Richard Wagner: Lohengrin (2024 Savonlinna Opera Festival)

Richard Wagner: Lohengrin, Savonlinna Opera Festival, 3 July 2024. Photo: Jussi Silvennoinen.

Richard Wagner: Lohengrin, Savonlinna Opera Festival, 3 July 2024. Sinéad Campbell Wallace, Karita Mattila, Timo Riihonen, Lucio Gallo & Choir. Photo: Jussi Silvennoinen.

Olavinlinna, 2 October 2023. Photo: Savonlinna Opera Festival.

THE OPERA

    Lohengrin : Romantische Oper in drei Aufzügen

    DE 1850 [Weimar, Thüringen, Königreich Preussen]. Musik und Libretto: Richard Wagner. Durchkomponiert. Originalsprache: Deutsch. Literarische Vorlage: Wolfram von Eschenbach: Parzival (1200-1210). Uraufführung: 28 August 1850 - Grossherzogliches Hoftheater - in Weimar - unter der Leitung von Franz Liszt.

    Figuren: Heinrich der Vogler, deutscher König - Lohengrin - Elsa von Brabant - Friedrich von Telramund, brabantischer Graf - Ortrud, seine Gemäldin - Der Heerrufer des Königs - Vier brabantische Edle - Vier Edelknaben - Vier Kammerfrauen - Sächsische und thüringische Grafen und Edle, brabantische Grafen und Edle, Edelfrauen, Edelknaben, Mannen, Frauen, Knechte.

    Die Handlung spielt in Antwerpen in der 1. Hälfte des 10. Jahrhunderts

SAVONLINNA OPERA FESTIVAL TEAM

Conductor / Stephan Zilias

Director / Roman Hovenbitzer

Set designer / Hermann Feuchter

Costume designer / Hank Irwin Kittel

Lighting designer / Wolfgang Göbbel 

Video designer / Andreas J. Etter 

Choreographer / Janne Geest

Chorus master / Jan Schweiger

Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir

Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra

Language / German

Surtitles / Finnish and English

Duration : approx. 4 hrs 30 min, 2 intervals

CAST

TUOMAS KATAJALA / LOHENGRIN

KARITA MATTILA / ORTRUD

SINÉAD CAMPBELL WALLACE / ELSA

LUCIO GALLO / FRIEDRICH VON TELRAMUND

TIMO RIIHONEN / HEINRICH DER VOGLER

KRISTIAN LINDROOS / THE KING’S HERALD

PERFORMANCES AT OLAVINLINNA CASTLE

Olavinkatu 27 ; 57130 Savonlinna ; Finland

Capacity: 2.264 seats

5.7.2024 - 9.7.2024 - 12.7.2024 - 15.7.2024 - 18.7.2024

Visited on Friday, 5 July 2024

Savonlinna Opera Festival introduction: " Finally – here is Karita Mattila’s debut at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. She is a cunning sorceress and deep-voiced plotter in Wagner’s opulent Lohengrin. And what a Finnish celebration the evening will be, with Tuomas Katajala, the most internationally successful Finnish tenor of today, singing the title role. "

‘ Only one Finnish star can fill Olavinlinna alone. ’

Helsingin Sanomat about Karita Mattila’s concert, 15 July 2012 

" Wagner’s mythical work of art is a fairy tale about the relationship between utopia and reality. ‘It is a child’s dream of an intact, reconciled world. The world has dreamed of this hundreds of times and keeps dreaming of it again and again. The work is about this human longing – and the painful realization that it can never come true’, says director Roman Hovenbitzer. "

" Right from the intense prelude, Lohengrin grips the listener. There’s a rumble of thunder in the castle walls. The music is highly charged, even hypnotic. With Wagner, time loses its meaning. When the secrets are revealed and the performance ends, you walk out of Olavinlinna into the summer night and ask yourself what really happened. "

‘ There is an empire on the verge of collapse, a people waiting for its saviour, and Lohengrin, the saviour. There is love, loyalty and Wagner’s medieval world of myths. ’ – Director Roman Hovenbitzer 

AA: The setting, Olavinlinna castle, provides a magnificent context. The building was launched around 1475 by the Kalmar Union (1397-1523), in what proved to be the last stage of this union of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, with Copenhagen as its de facto capital. The monarch then was the Danish King Christian I, followed by his son Hans. The construction was launched by Erik Axelsson Tott, the regent of Sweden.

