''Paavo the Great. Great Race. Great Dream.'' ( fi, Paavo Suuri. Suuri juoksu. Suuri uni.) is an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

in three acts by

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

composer

Tuomas Kantelinen Tuomas Kantelinen (born 22 September 1969 in Kankaanpää) is a Finnish composer. He studied composition at the Sibelius Academy with Eero Hämeenniemi. He is best known for his scores for films such as ''Rukajärven tie'', '' Äideistä parhain'', ...

to a libretto by the poet

Paavo Haavikko Paavo Juhani Haavikko (January 25, 1931 in Helsinki – October 6, 2008) was a Finnish poet, playwright, essayist and publisher, considered one of the country's most outstanding writers. He published more than 70 works, and his poems have been tran ...

.Composer Profiles: Tuomas Kantelinen
Music Finland. Retrieved 1 January 2015. The opera deals with the life of the Finnish middle- and long-distance runner

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official world r ...

who won a total of nine

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medals in the 1920s. It was premiered in the

Helsinki Olympic Stadium The Helsinki Olympic Stadium ( fi, Helsingin Olympiastadion; sv, Helsingfors Olympiastadion), located in the Töölö district about from the centre of the Finnish capital Helsinki, is the largest stadium in the country, nowadays mainly used f ...

in 2000 as

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

was one of the European Capitals of Culture. The title refers to Nurmi's great ambition to win the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

race at the 1940 Helsinki Olympics, which were not held because of the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Performances

''Paavo the Great. Great Race. Great Dream.'' was performed twice in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in 11–12 August 2000. The original premier date was 10 August, but the first performance was cancelled in April due to the simultaneous

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

concert in the nearby

Finnair Stadium The Bolt Arena (named Telia 5G -areena until January 2020, named Sonera Stadium until April 2017, and Finnair Stadium until August 2010; also known as ''Töölön jalkapallostadion'', "Töölö football stadium") is a football stadium in Helsinki, ...

. The opera was produced by

Helsinki City Theatre The Helsinki City Theatre ( fi, Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri; sv, Helsingfors stadsteater) is a theatre located in Helsinki, Finland. Owned by the Helsinki Theatre Foundation, it calls itself a "modern popular bilingual repertoire theatre." The ...

under the direction of

Kalle Holmberg Karl Albin Elis "Kalle" Holmberg (born 3 March 1993) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Hamrun Spartans. He was the topscorer during the 2017 Allsvenskan The 2017 Allsvenskan, part of the 2017 Swedish football s ...

. Music was performed by

Sinfonia Finlandia Sinfonia (; plural ''sinfonie'') is the Italian word for symphony, from the Latin ''symphonia'', in turn derived from Ancient Greek συμφωνία ''symphōnia'' (agreement or concord of sound), from the prefix σύν (together) and ϕωνή (sou ...

and the official representative band of the Finnish Army,

Kaartin Soittokunta The Guards Band ( fi, Kaartin soittokunta; sv, Gardets musikkår) is the premier band of the Finnish Defence Forces. Established in Parola on April 1, 1819, it is the oldest of the six Finnish military bands as well as the oldest continuously ope ...

. The spectacular open-air show included special effects like burning haystacks, a real army helicopter and armored vehicles. The opera was praised by the critics, but was not a box-office success as only 20 000 spectators appeared in two shows. The latter performance was filmed and broadcast live by the

Finnish Broadcasting Company Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

. In September it was sent throughout Europe by the Franco-German TV network

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...

, preceding the opening of the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. In the late 2003 the Paavo Nurmi Opera was performed in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

by the Turku Opera Association and

Turku Philharmonic Orchestra The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (Finnish: ''Turun Filharmoninen Orkesteri'') is a Finnish orchestra based in Turku, Finland. It is the oldest orchestra in Finland, and one of the world's oldest still active orchestras. The Turku Philharmonic is ...

. The production turned out to be a financial disaster causing great losses for the opera association.

Roles

The opera has four main characters; Paavo Nurmi, his spouse Sylvi Nurmi, the later president of Finland

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

and the mysterious "Dark Lady".

References

External links

Paavo Nurmi Opera
Helsinki City Theatre (in Finnish) {{Authority control Compositions by Tuomas Kantelinen Finnish-language operas Operas 2000 operas Operas set in Finland Operas based on real people Operas set in the 20th century Cultural depictions of track and field athletes Cultural depictions of Finnish men Paavo Nurmi