Sam Taskinen

Ensemble: (Former) Staatstheater Kassel, Theater St. Gallen, Komische Oper Berlin
Freelancer: La Monnaie, Finnish National Opera, Theater Erfurt, OperaFuerteventura

Sam Taskinen is a Finnish bass-baritone based in Berlin, Germany. Ms. Taskinen received her formal training at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under Sirkka Parviainen and Jorma Elorinne and has pursued additional private studies with Kamal Khan. She made her soloist debut at the Finnish National Opera and collaborated with several Finnish orchestras early in her career, establishing a foundation in both operatic and concert repertoire.

Being equally comfortable in playing male and female characters on stage, in the 2026–2027 season, Ms. Taskinen is scheduled to make her house debut at La Monnaie as Le Duc in Roméo et Juliette and to undertake several role debuts, including Schaunard in La bohème and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at the Finnish National Opera. She will also sing her first Scarpia in a semi-staged performance of Tosca in Lohja, Finland. In addition, she will create the roles of the Tooth Fairy in Mouthpiece by Webb and Miss Blood in Emerge: Oops… Life! by Hyytiäinen in their world premieres in Helsinki. Recent guest engagements include Orest in Elektra at the Finnish National Opera, Filippo in Don Carlo with OperaFuerteventura, La voz de un payador in María de Buenos Aires in Metz, Fasolt in Das Rheingold at Staatstheater Erfurt, and Marius Wegener in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Lili Elbe at Theater St. Gallen.

From 2021 to 2023, Ms. Taskinen was a permanent ensemble member at Staatstheater Kassel, where her roles included Kaspar and Kuno in Der Freischütz, Fra Melitone in La forza del destino, Crespel and Luther in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Angelotti in Tosca. Prior to this engagement, she appeared with Theater St. Gallen in roles such as Quasimodo in Notre Dame, Capitàn in Florencia en el Amazonas, Achilla in Giulio Cesare in Egitto, and Armelinde in Cendrillon. Earlier in her career, she was a studio member at the Komische Oper Berlin, performing roles including Masetto in Don Giovanni, Colline in La bohème, and Krishna in Satyagraha. She has also appeared at the Edinburgh International Festival and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center.

Alongside her stage work, Ms. Taskinen is active in concert repertoire and has performed with ensembles including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Pori Sinfonietta, and the Händelfestspielorchester Halle. She maintains an extensive lied repertoire and premiered Mari Sainio’s monologue opera The Raven, which was released on Pilfink Records in 2022.

Ms. Taskinen was awarded third prize at the Klaudia Taev International Opera Competition in 2019 and was a semifinalist in the Belvedere Competition in 2017.