The Kalmar Union had been established as a counterforce to the Hanseatic League, but by now new powers were gaining prominence. Lithuania had grown into the greatest state of Europe. Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, pushed Lithuania back from the East. The Byzantine Empire (330-1453) ended in the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire. Ivan III wed Sophia Palaiologina, niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Moscow finally liberated itself from the Mongol / Turkish rule of the Golden Horde (1242-1502). It also annexed the mighty Novgorod Republic (1136-1478).

Against this new formidable power of Ivan III the Kalmar Union fortified itself by strengthening the Castle of Vyborg (est. 1293) and building Olavinlinna.

Visiting Savonlinna Opera Festival today we cannot help meditating the power of history and the history of power. The troubles of history and the history of troubles. "The past is never dead. It's not even past" (William Faulkner: Requiem for a Nun).

Richard Wagner's Lohengrin is set in a precise moment of history 500 years before Olavinlinna, but it is not a historical play. It is a dream play, a fairy-tale and a mythological quest inspired by Arthurian legends. The formidable walls of the real castle provide a rock solid sounding board to the ethereal fabula.

As a music lover I am an amateur and armchair listener who hardly ever ventures to a live event. Knowing Lohengrin as a radio listener only I am moved and stunned by the subtle power and refined perfection of detail in a first class live performance. Live music is a superior physical experience, shared by a spellbound audience in a castle with a capacity of over 2000.

I realize that Richard Wagner started to discuss "unendliche Melodie" ("endless melody") only ten years after the premiere of Lohengrin and that this work is the last which he called an opera, meaning that it still obeys the conventions of arias and choruses. Yet already here I am most moved by the unity of the suspense that begins with the Vorspiel and holds until the tragic finale. 

Later Wagner works have been compared with the stream of consciousness and inner monologue, but already here it is the most compelling feature. "The poet's greatness is mostly to be measured by what he leaves unsaid, letting us breathe in silence to ourselves the thing unspeakable; the musician it is who brings this untold mystery to clarion tongue, and the impeccable form of his sounding silence is endless melody" (Wagner 1860).

The cast of characters are like sleepwalkers in a shared dream, which we are invited to join. The most striking feature of the music is its gentleness and tenderness. It is an experience of serenity, nobility and a presence of the sacred. The Arthurian element (Lohengrin, Graal) belongs to Christianity, but there is also a presence of the ancient Teutonic gods of Wotan and Freya invoked by the witch Ortrud, Lohengrin's formidable adversary.

The most famous feature of Wagner's music is das Leitmotiv, although Wagner was not the inventor of the method  nor did he use the word himself. He only spoke of motifs (Motive), but did not accept the standard discourse about his work. Wagner's emphasis was always on organic unity and the integration of elements, including motifs.

I stumbled upon a beautiful online lesson by Professor Laurence Dreyfus (Faculty of Music, University of Oxford, 7 Nov 2019) in a "Lohengrin TimeMachine app". He discovers 14 motifs in Lohengrin and selects one of them for close study, das Frageverbot ("don't ask"), which appears 18 times in the opera. Dreyfus really opens Wagner's way of composition in a fascinating way.

After the Olavinlinna performance I have been listening to the opera on cd, and for the first time registered something that aficionados must have always recognized: the affinity of the Frageverbot motif with the "Flight of the Swans Theme" (the key theme first introduced in Act I:9: Finale andante and Act I:10: Scène moderato) in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake (comp. 1875, perf. 1877). A profound and meaningful homage by the Russian master to the creator of the Swan Knight.

