The Finnish mezzo-soprano Laura Nykänen studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Beside major rôles such as Orfeo (Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Carmen (Carmen), Fenena (Nabucco), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Olga (Eugen Onegin), Fricka/Erda/Floßhilde (Das Rheingold) and Waltraute/Erste Norn/Floßhild (Götterdämmerung), she has performed many rôles in the operas of Handel, Mozart and others.

Her guest performances include appearances at the Bayreuth Festival, Düsseldorf, Rome, the Liceu, Barcelona, and in Belgium, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Japan and Finland, with conductors such as Giuseppe Sinopoli, Adam Fischer, Christian Thielemann, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Sakari Oramo.