When Kaija Saariaho’s final opera before her death in 2023 opens as one of the flagship productions in this year’s Adelaide Festival, its uncompromising portrait of the aftermath of a mass shooting ten years on should show why it has become a major international artistic event.
Innocence was written with a libretto by best selling novelist Sofi Oksanen, whose fusion of contemporary issues and Scandi-noir type thriller has seen her books, Baby Jane (2005) and Purge (2007), both adapted for opera. For Innocence, Oksanen sets out her store at a wedding for the family of the shooter where one of the victim’s mothers is working as a waitress. For Finnish mezzo-soprano Jenny Carlstedt, who plays the waitress, Innocence is a groundbreaking work.
“I think music should speak about the problems of our world right now, just as Mozart did with The Marriage of Figaro’ says Carlstedt. “I think we have to try to discuss things that are uncomfortable. Through art, we have a chance of approaching them in a more holistic way. That's what attracted me to Innocence. It has a really difficult theme, but Sofi Oksanen has done this brilliant intelligent libretto that looks at what happens to people after a tragedy when all the cameras have gone and it stops being reported.
“Hollywood has given us this black and white idea of who is the villain and who is the good guy, but life isn't like that. People are so much more complex. There are so many layers of trying to live a good life and do the right thing.’
There are layers as well to Simon Stone’s production, which premiered at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2021. Since then, it has been performed at Finnish State Opera, London’s Royal Opera House, Dutch National Opera and San Francisco Opera, with its New York debut at the Metropolitan Opera pending.
Oksanen’s original Finnish libretto is delivered in numerous languages by way of Aleksi Barrière’smulti-lingual translation, with Clement Mao-Takacs conducting Adelaide Symphony Orchestra accompanied by Adelaide Chamber Singers and State Opera Chorus.
“There are no arias,” points out Carlstedt, who also performs a solo concert at Adelaide Festival. “As opera, I think Innocence is very bold. Hearing Kaija Saariaho’s music for the first time, I was blown away by the colours. Every single character has their own character colour. It's not a cacophony of sounds. Everything comes out emotionally.
“I think what she and Sofi Oksansen have done with Innocence will give coming generations the permission to try and reflect our societyright now, and to find the essence of our time. I think it educates usabout compassion, about the complexity of being a human being, and aboutrising, somehow, from the depths of darkness.’
Innocence, Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, 28thFebruary and 4thMarch, 7.30pm; 2ndMarch, 5.30pm; 5thMarch, 6pm. Jenny Carlstedt: The Bliss of Song and Lyre, Elder Hall, University of Adelaide, 6thMarch, 12.30pm.
The List Adelaide Festivals Guide 2025
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