Finnish-Canadian soprano Eilana Lappalainen is quickly becoming one of the world's most sought after interpreters of Strauss's 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 and The Peralada Festival. The July 2002 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 Montréal 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 Freischütz.  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 Holländer, Der Rosenkavalier, Arabella, Jenufa, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, I Pagliacci, La Traviata, Wozzeck and Turandot.

  The 2006-2007 season heard Ms. Lappalainen as Salome with Michigan Opera Theater, Madama Butterfly with Rimrock Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Greece with Festival of the Aegean, the Verdi Requiem with the Manhattan Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, her Weill Recital Debut at Carnegie, Donna Anna and the Verdi Requiem with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, a Verdi Gala in Taranto Italy, Palermo, and once again Salome in a David Aldon production with the Lithuanian National Opera.

  The years 2000–2005 have seen many highlights for Ms. Lappalainen including: 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 Holländer, 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 Götterdämmerung 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 Holländer 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 Freischütz, 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 returned 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. She also sang at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Senta in a new Götz Friedrich production of Der fliegende  Holländer, Salome and her first Maddalena in Andrea Chenier with the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau and continued performances of the Verdi Requiem, La Traviata and Jenufa. In Dessau she sang the title role in a new production of Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco with original Schiller text. In addition, Ms. Lappalainen performed in a concert series featuring French repertoire in Weisbaden, Gala performances at the theater in Fürth, and Verdi Galas at the Schauspielhaus and the Philharmonie in Berlin.  

  In previous seasons 1997-1999, Ms. Lappalainen returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Der fliegende Holländer, to Essen for Arabella and Die Fledermaus and did her first Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes.  She had a huge success as Salome in her Italian debut at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste.  Audiences in Wiesbaden and Bremen heard her in Der fliegende Holländer and she sang Elsa in Lohengrin in Würzburg and, in Dessau, Tosca and her first Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier.  Ms. Lappalainen opened San Francisco’s summer season with the title role of Lulu. She did her Austrian debut in Linz as Elsa in Lohengrin, as Violetta in the Landesbühne Dresden’s La Traviata and as Arabella in Essen.  Dessau heard her as Marta in Tiefland’s Graf von Luxembourg and in the Feisenstein productions of La Boheme and Der fliegende Holländer.  She also sang Gala concerts with Tulsa Opera and in Alabama, Köln, Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf.

  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.  Eilana has also sung 30 leading opera roles as a Resident Artist at Opera San Jose in California, under the direction of Irene Dalis.

  On the concert stage, Eilana Lappalainen has sung opera galas with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (one of which featured scenes from Fidelio and Otello and was televised throughout Finland) and also toured Finland in recital.  In 2005 she sang at an opera gala at “La Piccola Scala” in Syros, Greece and at a recital for the Summer Festival Urkuyö ja Aaria in Espoo, Finland.  Ms. Lappalainen made her Carnegie Hall debut in the Mozart Requiem in 2005, her Weill Recital Hall debut in 2006 and returned to Carnegie Hall in 2007 in Verdi’s Requiem.  She sang in Verdi Galas and recitals in Espoo, Finland, and performed the Verdi Requiem in the Czech Republic.  She has also sung at a Verdi gala in Japan in 2005. She has done recitals in Germany and California, made her New York recital debut with the Sibelius Society, and also sang in an Italian Aria performance at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto. Her concert repertoire includes Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Strauss's Four Last Songs.

  Eilana Lappalainen recorded a live broadcast of Salome (2004) with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, a solo CD of Italian arias in St. Petersburg, Russia, a CD as Salome in a live performance, and a CD of Verdi’s arias and duets with the Anhalisches Symphony Dessau. Her voice has also been heard as Mimi in the film Café and Tobacco.