Ville Rusanen

Finnish baritone Ville Rusanen combines international opera, concert and song work with longstanding associations with Finnish National Opera and the Savonlinna Opera Festival. His forthcoming engagements include Ping in Turandot with Tampere Opera at Tampere Hall in early 2027 and Ned Keene in Peter Grimes in Helsinki in November and December 2026. His other Helsinki roles in 2026 include Paul Jobs in Mason Bates’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and Baron Douphol in La traviata.

A former ensemble member and now a regular guest at Finnish National Opera, Mr. Rusanen has sung Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande, the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen and Billy Budd, as well as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera and Ping. Finnish opera has a particular place in his work, including Jussi Harri in Madetoja’s Pohjalaisia in Helsinki and the title role in Aulis Sallinen’s Kullervo at Savonlinna. At the festival, he has also sung Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, returning to the role in 2023.

International engagements have taken him to Teatro alla Scala, the Opéra de Lyon and Dutch National Opera. He appeared as Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg and as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte on tour with Scottish Opera.

On the concert stage, Mr. Rusanen sang the Celebrant in a staged production of Bernstein’s Mass with Oulu Sinfonia in April 2026, conducted by Rumon Gamba and directed by Petri Kauppinen. In 2023, he performed the title role in a concert Billy Budd at the George Enescu Festival and Sibelius’s Kullervo with the Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo. His wider orchestral work includes the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and Philharmonique de Liège, as well as the Bergen Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.

He made his Australian debut with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs under Vladimir Ashkenazy and has appeared at the BBC Proms in London and the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. His first solo album, Polkuja – Songs from Finnish Nature, was released in 2020 with pianist Pami Karvonen. The Savonlinna Opera Festival named him Artist of the Year in 2014.

Mr. Rusanen began his musical training as a double bass player at Kuopio Conservatory, where he also studied singing with his father, Pertti Rusanen. He subsequently completed his vocal studies with Jorma Hynninen at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.