The prohibition to ask the question is at the core. Elsa is the suspect of the murder of her brother, but comes a knight in shining armour drawn by a swan to save her. He also proposes to her, with one condition:

Nie sollst du mich befragen,

noch Wissens Sorge tragen,

woher ich kam der Fahrt,

noch wie mein Nam' und Art!

(Never shall you ask me / nor trouble yourself to know / whence I came / my name nor my kind!)

The most famous passage of the opera is the Brautlied / Bridal Chorus in the first scene of act three ("Treulich geführt" / "Here comes the bride"), probably the most popular and joyous of all Wagner melodies. Again, I am impressed by the sober and gentle interpretation. Less is more. The restraint and the solemnity make it feel special.

But: in the context of the opera it is a tragic song, because Elsa breaks her vow never to ask the question. The mysterious stranger is compelled to reveal that he is Lohengrin, the son of Parsifal the Grail King, a guardian of divine power, which he loses if he reveals who he is.

Lohengrin gets ready to go and leaves his horn, sword and ring for Elsa's brother. The swan sinks, and Lohengrin lifts Gottfried from the water. Gottfried will be the new ruler of Brabant, Lohengrin vanishes in his boat now drawn by a dove. Ortrud collapses. Elsa embraces Gottfried and sinks lifeless to the ground.

For the first time in my life I see Karita Mattila in a live performance. It is also her first visit to the Savonlinna Opera Festival. I am a long term Karita Mattila admirer. The title of her biography is characteristically Korkealta ja kovaa ([High and Loud], 2019). Her star quality is ideal for the biggest arenas, and only they are big enough for her. As a radio listener I have never felt that I have really known her.

Now I do. All singers are great, but I focus on Karita Mattila because this performance revealed a new aspect that I did not know before. She is the villain and the monster, and she commands the stage effortlessly with her mere presence. It is an understated performance with psychological nuance. There is bitterness, and a barely hidden sense of condescension and superiority. And a pathos of evil. The monster is finally a victim of herself.

This is a new Karita Mattila. Even her voice has changed. The soprano is a mezzo-soprano for a change.

Lohengrin is a mystery play, but it is never confused or insecure. It is always compelling, often in a quietly self-assured manner. It is based on myths, but there is nothing decorative in Wagner's approach. Claude Lévi-Strauss admired Wagner's audacious way of grasping complex associations from various myths and his ability of conveying a profound and genuine emotional impact via them. Lévi-Strauss even called him the "father of the structural analysis of myth".

Otto Rank put Richard Wagner on the couch, paying attention to the hero's arrival on "the billows' azure mirror", the forbidden question and the white swan pulling a newcomer out of the water, and the even more devastating implications of the unknown identity and the anxiety with triangle situations.

Otto Rank's suggestions may seem preposterous, unless we pay attention to Wagner's recurrent obsessions both in his work and his life: Already in his first opera, Die Feen (comp. 1833, unproduced until prem. 1888) includes themes of the forbidden question, search for father, conflict between worldly and otherworldly love, compassion for an animal and a key musical motif expressing aspiration towards transcendence. Wagner never found certitude about the identity of his father. He hardly knew how to live except in a triangle situation, usually with a married woman. But this private trouble he sublimated into works of universal grandeur.

The Wagnerian swan image in Lohengrin and Parsifal stems from the Knights of the Holy Grail for whom the swan was a sacred creature. Universally swans are also a symbol of everlasting love. Universally and since ancient times birds in general are sexual symbols. But often birds also appear as images related to death: harbingers from beyond, images of souls flying to heaven. I also think about The Swan of Tuonela by Sibelius based on Kalevala mythology but also "Sparven om julmorgonen" ("Sparrow on Christmas Morning") written by Zachris Topelius in memory of his little son, in the superior Finnish translation "en mä ole, lapseni, lintu tästä maasta ; olen pieni veljesi, tulin taivahasta" ["My child, I am not a bird from this earth, I am your little brother coming from heaven"].

