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World video travel guide
A celebration of Verdi and Wagner at the 2013 Savonlinna Opera Festival
The 100th anniversary season of the Savonlinna Opera Festival begins on July 5, 2012, but now is also the
time to look ahead to the programme for next season.
Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the births of two great opera composers: Giuseppe Verdi and
Richard Wagner. In honour of the occasion, the Opera Festival is staging one of the most popular operas
of all times, Verdi’s La traviata. The stage director will be Mariusz Trelinski, the Artistic Director of the
Polish National Opera famed for his exciting directions for both television, theatre and opera. His
direction of Madama Butterfly delighted none other than Placido Domingo, thanks to whom Trelinski has
since been invited to direct at the world’s greatest opera houses.
The other Verdi production for 2013 is Macbeth in the direction by Ralf Långbacka. The conductor will be
Jan Latham-König. “The Festival has seen some highly-acclaimed productions that have lived on for a long
time. One of them is Macbeth,” says Artistic Director Jari Hämäläinen of the Savonlinna Opera Festival. “It
is brilliantly suited to Olavinlinna, for it well exploits the castle’s potential.”
As a tribute to Wagner, the Festival is reviving the production of Lohengrin directed by Roman
Hovenbitzer and premiered in summer 2011. “Lohengrin is a magnificent work,” says Jari Hämäläinen.
“We did such a good production last year that we specifically wanted to revive it for the jubilee year.”
The best-known opera by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, Samson and Delilah, can be seen in
Savonlinna next summer for the first time in Finland since the 1960s, in a co-production with the Erfurt
Opera Company. Directing it will be the Company’s General Manager, Guy Montavo, and the conductor
will be Jacques Delacôte.
The Seal, the Savonlinna Opera Festival’s fourth opera for children, could scarcely be on a more topical
subject or better suited to its environment. Set in the world of the ringed seal – a native of the Saimaa lake
region around Savonlinna – it has been devised and prepared in collaboration with pupils in Finnish
junior schools. Script and visualisation competitions held during the school year just ended yielded a
wealth of material that is now being jointly developed by composer Timo-Juhani Kyllönen and librettist
Iida Hämeen-Anttila. The stage director will be Minna Vainikainen.
The Savonlinna Opera Festival has been acting host to opera companies from abroad ever since 1987. In
2013, the Mikhailovsky Theatre from St. Petersburg will be performing Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Eugene
Onegin in the direction by Andrey Zholdak. Rounding off the Verdi jubilee year will be A Masked Ball
directed by Andrejs Zagars. Both operas will be conducted by Mikhail Tatarnikov.
“The Mikhailovsky Theatre is a dynamic, go-ahead company and puts on really interesting productions,”
says Savonlinna Opera Festival General Director Jan Hultin. “The two works chosen for the visit well
reflect the Theatre’s desire to focus on music theatre of the highest standard. The Opera Festival and the
Mikhailovsky Theatre have been building up a partnership for a couple of years now. In addition to this
visit, they are holding gala concerts together in St. Petersburg. The first was in March 2012 and the next
will be in early spring 2013.”
Jan Hultin’s term as General Director of the Savonlinna Opera Festival ends in autumn 2012. Jan
Strandholm, his successor as of September 2013, is satisfied with the repertoire chosen for 2013. “All in
all, it’s very varied and of an excellent standard,” says the General Director elect. “It will give audiences a
chance to enjoy some of the finest gems of Italian, German, Russian and French opera, not forgetting the
Finnish Seal for families.”
Press Release 29.6.2012
One of the Opera Festival concerts will be a performance of Verdi’s Requiem by the Savonlinna Opera
Festival Orchestra and Choir. The conductor and soloists of this will be announced later. The Timo
Mustakallio Competition for young Finnish singers will be held on July 6–7, 2013.
Tickets for the 2013 season of the Savonlinna Opera Festival go on sale on July 5, 2012.
Savonlinna Opera Festival July 5 – August 3, 2013
Savonlinna Opera Festival programme July 5 – August 3, 2013
5.7. Friday Saint-Saëns: Samson and Delilah, premiere, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
6.7. Saturday Timo Mustakallio Competition, first round, Olavinlinna Castle at 11
Verdi: La traviata, premiere, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
7.7. Sunday Divine Worship, Olavinlinna Castle at 11
Timo Mustakallio Competition, finals, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
8.7. Monday Wagner: Lohengrin, premiere, Olavinlinna Castle at 18
9.7. Tuesday Saint-Saëns: Samson and Delilah, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
10.7. Wednesday Verdi: La traviata, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
11.7. Thursday Saint-Saëns: Samson and Delilah, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
12.7. Friday Wagner: Lohengrin, Olavinlinna Castle at 18
13.7. Saturday Verdi: Macbeth, premiere, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
15.7. Monday Verdi: La traviata, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
16.7. Tuesday Saint-Saëns: Samson and Delilah, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
17.7. Wednesday Verdi: La traviata, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
18.7. Thursday Verdi: Macbeth, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
19.7. Friday Wagner: Lohengrin, Olavinlinna Castle at 18
20.7. Saturday Kyllönen: The Seal, world premiere, Olavinlinna Castle at 12
Verdi: La traviata, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
21.7. Sunday Kyllönen: The Seal, Olavinlinna Castle at 15
22.7. Monday Verdi: La traviata, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
23.7. Tuesday Verdi: Macbeth, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
24.7. Wednesday Wagner: Lohengrin, Olavinlinna Castle at 18
25.7. Thursday Verdi: La traviata, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
26.7. Friday Verdi: Macbeth, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
27.7. Saturday Verdi: La traviata, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
28.7. Sunday Verdi: Requiem, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra, Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir
29.7. Monday No performance
Guest performances by the Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
30.7. Tuesday Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, premiere, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
31.7. Wednesday Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball), premiere, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
1.8. Thursday Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
2.8. Friday Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball), Olavinlinna Castle at 19
3.8. Saturday Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Olavinlinna Castle at 19
22.5.2012/Alterations possible
