Biography
The Finnish bass-baritone Jukka Rasilainen studied in Rome with maestra Tina Sciapini-Rella and at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. Still a student, he debuted already in Don Giovanni (Leporello) under the direction of Gian Carlo del Monaco. 1985-86 he became a member of the OPERA STUDIO ZURICH.
Between 1986 and 1993, he had a fixed contract as a bass-baritone and heroic baritone with the STÄDTISCHE BÜHNEN DORTMUND and the VEREINIGTE STÄDTISCHE BÜHNEN KREFELD/MÖNCHENGLADBACH. There he acquired a big repertory including the following parts: Wozzek (title role), Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo), Falstaff (title role), Nabucco (title role), Salome (Jochanaan), Tosca (Scarpia).
In 1991 Jukka Rasilainen debuted in FLENSBURG in Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman (title role). He then sang this part with great success in more than 12 productions at the VIENNA STATE OPERA, STATE OPERA UNTER DEN LINDEN BERLIN, DEUTSCHE OPER BERLIN, SAXON STATE OPERA DRESDEN, TOKYO, SAVONLINNA.
In 1992 he debuted at the SAXON STATE OPERA DRESDEN, and he is still linked to this house through a residential contract. There, he participated in 10 new productions and premières: The Freeshooter (Kaspar), Tosca (Scarpia), The Cunning Little Vixen (Forester), Tristan & Isolde (Kurwenal), Le Nozze di Figaro (Figaro), Aida (Amonasro), Il Tabarro (Michele), Carmen (Escamillo), twice, in a production of Harry Kupfer as well as in the new production of Konstanze Lauterbach, Rakes’s Progress (Nick Shadow), Das Rheingold (Wotan), Die Walküre (Wotan) Siegfried (Wanderer) and in Frau ohne Schatten (Barak). The additional repertory he sang in Dresden includes: Flying Dutchman (title role), Fidelio (Pizarro), Don Giovanni (Leporello), Le nozze di Figaro (Count), Lohengrin (Heerufer), Salome (Jochanaan).
In 1993 he debuted in Nabucco (Zaccharia) at the BREGENZ FESTIVAL.
In addition, he has been a regular guest at the NATIONAL OPERA FINNLAND since 1994, where he already sang the following parts: Otello (Jago), Tosca (Scarpia), Rheingold (Wotan), Walküre (Wotan), Siegfried (Wanderer), Carmen (Escamillo) and Frau ohne Schatten (Barak).
In 2000 he sang Wagner’s new Ring Cycle in HELSINKI in a production of Götz Friedrich. In 1997 Osmo Vänskä contracted him for the BBC PROMS FESTIVAL in London as a solo singer in Sibelius’ *“Kullervo Symphony” (Kullervo)*.
In 1995 he debuted as Amfortas in Parsifal at the OPÉRA DE MONTPELLIER. He sang this part also in 1998 at the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE COVENT GARDEN with Plácido Domingo as Parsifal, at the TEATRO DELL’ OPERA DI ROMA, at the OPÉRA BASTILLE DE PARIS and at the SAXON STATE OPERA DRESDEN.
From 2000 to 2002 Jukka Rasilainen sang the new Ring of the Nibelung (Wotan, Wanderer) in a production of Robert Wilson and under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst at the ZURICH OPERA HOUSE. Another important première was Strauss’ Elektra (Orest) in a production of Martin Kušej and under the direction of Christoph von Dohnany in 2003, again in Zurich.
In 2003 he sang in Lohengrin (Telramund) at the EDINBURGH OPERA FESTIVAL under the direction of Donald Runnicles, in a production of Keith Warner, Siegfried (Wanderer) in TOKYO, in TAIWAN Tristan & Isolde (Kurwenal) and Falstaff (title role), he debuted at the BAVARIAN STATE OPERA in Arabella (Mandryka) and Fidelio (Pizarro). In 2004 he received the title KAMMERSÄNGER at the SAXON STATE OPERA from the Free State of Saxony.
In 2005 he debuted in The Flying Dutchman (title role) at the BAYREUTH FESTIVAL.
Additional highlights of the season 2005-2006 have been Tristan & Isolde (Kurwenal) with Ben Heppner and Waltraut Meier in a production of Peter Sellars and under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen and a new production of the Ring of the Nibelung at the THÉATRE DU CHÂTELET *(Wanderer, Wotan)* produced by Robert Wilson and under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach.
His engagements for the season 2006-2007 include the following production: Das Rheingold (Wotan), Siegfried (Wanderer), Die Walküre (Wotan), Carmen (Escamillo), Tristan & Isolde (Kurwenal), Frau ohne Schatten (Barak) as well as The Flying Dutchman (title role) at the SAXON STATE OPERA DRESDEN, a Wagner concert tour in the TONHALLE ZURICH, the SALLE STRAVINSKI MONTREUX, the CASINO BASLE, the CASINO GENEVA and the TONHALLE ST. GALLEN as well as The Flying Dutchman (title role) at the BAVARIAN STATE OPERA.