Savonlinna Opera Festival

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 castle as the venue for an opera festival.

The only opera by a non-Finnish composer was Charles Gounod’s Faust, with Ackté herself in the leading female role of Marguerite.

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 and the BBC), The Palace (1995) and Linna vedessä (2017) by Aulis Sallinen, The Knife (1989) by Paavo Heininen, Aleksis Kivi (1997) by Einojuhani Rautavaara, The Age of Dreams (2000–2001) by Herman Rechberger, Olli Kortekangas and Kalevi Aho, Koirien Kalevala (2004) by Jaakko Kuusisto, Hui kauhistus (2006) by Jukka Linkola, Isän tyttö (2007) by Olli Kortekangas, Seitsemän koiraveljestä (2008) by Markus Fagerudd, La Fenice (2012) by Kimmo Hakola, and Norppaooppera (2013) by Timo-Juhani Kyllönen.

This was followed for the next three seasons by the world-famous Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre from St. Petersburg, by Covent Garden from London in 1998, the Opéra national du Rhin from Strasbourg in 1999, the New Israeli Opera in 2000, Los Angeles Opera in 2001, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 2002, and the Choir and Orchestra of the Municipal Theatre of Santiago in 2003, with a staging of Sergio Ortega's Fulgor y Muerte de Joaquín Murieta, after a libretto by Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda.

St. Olaf's Castle, the venue for the Opera Festival in Savonlinna.
The stage at the courtyard of St. Olaf's Castle.