Because this is the first production of Lohengrin that I have seen I cannot compare it, except perhaps with Lohengrin scenes in Luchino Visconti's Ludwig. I was impressed with the musical achievement, the performances and the Olavinlinna Castle. I was puzzled by the production and costume design. They look impressive in photographs, but in the real experience I felt like following a children's room performance. I was asking: are we still too close to Hitler that we must deconstruct Wagner glory to the max? Are we living in an écolo period of opera design that the approach must be ars povera, recycling. (I don't mean that this is the third revival of this production in Savonlinna, seen before in 2011 and 2013). Video: whenever there is video in a stage performance or art exhibition I look the other way or close my eyes.

I guess that the director Roman Hovenbitzer does not believe in transcendence. The sacred dimension may not be mean much to him. From the first notes to the last, Wagner's opera is an exalted piece of spiritual poetry, but Hovenbitzer's stage interpretation remains in the world of prose. Entzauberung instead of Zauberfeuer.

But the musical performance is triumphant.

...

Wagner and the cinema? "The Wedding March" from Lohengrin has been one of the most popular themes in film music since the early days. For some reason I'm thinking about the double wedding of Dorothy and Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: "Remember, honey, on your wedding day, it's alright to say yes." Today the wedding ceremony might be between Dorothy and Lorelei.

Les Timidités de Rigadin (FR 1910) is an early comedy with Rigadin (Charles Prince) as Lohengrin, the knight in shining armour. Luchino Visconti's Ludwig (IT/FR/DE 1973) is a key film about Wagner's faithful patron of arts, with a lavish scene about staging Lohengrin at Schloss Neuschwanstein. Lohengrin was for Ludwig a point of complete identification.

In a class of his own is Hans Jürgen Syberberg, especially in Parsifal. His Ludwig, Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König (DE 1972) is naturally deeply Wagner relevant, including Lohengrin passages.

Not Wagnerian but Arthurian: two unique films untypical for them by Frenchmen: Lancelot du Lac by Robert Bresson and Perceval le Gallois by Éric Rohmer. Walt Disney's The Sword in the Stone (1963) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).

A book could be written on Wagner and the cinema, and probably has. Suffice it to mention the controversial side: "The Ride of the Valkyries" in The Birth of a Nation and Apocalypse Now. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg inevitably in Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph des Willens (shot on location in Nuremberg). In Brute Force, a prisoner is sadistically beaten to the accompaniment of the Tannhäuser overture of Richard Wagner.

À propos: Daniel Barenboim in dialogue with Edward Said on Wagner and Ideology: " A lady who came to see me in Tel Aviv when the whole Wagner debate was taking place said, “How can you want to play that? I saw my family taken to the gas chambers to the sound of the Meistersinger overture. Why should I listen to that? ” (Daniel Barenboim.com, 1998)

One film is genuinely Wagnerian. Vertigo.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: MORE DATA FROM THE SAVONLINNA OPERA FESTIVAL WEBSITE:

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: MORE DATA FROM THE SAVONLINNA OPERA FESTIVAL WEBSITE:

LOHENGRIN SYNOPSIS

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE OPERA LOHENGRIN?

Libretto set in Antwerp, first half of the 10th century

Act I: Near Antwerp, a meadow on the banks of the Scheldt

Act II: The fortress at Antwerp

Act III: The bridal chamber – The banks of the Scheldt 

ACT I 

The legendary King Heinrich (Henry the Fowler), surrounded by Thuringian and Saxon knights, joins up with the Brabantian nobles led by FriedA lady who came to see me in Tel Aviv when the whole Wagner debate was taking place said, “How can you want to play that? I saw my family taken to the gas chambers to the sound of the Meistersinger overture. Why should I listen to that?”rich von Telramund on the banks of the River Scheldt. The Hungarians are nearing the border again after a long period of peace, and war is imminent. Heinrich urges his armies to band together in order to defeat the enemy. On his deathbed the Duke of Brabant entrusted the care of his children, Gottfried and Elsa, to Telramund. When she comes of age, Elsa is to marry Telramund and Gottfried will be the new Duke.  

