Savonlinna Opera Festival ( fi, Savonlinnan oopperajuhlat) is held annually in the city of Savonlinna in Finland. The Festival takes place at the medieval Olavinlinna (St. Olaf's Castle), built in 1475. The

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

is located amid spectacular lake scenery.

Origin

The birth of the Savonlinna Opera Festival ties in closely with the emerging Finnish identity and striving for independence at the beginning of the 20th century. Attending a nationalist meeting in Olavinlinna Castle in 1907, the Finnish soprano Aino Ackté, already famous at opera houses the world over and an ardent patriot, immediately spotted the potential of the

as the venue for an opera festival. The first opera festival was held in 1912. Aino Ackté directed the festival for five summers, staging four Finnish operas. The only opera by a non-Finnish composer was Charles Gounod’s '' Faust'', with Ackté herself in the leading female role of Marguerite. In 1917 the festival ran into difficulties because of First World War,

Finnish Declaration of Independence The Finnish Declaration of Independence ( fi, Suomen itsenäisyysjulistus; sv, Finlands självständighetsförklaring; russian: Провозглашение независимости Финляндии) was adopted by the Parliament of Finl ...

and the ensuing Finnish Civil War. For fifty years, the opera festival was dormant, but in 1967, Savonlinna Music Days decided to organise an opera course for young singers. The high point of the course was a performance of Beethoven's '' Fidelio'' in the castle. Therefore, 1967 is nowadays regarded as the start of the present Festival; since then it has had steady growth of both audience and reputation.

Present-day festival

The Savonlinna Opera Festival has grown into an internationally recognised festival lasting a month. Each year it performs to a total audience of around 60,000, an estimated quarter of whom come from abroad. Each year the Festival has, in addition to staging leading works from classical operatic repertoire, staged its own productions.

Premieres

Thirteen operas have been premiered at the Savonlinna Opera Festival since 1967: '' The Horseman'' (1975), '' The King Goes Forth to France'' (1984, commissioned jointly by

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

and the BBC), and '' The Palace'' (1995) by Aulis Sallinen, '' The Knife'' (1989) by Paavo Heininen, ''

Aleksis Kivi Aleksis Kivi (; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish author who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, ''Seitsemän veljestä'' ("Seven Brothers") in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 p ...

'' (1997) by Einojuhani Rautavaara, ''

The Age of Dreams ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (2000–2001) by Herman Rechberger,

Olli Kortekangas Olli Paavo Antero Kortekangas (born 16 May 1955) is a Finnish composer. Kortekangas was born in Turku. His early career in music began at Espoon Musiikkiopisto (Espoo Music Institute) and the youth choir Candomino. He then studied at the Sibel ...

and Kalevi Aho, ''Koirien Kalevala'' (2004) by Jaakko Kuusisto, ''Hui kauhistus'' (2006) by

Jukka Linkola Jukka Tapio Linkola (born 21 July 1955 in Espoo) is a Finnish jazz pianist and classical composer. He has composed music for the Finnish National Opera and led several jazz Big Bands. In addition he has won two Jussi Award, Jussi awards for his f ...

, ''Isän tyttö'' (2007) by

, ''Seitsemän koiraveljestä'' (2008) by

Markus Fagerudd Markus Simon Fagerudd (born 1 June 1961) is a Finnish composer. Fagerudd was born in Jakobstad, Finland. In the 1980s, he studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under Olli Kortekangas and Kalevi Aho, while working as a musician ...

, ''La Fenice'' (2012) by Kimmo Hakola, Norppaooppera (2013) by Timo-Juhani Kyllönen, and ''Linna vedessä'' (2017) by Aulis Sallinen.

Visits by foreign opera companies

For over a decade, the Savonlinna Opera Festival has hosted foreign opera companies: The first of these was the Estonia Theatre from Tallinn. This was followed for the next three seasons by the world-famous Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre from St. Petersburg, by

from London in 1998, the Opéra national du Rhin from

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

in 1999, the

New Israeli Opera The Israeli Opera, formerly known as the New Israeli Opera, is the principal opera company of Israel. It was founded in 1985 after lack of Israeli government funding led to the demise of the Israel National Opera. Since 1994 the Tel Aviv Performin ...

in 2000,

Los Angeles Opera The Los Angeles Opera is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center. Leadersh ...

in 2001, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 2002, and the Choir and Orchestra of the

Municipal Theatre of Santiago The Teatro Municipal, National Opera of Chile is the most important stage theatre and opera house in Santiago, Chile. History and overview The Chilean government ceded a significant parcel of land in downtown Santiago to the municipality, in 184 ...

in 2003, with a staging of Sergio Ortega's ''Fulgor y Muerte de Joaquín Murieta'', after a libretto by Nobel Prize winner

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

. The Welsh National Opera (UK) performed Nabucco and Manon Lescaut at the festival in 2014.

References

External links