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Recommendations / Innocence by Saariaho
« on: April 18, 2023, 04:57:29 am »
So just to recap - I went to the Opera House last night. Awesome experience. I could afford it because I've signed up to something called the Engender Programme - which is a forum for female, trans and non binary opera makers based in Covent Garden which offered £30 seats - and they were the best seats in the house!
Saariaho is Finnish, she's in her 70s, she's an renowned contemporary composer and has received numerous awards https://saariaho.org/
This opera has had a very long gestation period - it was apparently first discussed between Saariaho and the dramaturg Alexsi Barriere in 2013 which is when the novelist Sofi Okansen was invited to write her first libretto.
The story is of a family celebrating a wedding. A waitress at the wedding realises that the family involved are the parents of the boy who shot and killed ten students in a mass shooting ten years earlier - one of whom was her daughter Marketa. The plot, the characters, the whole production was completely jaw dropping - a full orchestra, a large chorus as well as numerous protagonists - I can't even imagine how much it cost!
Rather than me try to explain everything here's a link to the production including a video clip. https://saariaho.org/works/innocence/
ENJOY!
Saariaho is Finnish, she's in her 70s, she's an renowned contemporary composer and has received numerous awards https://saariaho.org/
This opera has had a very long gestation period - it was apparently first discussed between Saariaho and the dramaturg Alexsi Barriere in 2013 which is when the novelist Sofi Okansen was invited to write her first libretto.
The story is of a family celebrating a wedding. A waitress at the wedding realises that the family involved are the parents of the boy who shot and killed ten students in a mass shooting ten years earlier - one of whom was her daughter Marketa. The plot, the characters, the whole production was completely jaw dropping - a full orchestra, a large chorus as well as numerous protagonists - I can't even imagine how much it cost!
Rather than me try to explain everything here's a link to the production including a video clip. https://saariaho.org/works/innocence/
ENJOY!