One day, while Gottfried and Elsa are walking in the forest, Gottfried mysteriously disappears. After that, Elsa is no longer herself and seems to inhabit another world, not reacting to anything around her. Telramund, who has meanwhile married Ortrud, orders Elsa to be tried for the murder or her brother. The King must exercise his jurisdiction, and he urges Elsa to defend herself. She, however, merely trembles and is incapable of defence. Instead she speaks of a dreamlike vision she had of a knight in shining armour. 

Telramund hints that Elsa has a secret lover and has tried to get rid of her brother so that she and her lover may rule Brabant unimpeded. Appealing to God’s judgment, Telramund challenges any knight who may appear to champion Elsa. Not one steps forward. Her tears and prayers finally bring about a miracle: from afar, in a boat drawn by a mysterious swan, a hero arrives, a nameless knight sent by God to champion her. Before the duel, the hero twice demands that she must never, for any reason, ask about his origins, his name or his family. Telramund, sure that God is on his side, agrees to fight. The stranger defeats him but spares his life and as his reward wins Elsa as his wife. 

ACT II 

A gloomy, dismal night witnesses the humiliation of Telramund, a valiant man until then so untarnished. His fate has been decided by Ortrud, queen of evil, the faithful priestess of pagan gods who convinced Telramund of Elsa’s guilt. For Ortrud claims to have watched from the castle as Elsa pushed Gottfried into the lake and left him to drown. She now hatches a new devilish plot and convinces Telramund that the duel was dishonest, the strange knight having won only by witchcraft. But he can easily be defeated because his strength is now in the hands of a weak girl, Elsa. If Telramund and Ortrud can persuade Elsa to enquire after the name of her betrothed, the invincible knight will become powerless and as weak as a little child. 

Elsa comes out onto the castle balcony and Ortrud begins to implement her treacherous plan. Faking humility and repentance, she manages to convince Elsa and plays on her trust to instil more and more doubt in the mind of the future wife of the mysterious knight. Meanwhile the King has decided to banish Telramund from Brabant along with anyone who consorts with him. 

A procession of women sets off to accompany Elsa to the altar when all of a sudden Ortrud steps out of the crowd and bars her way. First Ortrud, then Telramund make use of Elsa’s weakness to persuade her that her happiness will be short-lived. For she knows nothing about her champion: not his name, his past, where he comes from, and especially how long he intends to stand by her side, if at all. Elsa proceeds towards the altar but her soul is filled with awful doubt. The hero, now Protector of Brabant, intends to lead the Germanic armies against the threat from the East on the following day and cares not for Telramund’s new accusations. He can, however, do little to bolster the young Elsa’s wavering faith as they reach the top step leading up to the church and Ortrud’s domain. Elsa, now Ortrud’s victim, turns her gaze upon Ortrud standing below, almost as if seeking solace. 

ACT III 

The famous wedding march has accompanied the bridal couple. Elsa and her hero are now alone together for the first time. Elsa confides that she had already seen her husband in a dream and been eternally enraptured. She has but one torment, however: her lips may never pronounce his sweet name. The knight tries in vain to pacify her. Elsa, in a moment of great emotional turmoil, possibly still under Ortrud’s devilish spell, believes she sees the swan, which has come to take her companion away again. Delirious and unable to find peace, she haplessly begs her husband to disclose his secret. 

All is lost. In rushes Telramund with four loyal Brabantian knights intent on killing the hero. Elsa has momentarily revived and hands her husband a sword that, at a single stroke, fells Telramund to the ground. His companions beg for mercy. 

Horrified, Elsa stands before the King, in the depths of despair. The knight announces he can no longer lead the men into battle because he has been twice wronged: he has been assaulted, and Elsa, unwittingly, has been involved in a plot hatched by Telramund and Ortrud. She has broken her vow. 

