A romantic Finnish patriot, soprano Aino Ackte had a dream to use medieval Olavinlinna Castle and its ethereal lake as a backdrop to one of her performances. In 1912 she made her dream reality by co-ordinating the first Savonlinna Opera Festival at the castle. The focus of the original event was to promote Finnish music. Wars put a stop to the annual summer event but it was revived in 1967 and has grown from a one week national festival into an internationally recognised festival lasting a month, attended by an audience of 60,000 and internationally renowned artists. The event now stages between six and eight productions each year with a mixture of classics or popular operas, Finnish works and premiers by both the national company and visiting foreign companies.

Savonlinna Opera Festival.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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