Finnish National Opera 22 November 2019 - Höstsonaten – Autumn Sonata | GoComGo.com

Höstsonaten – Autumn Sonata

Finnish National Opera, Helsinki, Finland
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Friday 22 November 2019
7 PM
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Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Helsinki, Finland
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 2
Intervals: 1
Duration: 2h 30min
Titles in: English,

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Overview

Höstsonaten – Autumn Sonata is the meeting of a story by cinema legend Ingmar Bergman and the music of Sebastian Fagerlund, one of the most highly acclaimed Finnish composers of his generation. Gunilla Hemming adapted a libretto from Bergman’s film of the same name, reflecting on human choices, hidden conflicts in families and the possibility of forgiveness. The role of Charlotte in Höstsonaten – Autumn Sonata was specifically composed for Anne Sofie von Otter, one of today’s most highly renowned mezzo-sopranos. Höstsonaten – Autumn Sonata was the first ever Finnish National Opera production to feature Von Otter in an opera role.

Praised by critics and the audience alike, Höstsonaten – Autumn Sonata has also been performed at the Baltic Sea Festival in Sweden. It was nominated for the World Premiere of the Year at the International Opera Awards 2018.

”Höstsonaten – Autumn Sonata is a multilayered and powerful relationship drama. Its protagonists meet up in the dark hours of the night and end up having to question the choices they’ve made and their consequences. Underlying the drama, we have the eternal themes of forgiveness and the ability to accept other people as they are. Even as I was starting out the work, I felt as if the story and its characters were waiting for me somewhere in the depths of my mind. The tidal surges of the opera’s music still have an unusual pull on me.”

– composer Sebastian Fagerlund

 

History

Sebastian Fagerlund has made a name for himself primarily through his concertos and orchestral works. As demonstrated on previous recordings, his music displays a huge range of colours and an uncommon rhythmic vitality, as well as a sure feel for instrumental writing.

Synopsis

Act I

It’s autumn and the parsonage is anticipating Charlotte’s visit. Charlotte, a celebrated pianist, has been touring concert halls and has not seen her daughters Eva and Helena in seven years. Helena is sick and mute, and Eva and her husband Viktor have lost their three-year-old son Erik. Charlotte is also bereaved: her partner Leonardo has died.

Charlotte arrives and immediately starts talking about her new clothes. Soon she finds out that Helena, whom she had put in a care home, now lives at the parsonage. Charlotte is left alone, with only her imaginary concert audience for company, to which she laments the uncomfortable situation. When Eva takes her to see Helena, Leonardo appears, too, and hints at something that happened while they were in Bornholm together. Charlotte doesn’t understand what Helena is trying to say. She is resolved to cut her visit short, and her admiring audience backs the decision.

In the evening Charlotte asks Eva to play the piano, but it’s obvious she doesn’t appreciate her daughter’s performance. The audience seems to be bored by it, too. The next day, Viktor tells Charlotte how the arrival of Erik changed their life. Then, just before his fourth birthday, Erik drowned. Why had God taken everything away? Charlotte doesn’t know what to say. Eva thinks Erik is still with her: thoughts and feelings can reach beyond death.

As Charlotte is getting ready for bed and takes her sedatives, a scream breaks the silence of the house. Eva hurries to calm down Helena and meets Charlotte. Their heated discussion brings repressed emotions to the surface. Eva can’t decide which was worse –Charlotte being away on tour or being at home. ”Mother and daughter, what a terrible combination of emotions,” Eva says.

Act II

Eva describes how she felt when her mother would always leave for her concert tours. Charlotte remembers the fear of losing her career. Helena screams again and Eva leaves to attend to her sister.

Charlotte tells her admiring audience she wasn’t prepared for such a conversation. Little by little, the conflict between mother and daughter unravels the secrets of the past: when Eva was pregnant at the age of 18, Charlotte pressured her to abort the unborn baby. “Can a daughter never break free from her mother”, Viktor wonders.

Helena begins to speak, recalling how one Easter in Bornholm, years ago, Leonardo kissed her and she felt at peace. Charlotte had then asked Leonardo to stay, as his presence was good for Helena. Now Eva, Viktor and Leonardo all blame Charlotte for Helena’s illness. Once left alone with her audience, Charlotte apologises for everything she has done wrong. She wants to change.

In the morning, Viktor tells Helena that Charlotte has gone. Helena starts to scream and. Eva regrets their argument and writes to Charlotte that she has wronged her. At the same time elsewhere, Charlotte speaks to her agent about the visit and asks why the sick Helena shouldn’t be allowed to die. “There’s an opportunity for us to take care of each other, I don’t think it’s too late,” Eva writes.

Venue Info

Finnish National Opera - Helsinki
Location   Helsinginkatu 58 PL 176

The Finnish National Opera is a Finnish opera company based in Helsinki. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö, which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties. The Opera House features two auditoriums, the main auditorium with 1,350, seats and a smaller studio auditorium with 300-500 seats.

Regular opera performances began in Finland in 1873 with the founding of the Finnish Opera by Kaarlo Bergbom. Prior to that, opera had been performed in Finland sporadically by touring companies, and on occasion by Finnish amateurs, the first such production being The Barber of Seville in 1849. However, the Finnish Opera company soon plunged into a financial crisis and folded in 1879. During its six years of operation, Bergbom’s opera company had given 450 performances of a total of 26 operas, and the company had managed to demonstrate that opera can be sung in Finnish too. After the disbandment of the Finnish Opera, the opera audiences of Helsinki had to confine themselves to performances of visiting opera companies and occasional opera productions at the Finnish National Theatre.

The reincarnation of the Finnish opera institution took place about 30 years later. A group of notable social and cultural figures, led by the international star soprano Aino Ackté, founded the Domestic Opera in 1911. From the very beginning, the opera decided to engage both foreign and Finnish artists. A few years later the Domestic Opera was renamed the Finnish Opera in 1914. In 1956, the Finnish Opera was, in turn, taken over by the Foundation of the Finnish National Opera, and acquired its present name.

Between 1918 and 1993 the home of the opera was the Alexander Theater, which had been assigned to the company on a permanent basis. The home was inaugurated with an opening performance of Verdi’s Aida. When the first dedicated opera house in Finland was finally completed and inaugurated in 1993, the old opera house was given back its original name, the Alexander Theater, after the Tsar Alexander II.

The Finnish National Opera has some 30 permanently engaged solo singers, a professional choir of 60 singers and its own orchestra of 120 members. The Ballet has 90 dancers from 17 countries. All together, the opera has a staff of 735.

Past music directors and chief conductors have included Armas Järnefelt (1932–36), Tauno Pylkkänen (1960-1967), Okko Kamu (1996–2000), Muhai Tang (2003–2006), and Mikko Franck (2006-2013). With the 2013-2014 season, the Finnish mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi became artistic director of the company, and the German conductor Michael Güttler became principal conductor with the company. The initial contracts for both Paasikivi and Güttler are for 3 years. Since 2008, Kenneth Greve has served as artistic director of Finnish National Ballet. His current contract is through 2018.

The Finnish National Opera stages four to six premieres a year, including a world premiere of at least one Finnish opera, such as Rasputin by Einojuhani Rautavaara. Some 20 different operas in 140 performances are found in the opera's schedule yearly. The Ballet arranges some 110 performances annually. The Finnish National Opera has some 250,000 visitors a year.

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Helsinki, Finland
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 2
Intervals: 1
Duration: 2h 30min
Titles in: English,
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