Miina-Liisa Värelä has established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the dramatic repertoire through several highly-acclaimed recent role debuts including as Senta/​Der fliegende Holländer, Elsa/​Lohengrin and Strauss’ Elektra. Enjoying strong support from her home company, Finnish National Opera, Värelä joins them this season in Ariadne auf Naxos, conducted by our own Hannu Lintu, and subsequently as Sieglinde in the new Ring Cycle under Esa-Pekka Salonen. An excellent concert performer, Miina-Liisa already has epic works such as Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Shostakovich’s Symphony No.14 and Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder to her credit, and sings her first Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder this season with Hans Graf and the Odense Symphony.