A new opera is knocked out by Covid
mainKaija Saariaho was awaiting the premiere of her fifth opera, ‘Innocence’ this summer when the Aix-en-Provence Festival was cancelled under Covid-19 rules. The closure will have a knock-on effect on further performances in Helsinki, London, San Francisco and Amsterdam. There is no immediate indication of when its premiere might take place.
‘Innocence’ is set in a multinational wedding in Helsinki, with a Finnish groom, Romanian bride and French mother-in-law.
Sounds like a script for a Covid hot-spot.
This was the intended cast:
Waitress Magdalena Kožená
Mother-in-Law Sandrine Piau
Father-in-Law Tuomas Pursio
Bride Anna Prohaska
Groom Markus Nykänen
Priest Jukka Rasilainen
Sounds fabulous – can’t wait to actually hear it! Only pity is that they didn’t cast a wonderful Romanian soprano as the bride (not Ghastly Gheorghiu though) 🙂
Hmm… a waitress, a Romanian bride and a priest… wonder where that plot is going…?
A great loss. Is it though?