarkable variety of colors on the whole range.”
“Nina Stemme was replaced by the Finn Miina Liisa Värelä as a dyer. She recently celebrated a great success as Elektra at the Landestheater in Linz. Her clear height without sharpness impresses, just as the force of her voice, which she understands colorfully to tame.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä plays an extraordinary dyer. The voice is frank, the delivery powerful, the richness of timbre obvious.”
“Then there was the cast, which made it possible to discover voices that will surely be seen on the great operatic stages – one especially, that of the soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä was the excellent surprise of the evening, delivering an undecided Dyer, hesitating between meanness and arrogance, but ultimately moving and human, and also very expressive by the fiery glances she never stopped throwing at her poor husband.”
“We could not have found a better pair than John Lundgren’s Barak and Miina-Liisa Värelä’s Dyer.”
“His wife was played by dramatic soprano Miina-Liisa Varela. Like Magee she rose to Strauss’ vocal challenges with apparent ease, and produced an accomplished performance. She displayed wonderful upper register, which was firmly grounded, and was able to soar effortlessly above the orchestra, without any loss of quality. However, she not only possessed power, but also the necessary delicacy, and a pleasing legato.”
“An Elektra of steely power, noble strength … a voice in peak health, technically sound … with floating pianissimos in the dialogue with Klytämnestra”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä, in the role of Sieglinde, harvested the evening’s greatest applause. She sang with power, clear and nuanced, and with a lovely edge to the voice.”
“Miina-Liisa Värelä dominated everything as Färberin with her full and dramatic soprano.”
“The young Finnish soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä sang a psychologically nuanced and musically perceptive Dyer’s Wife. With her full, rounded voice, she brought youthful impetuousness to the powerhouse role.”