Finnish-Canadian soprano Eilana Lappalainen has become one of the respected interpreters of Strauss' Salome. Since her 1996 role debut in the acclaimed Felsenstein production, which performed for six consecutive years, she has performed the role in Seattle, New York, Nashville, Kentucky, Warsaw, Trieste, Mannheim, Tokyo, Kyoto, Kagoshima, Morioka, Nagoya, Kanazawa, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Toyama, Katowice, Ottawa, Montreal, Wintertur, Detroit, Bergen, Vilnius, Syros, the Peralada Festival and Tel Aviv. The Opera News review of the Seattle production states: Lappalainen's extraordinary physical lightness and agility, her diverse vocal palette and her grasp of the character's complexity were deeply moving... Her dance of the seven veils is simply the best I've ever seen (including Welitsch, Borkh and Stratas on film, perhaps the greatest Salome ever.)" In Ms. Lappalainen's debut with Opera de Montreal as Salome, she sparked one critic to write:  Eilana Lappalainen is a revelation! - La Presse. In the same season she made her debuts in Hamburgische Staatsoper as Elsa in Lohengrin and at the Prague State Opera in Der Freischutz.  Additional engagements have taken the young soprano to San Francisco Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Finnish National Opera, Opera Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Arizona, Portland, Cincinnati, Virginia, Opera Hamilton and Opera Lyra in Ottawa. Her performances in these houses included the core of her repertoire: Lulu, Lohengrin, Der fliegende Hollaender, Der Rosenkavalier, Arabella, Jenufa, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, I Pagliacci, La Traviata, Wozzeck, Turandot, Fanciulla del West etc . The past seven seasons heard Ms. Lappalainen in both concert and opera performances internationally. She sang Beatrice in Der Vipern by Christian Jost for her Bern, Switzerland debut, as well as a concert and recording the following year with the Symphony in Wintertur. She sang Salome at the Michigan Opera Theater, Opera North in Bergen Norway, Polish National Opera, Perolada Festival in Spain, another Japan tour, the New Israeli Opera, and the Lithuanian National Opera in a David Aldon production. Rome heard her Marie in Wozzeck directed by Gian Carlo Del Monaco, and in Israel heard her Marie in a Manfred Beilharz production. She sang Agathe in Freischutz in Bayern Germany, as well as Madama Butterfly and Pagliacci for a German summer Festival. She made her debut as Leonore in Il Trovatore with Virginia Opera and covered Karita Mattila at the Liceu in Barcelona with the role of Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio. She performed Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Silvia in Mascangni's Zanetto and Santuzza in Cavalleria, the title role in Tosca and Salome, as well as concerts such as the Verdi Requiem, Faure Requiem, Mahler Songs and a Verdi Gala featuring selections from Aida, Il Trovatore and Un ballo in Maschera. This summer 2014 she sang Tatjana's aria in Eugen Onegin, Il Tramonto and a Puccini gala singing Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot with the International Festival of the Aegean.  Career highlights for Ms. Lappalainen include: her debut at La Scala in a Peter Stein production of the world premiere of Corghi's Tat'jana, singing the main role; her performance as Abigaille in Nabucco at the National Theater in Warsaw; and her debut with the New Israeli Opera as Marie in Wozzeck. She also performed Mefistofele in Montreal; Elsa in Lohengrin in Trier; Hanna in The Merry Widow in Hamilton; and has sung in Madama Butterfly, Jenufa, Der fliegende Hollaender, Giovanna d'Arco and Eugene Onegin. In concert she sang with the Berliner Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester in a program of all Berg and Mahler and in Wagner's Goetterdammerung at the Bruckner Festival in Linz.  In the same period she made her first solo CD of Italian arias in St. Petersburg.  Ms. Lappalainen starred as Salome with New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Kentucky Opera, Nashville Opera, Polish National Opera, Opera Lyra and two tours in Japan (one tour including ten cities). She sang the role of Senta in Der fliegende Hollaender in Japan and for the Minnesota Opera, and the title role of Tosca, and Nedda in I Pagliacci for a summer Festspiel in Burg Hohenstein near Wiesbaden. Ms. Lappalainen has also performed in productions of La Fanciulla del West, Der Freischutz, Nedda in I Pagliacci and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana in Dessau. On concert stages she performed in a Wagner/Strauss Lieder Abend and in concerts in Ottawa and Wiesbaden. In recent seasons Ms. Lappalainen has had the pleasure to return to the Opera Bellas Artes, performing Marie in Wozzeck in a live national broadcast in Mexico. She debuted with the San Francisco Opera as Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, and in the title role of Lulu directed by Lotfi Mansouri.  Ms. Lappalainen has sung the title role of Jenufa for the Portland Opera, Elsa in Lohengrin in Halle and Dessau, and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Columbus as well as with Opera Lyra and Opera Hamilton. With Virginia Opera she performed the roles of Violetta in La Traviata, Micaela in Carmen and Liu in Turandot (a role she repeated later with the Arizona Opera). Opera Hamilton heard her as Mimi in La Boheme and in the title role in Madama Butterfly.  She has sung with the Finnish National Opera as Mimi, the Cincinnati Opera as Nedda in I Pagliacci and at the Opera Bellas Artes in Mexico as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, as Nedda in I Pagliacci and as Arabella in Bielefeld.  With the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau she scored triumphs in roles such as Violetta, Marguerita, Arabella, Desdemona and Amalia in I Masnadieri as well as in the operetta roles of Hanna in The Merry Widow and the title role in Victoria und Ihr Hussar. She was performing the roles at the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau as a member of the Ensemble under the direction of Johannes Felsenstein. Prior to her German and International debuts, Eilana was a Resident Artist singing 30 leading roles at Opera San Jose under the direction of her Mentor Irene Dalis.