Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions Grand Finals
Photo by Fay Fox
Below find critical acclaim for:
Tanglewood Candide (2018)
Canadian Opera Company The Nightingale and Other Fables (2018)
Palm Beach Opera Candide (2018)
Arizona Opera Candide (2018)
Opera Columbus The Turn of the Screw (2017)
Bard Summerscape Mozart Requiem (2017)
Juilliard Opera Kát’a Kabanová (2017)
Orlando Philharmonic Candide (2016)
Juilliard Opera Eugene Onegin (2014)
Tanglewood
Candide
credit Hillary Scott
Tanglewood
Candide
2018
“Candide was the astonishing Oliver Hardy-looking Myles Mykkanen with a remarkably supple tenor voice that still, days after hearing it, lingers in my mind… The musicianship throughout — instrumental and vocal — was extraordinary. The vocalizing in particular was rich and expressive; at once light as air and as profound as the longing of some its characters, Mykkanen's astonishing ability to hold a note until it began to fade of its own necessity created the evening's most heart-wrenching moments in Candide's two meditations, ‘It Must Be So’ and ‘It Must Be Me.’”
Berkshire Eagle
“Candide was the excellent Miles Mykkanen, styled as Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp, and an unending stream of sideshow business. Mykkanen sang and spoke feelingly and superbly, with crystalline diction, a powerful lyric sound seemingly capable of infinite dynamic gradations.”
Opera Magazine
Canadian Opera Company
The Nightingale and Other Fables
2018
“Mykannen, a bright, confident tenor, is especially memorable for his brilliant acting in the piece.”
Broadway World
“Mykkanen is especially humorous in altering his tone to suit the fox’s several disguises.”
Stage Door
Arizona Opera
Candide
Credit Tim Trumble
Palm Beach Opera
Candide
2018
“Mykkanen, the tenor who sang the title role, might be the best of all possible Candides, an appealingly earnest young optimist in lederhosen whose rich rendition of 'It must be so' was a highlight.”
Opera Magazine
“PBO has fielded a dream cast that does full justice to Bernstein’s memorable melodies. In the title role, Miles Mykkanen’s boyish demeanor, dulcet lyric tenor, and reserves of vocal power and stamina perfectly embodied the naive protagonist. Mykkanen actually made one believe that Candide could endure war, poverty, and the death and enslavement of friends and lovers and still remain optimistic with his sheer theatrical aplomb... He movingly captured the pathos of “It Must Be So” and “Is This All Then?” Mykkanen’s English diction was absolutely clear, whether singing or in spoken dialogue.”
South Florida Classical Review
“Tenor Miles Mykkanen in the title role sang with resonance and spot-on spirit, delivering a show-stopping “It Must Be So.” Clad in lederhosen, Mykkanen’s Candide was grinning and guileless – a definite highlight.”
Schmopera
“Top Ten Performances of 2018: There could hardly be a more celebratory event for the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth than Palm Beach Opera’s presentation of Candide in February. Perhaps Bernstein’s most sparkling and inventive score, Candide has long been a theatrical problem child. Superb performances by Miles Mykkanen, Alisa Jordheim, and Denyce Graves contributed to one of PBO’s finest productions ever.”
South Florida Classical Review
Arizona Opera
Candide
2018
“The show was a bonanza of outstanding performances, featuring Miles Mykkanen as the peripatetic (or, shall we coin a word, peripathetic) Candide, who rationalizes his multiple encounters with disaster through the rose-colored glasses of his mentor…”
Broadway World
“Mykkanen was Candide, the man who originally believed he lived in the best of all possible worlds, sang with a pleasant resonant sound and seemed to be enjoying the part immensely.”
Opera Today
“Mykkanen, in his first Arizona appearance, was equally funny as Candide and employed the full breadth of his vocal range, from the lyrical intensity the higher he soared to the vulnerability at his midrange.”
Arizona Daily Star
Opera Columbus
The Turn of the Screw
Credit Terry Gilliam
Opera Columbus
The Turn of the Screw
2017
“On Friday, the performers were in tune with their characters. Especially expressive were Price, who sang in tones stricken and resolute; and Mykkanen, whose assertive voice projected a sense of real danger. “I’m all things strange and bold,” Quint says in the libretto by Myfanwy Piper — and Mykkanen surely was.”
Columbus Dispatch
Juilliard Opera
Kát’a Kabanová
2017
“Singing in English seemed to embolden the gifted students of this strong cast. Mykkanen conveyed the mix of insecurity and earnestness in Tichon, Katya’s husband, who lives in fear of his caustic and possessive mother…”
New York Times
“Tichon was splendidly sung by Mykkanen with a clear tenor and crisp diction.”
Musical America
“Tichon, her weak and abusive husband, is tragically obedient to his dominating mother and incapable of protecting his wife. Mykkanen portrayed his vacillations and frustrations with flair.”
Bachtrack
“Mykkanen has such a particular talent in recital that it is astonishing to see him melt into his character on the opera stage. He looked and sounded exactly right as the bullied son Tichon, strangely bound to his miserable mother.”
Voce di Meche
“Mykkanen’s Tichon erred on the side of restraint but maintained a confident presence, skillfully navigating the delicate balance between his devotion to his loving wife and his overbearing mother.”
Codalario
Bard Summerscape
Halka
2017
“As Jontek, Mykkanen showed a sturdy and ardent sound. While he sang with a passionate and ardent timbre throughout the evening, his Act 4 aria allowed the tenor to display the subtle pianos in his voice as well as the tender qualities the instrument can produce.”
OperaWire
“As the two men in Halka’s life, Miles Mykkanen and Aubrey Allicock excelled. Mykkanen, the hapless Jontek, radiated good will and concern while singing with increasing ardor and alarm... He displayed again an especial flair for Eastern European opera; he had made a strong impression earlier this year as Tichon (another poor sap) in Juilliard’s production of Janacek’s Katya Kabanova.”
Parterre Box
Palm Beach Opera
Candide
credit Bruce Bennett
Orlando Philharmonic
Candide
2016
“Candide is played by the wonderful tenor Miles Mykkanen. Throughout, Mykkanen maintains a formidable brightness that allows his character to believably fight off the understandable despair that he feels at each more demoralizing turn. When he delivers the show's final song, "Make Our Garden Grow," all of the earned emotion comes seeping out of his voice in an overwhelmingly affecting way. His voice is strikingly pure but also powerful, allowing the audience to accept that his otherworldly innocence is, in fact, authentic.”
Broadway World
“Candide, as embodied by Miles Mykkanen, is a winningly sympathetic character with a golden tenor voice. Mykkanen sings with great beauty and sweetness.”
Orange Observer
Juilliard Opera
Eugene Onegin
2014
“At least as good was Miles Mykkanen, whose tenor showed a metal that should serve him well in larger auditoriums, as Lensky.”
New York Times
“Another singer who sounded Russian – and uncannily so, without any of the drawbacks associated with Russian tenors – was Miles Mykkanen, who offered a gorgeously lyrical Lensky.”
Opera Magazine