Biography
Kouta Räsänen was placed third in the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition in 2000 and second in the Lappeenranta Singing Competition in 2002. The Finnish Opera Association chose him as the Opera Soloist of the Year in 2002.
Kouta Räsänen has performed as a soloist with the Finnish National Opera and in several Finnish regional opera productions, and as a soloist with many city orchestras. As a lied singer he has also performed in Toronto in Canada, Teheran in Iran, and in Paris in the autumn of 2003. Räsänen’s opera roles include, among others, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amour, the title role in Don Pasquale, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, and Colline in La Bohème. His concert repertoire includes, among others, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Christmas Oratorio and the Magnificat, Händel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation, and Mozart’s Requiem.