The stranger from afar no longer has any secrets. He comes from an enchanted place, Monsalvat, where the most sacred of relics, the Holy Grail, is kept. He keeps guard over it. His father is Parsifal, ruler of the holy lands, and the name Elsa was never to pronounce – and never will – is Lohengrin. Lohengrin predicts that the King will win the battle and the swan arrives from afar to take him away. As Lohengrin draws away, Ortrud reveals her terrible plot: it was she who made Elsa’s brother disappear and turned him into a swan. This same swan is now taking Lohengrin away. On hearing the words, Lohengrin stops, falls to his knees and prays. A dove descends from heaven to draw his boat to Monsalvat. The swan dives into the water and emerges as Gottfried, the new Duke of Brabant. Elsa, in despair and racked by torment, falls dead at her brother’s feet. 

...

LA MATTILA MAKES HER DEBUT 

Finland has produced outstanding artists on the international music scene, from composers to conductors, from soloists to singers, from classical music to heavy metal. And then there is La Mattila. 

Soprano Karita Mattila is a concept in her own right. Her name is known even to those who have never heard an aria in their lives. Mattila’s openness, uninhibited candour, unstinting sense of humour, combined with one of the finest voices of our time and a dazzling career, make for an appealing combination. 

THROUGH THE DECADES TOWARDS SOMETHING NEW 

Mattila’s career, already spanning more than 40 years, is not only continuing but also developing.  She is adding new roles and new productions at a pace that many in the middle of their careers can only envy. She started off this year with a return to London’s Covent Garden as Clytemnestra in Richard Strauss’s Elektra; she first performed this role at the Deutsche Oper in 2019. The role of Herodias in Strauss’s Salome is also a recent addition, but she has already performed it in Paris, Canada and Houston in recent seasons. In the spring of 2022, she packed the Finnish National Opera with performances of Koko Karita (The Complete Karita), singing not only Poulenc’s monologue opera La Voix humaine but also a lighter jazz and entertainment programme.    

One of Karita Mattila’s great strengths is her stage expertise. Her interpretations of operatic characters are flesh and blood.

BOLD AND DEMANDING A LOT FROM HERSELF 

Mattila demands a lot from herself, and this is evident from her achievements. This has also put her in a position where she has the courage to speak up and take a stand. No one in the opera world (nor indeed beyond it) failed to notice her refusal to work with conductor Valery Gergiev as early as the first Ukraine crisis in 2014. She drew the line at a place that other people did not reach until several years later. That took courage in a place like New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where even the world’s top soloists don’t consider themselves indispensable – not even Karita Mattila, who nevertheless said what needed to be said.  

A CAREER THAT KEEPS GOING AND EVOLVING 

Always concerned about her physical fitness, Mattila tours the world’s opera houses and concert halls without any sign of either her own determination or public demand slowing down. It is therefore wonderful news that this coming summer she will finally make her opera debut at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Of course she has performed in Olavinlinna before, but only as a concert soloist. She will appear in concert again this summer, but before that she will sing the role of Ortrud in Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin. 

One of Karita Mattila’s great strengths is her stage expertise. Her interpretations of operatic characters are flesh and blood. We can expect this in her interpretation of the villainous Ortrud, Wagner’s counterpart to Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, too. As a skilled actress, Karita Mattila really becomes Ortrud when she takes to the stage. Expect an interpretation that touches the heart and soul. 

CZECH OPERATIC GEMS 

The grand opera concert by the Czech National Opera, Národní divadlo, features a spectacular cavalcade of Czech opera gems. The second half of the concert features the second act of Leoš Janáček’s opera Jenůfa. Mattila, known around the world for her powerful Janáček interpretations, will sing Kostelnička Buryjovka, a role that she has not previously sung in Finland. Expectations are high in the international press. ‘Mattila is formidable in new Janáček staging’, ran the headline in The Guardian’s review of Jenůfa at Covent Garden in London in 2021. According to the critic Tim Ashley: ‘Mattila, as one might expect, was formidably intense and utterly commanding.’ Her performance in this earlier production was reviewed by the Sunday Times critic Hugh Canning: ‘She sings Kostelnička’s notes more beautifully – and accurately – than any other soprano I have heard live (more than 40)…’ 

This concert has been long awaited, as the pandemic prevented Karita Mattila’s gala concerts from taking place in 2020 as originally planned. The tragic character of Kostelnička Buryjovka as interpreted by Mattila is a splendid way to make amends. 

