Olavinlinna Castle near Finland’s eastern border is the northernmost surviving medieval castle in the world. It is an irreplaceable cultural asset and a unique opera venue. In the summer of 2025, the castle will be in the spotlight at the Savonlinna Opera Festival: the programme for Olavinlinna’s 550th anniversary year will see the return of favourite productions from past decades, including The Last Temptations and Boris Godunov. Star bass Mika Kares will sing the leading roles in both of them.
In July 2025, the festival will open with a gala concert of Finnish music at Olavinlinna. The programme includes the chronicle Linna vedessä (The Castle in the Water), composed for Olavinlinna by Aulis Sallinen, and a new commission by Antti Auvinen.
Olavinlinna has influenced both of them in their composing careers. 50 years ago, in 1975, a new era of modern opera began at the castle with the premiere of Sallinen’s opera The Horseman. Auvinen’s close relationship with the Opera Festival began when he was a schoolboy in the 1980s, in the audience for The Magic Flute. In the summer of 2025, the circle will be completed: the concert will celebrate Olavinlinna, the future of Finnish music and Aulis Sallinen’s 90th birthday.
Roles sung by international stars
A new production for the anniversary summer is The Last Temptations, a collaboration between the Savonlinna Opera Festival and Tampere Opera. Directed by theatre director Mikko Kouki, this new interpretation brings the Finnish classic back to Olavinlinna – it was last performed here in 1980. The lead role is sung by Mika Kares and other performers include Silja Aalto, Johan Krogius and Petri Lindroos. The performances are conducted by Ville Matvejeff, artistic director of the Opera Festival.
Boris Godunov, an opera about an autocrat’s thirst for power in Russia, is also performed by a largely Finnish cast. Following in the footsteps of Martti Talvela and Matti Salminen, Mika Kares now plays the leading role. Other roles are sung by Timo Riihonen, Olga Heikkilä, Arttu Kataja, Tuomas Katajala and Matti Turunen. The performances are conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk.
Verdi’s Macbeth is seen in the vibrant production by Ralf Långbacka. This was one of the international successes of the 1990s and has been performed by the Opera Festival on tours around the world. It stars world-renowned baritone Ludovic Tézier, who impressed audiences in Tosca at the Opera Festival in 2022. Lady Macbeth is performed by top soprano Saioa Hernández and the conductor is Lorenzo Passerini.
Ewa Płonka and Amadi Lagha, who star in Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, are also internationally renowned. Lagha wowed audiences with his performance of the aria Nessun dorma in 2018 and is back to do the same again. The conductor is Yves Abel.
In the Opera Festival’s acclaimed production, director Pet Halmen has brought the composer, already terminally ill, into his own work. As his consciousness fades, the master composer becomes delirious and mingles his own life with the story of the opera. This Turandot is thus seen through the eyes of Puccini, who is taking stock of his life. Puccini died before completing Turandot, in 1924.
Baroque guest performances
Audiences in the world’s concert halls are hungry for baroque music, and this is also reflected at Savonlinna. Guest artists in the summer of 2025 will bring with them the oldest music ever performed at the Opera Festival, from the late 17th century – by which time Olavinlinna Castle had already been standing for more than 200 years.
Festival Perelada from the Catalan countryside will present Henry Purcell’s colourful opera The Fairy Queen, based on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. In addition, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra will perform the rare Il diluvio universale (The Universal Flood), a work by the rediscovered composer and Catholic priest Michelangelo Falvetti. This particular composition, which radiates the primordial power of Sicily, predicted climate change four whole centuries ago.
Tickets for the summer 2025 Opera Festival at the 550-year-old Olavinlinna Castle go on sale on 26 June 2024. A 10% advance booking discount is valid until 30 September. Tickets are already on sale for Opera Festival members.
Further information:
Ville Matvejeff, Artistic Director
ville.matvejeff@operafestival.fi
Interview requests and media contact:
Sonja Eiramo, Head of Marketing Communications
sonja.eiramo@operafestival.fi
040-50 88828
