1991 he débuted in Wagner`s opera The Flying Dutchman as the Dutchman. This part he subsequently sang in many productions, among others, Vienna State Opera, State Opera Unter den Linden Berlin, German Opera Berlin, Saxon State Opera Dresden, Bayreuth Festival, Tokyo, Savonlinna, Wagner-Festival Wels.

In 1992 he made his début at Saxon State Opera Dresden. The theater manager Christoph Albrecht took him as a regular guest with a residential contract to Dresden and promoted him. He was linked until 2010 to this house through this special contract. There, he participated in 10 new productions and 19 other repertory productions in 27 roles in Dresden.

Also very important was his work with Götz Friedrich for Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Helsinki as Wotan/ Wanderer. Since his start of singing Wagner and Strauss repertory he is all over the world.

In 2005 he débuted at the Bayreuth Festival in the title role of The Flying Dutchman and sang Amfortas in Parsifal staged by Schlingensief in 2006 and 2007. Since 2008 he has sung Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde staged by Marthaler.

Jukka Rasilainen remained loyal as Kurwenal at the Tristan-Projekt staged by Peter Sellars and film-project by Bill Viola and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen since Paris 2005 and performed the role in 2007 at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles and at Lincoln Center New York. During 2010 he was on tour with this projekt in Dortmund, Luzern, Birmingham and at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Salonen.

In 2004 Jukka Rasilainen received the title “Kammersänger” at the Saxon State Opera Dresden from the Free State of Saxony.

His important engagements for the next season are following contracts with Dallas, Nice, Bayreuth, Barcelona and at the Richard-Wagner-Festival Wels.