Text: Hannele Eklund 

...

OLAVINLINNA CASTLE

Olavinlinna Castle is one of the best preserved medieval castles in the Nordic countries and a valuable heritage site. As a setting for the Opera Festival, it is magnificent, unique – and very challenging. 

The Opera Festival venue is rebuilt every summer, as Olavinlinna Castle has no storage space or permanent structures for the festival. Loading takes place literally from the quay, as the technical equipment and sets have to be ferried across the river to the castle.  

Unlike theatre buildings, Olavinlinna has no stage machinery, so almost everything is done manually. The dressing rooms and make-up rooms for the performers are situated in the castle’s labyrinthine interior or in tents in the courtyard. There are many flights of stairs. As a visitor to the opera festival, you have to be careful, especially in the castle’s uneven stone corridors.  

‘Logistically, Olavinlinna is a difficult space that requires careful planning’, says production manager Jukka Pohjolainen. Or rather, he calls it ‘a logistical hell’, but in the same breath adds the word ‘magical’, because that’s what Olavinlinna is: ‘Despite all the difficulties, it is possible to create magical opera performances of the highest international quality in the castle. It requires some acclimatization from both the audience and the performers.’ 

OLAVINLINNA IS A MUSEUM 

The most northerly surviving medieval castle in the world is an invaluable cultural heritage site and museum. ‘Centuries of existing on the border between Swedish Finland and Russia have left the castle the way it is today, and this is what we want to preserve for future generations’, says the curator of Olavinlinna Castle, Jouni Marjamäki from the National Museum of Finland, part of the Finnish Heritage Agency.  

The Opera Festival uses only a part of the castle during the months of June and July, and the festival must always respect the castle. Although the redesigned auditorium and the canopy that protects it have increased comfort, it is still an outdoor space. There is no air conditioning, and conditions change with the weather. This is part of the attraction of a summer event. 

ARRIVE AT OLAVINLINNA IN PLENTY OF TIME 

You should allow plenty of time to get to the performance. There can often be queues, as there is only one, narrow way into the castle. Moreover, the walk from the waterfront through Tallisaari and across the pontoon bridge is surprisingly long. The gates open at 6pm, and the castle’s service counters open at the same time. 

Access routes to Olavinlinna have been improved over the years, but it is not possible to make the listed museum castle completely accessible. ‘Everything that is demolished is lost forever’, says Jouni Marjamäki. Another kind of solution is required: the Opera Festival staff transport wheelchair users to the auditorium, and therefore wheelchair seats and tickets for carers can only be booked at the festival’s own ticket office. 

FORWARD PLANNING PAYS OFF IN THE INTERMISSION 

During the half-hour intermission the castle is very busy. The interval cannot be any shorter, as there must be sufficient time to freshen up or go to the toilet. It most operas, it cannot be extended either because of the performers’ working time limits. 

Ulla Myllymäki, director of catering, encourages you to order your interval refreshments in advance. Then they can be served in the location that is closest to your seat. There are also new features: serving posts for cocktails and local delicacies. The champagne bar on the upper terrace of the castle offers a magnificent view over Lake Saimaa. People often ask Myllymäki about the utensils used. ‘Glass or porcelain would be dangerous on the castle paving, but in the summer of 2024 disposable plates will be replaced by washable and recyclable ones.’  

Olavinlinna is an indispensable part of the Opera Festival’s spirit. Impractical, perhaps. But that’s what makes it so enchanting.  

Olavinlinna is managed by Senate Properties and the Finnish Heritage Agency. The National Museum of Finland is responsible for the castle’s attractions and museums.