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| W. A. Mozart / Lorenzo Da Ponte: Le nozze di Figaro / The Marriage of Figaro. Photo: Savonlinna Opera Festival, 2026. |
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| W. A. Mozart / Lorenzo Da Ponte: Le nozze di Figaro / The Marriage of Figaro. Photo: Savonlinna Opera Festival, 2026. |
Die Hochzeit des Figaro / The Marriage of Figaro / Les Noces de Figaro / Figaron häät / Figaros bröllop.
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata. Commedia per musica in quattro atti. Genere: opera buffa. Ein italianisches Singspiel in vier Aufzügen.
Composer: W. A. Mozart, K. 492
Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte
Premiere: Burgtheater, Vienna, 1 May 1786
Based on the play La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (1784) by Beaumarchais.
Olavinlinna stage director 2026: Francis Hüsers (after Johannes Erath 2015)
Conductor: Andrea Sanguineti
Set designer: Katrin Connan
Costume designer: Birgit Wentsch
Chorus master: Jan Schweiger
Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir
Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra
Cast
[Henning von Schulman / Figaro, Almaviva's valet 3., 6., 9., 22. & 25.7.]
Kristian Lindroos / Figaro, Almaviva's valet 13., 16. & 20.7.
[Lucrezia Drei / Susanna, Rosina's maid 6., 9., 22. & 25.7.]
Iris Candelaria / Susanna, Rosina's maid 3., 13., 16. & 20.7.
Waltteri Torikka / Conte di Almaviva 3., 13., 16. & 20.7.
[Jérôme Boutillier / Conte di Almaviva 6., 9., 22. & 25.7.]
Johanna Nylund / Contessa Rosina di Almaviva 3., 13., 16. & 20.7.
[Sonja Herranen / Contessa Rosina di Almaviva 6., 9., 22. & 25.7.]
Elsa Angervo / Cherubino, Almaviva's page
Tuija Knihtilä / Marcellina, Dr. Bartolo's housekeeper
Matti Turunen / Bartolo, doctor and lawyer from Seville
Einar Dagur Jónsson / Don Basilio, music teacher & Don Curzio, judge
Serene Erhie / Barbarina, Antonio's daughter, Susanna's cousin
Martin Iivarinen / Antonio, Almaviva's gardener, Susanna's uncle
Language: Italian. Finnish and English surtitles (translator n.c.).
3 h 30 min, 1 intermission
Premiere of the production 3.7.2026
Savonlinna Opera Festival
Olavinlinna Castle (1475) capacity 2.264 seats.
Olavinkatu 27, 57130 Savonlinna, Finland
Visited on Monday, 13 July 2026
AA:
"Pas indécent, mais insolent".
Gustav III, (King of Sweden 1771-1792), on Le nozze di Figaro
“Chi non ha vissuto gli anni prima della rivoluzione non può capire che cosa sia la dolcezza del vivere.” Epigraph attributed to Talleyrand (1754-1838) in the film Prima della rivoluzione (IT 1964) by Bernardo Bertolucci.
The fourth performance of The Marriage of Figaro by W. A. Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte at this year's Savonlinna Opera Festival is engrossing from the first bars to the last. Often I am in tears. A layman in music, I am unable to analyze the experience, but Mozart means much to me.
The Marriage of Figaro is a masterpiece of Viennese Classicism, a highlight of the Rococo and the first work in the Mozart / Da Ponte opera trilogy (The Marriage of Figaro - Don Giovanni - Così fan tutte), based on the second play in Beaumarchais's Figaro trilogy (Le Barbier de Séville - Le Mariage de Figaro - La Mère coupable).
Le Mariage de Figaro was also an inflammatory play, tinder for the French Revolution (1789). Tomorrow is the Bastille Day, le Quatorze Juillet, la Fête nationale française. Fresh in memory is the Fourth of July and the 250th Anniversary of United States independence. The heroes of the Thirteen Colonies launched the Age of Revolution in 1776. The writing was on the wall for monarchs and aristocrats everywhere. They had been weighed and found wanting.
The subject of The Marriage of Figaro - the lordly right (droit du seigneur) to sexually exploit all women - is a metonymy for aristocratic privilege. For Beaumarchais, the subject was personal: he was Figaro.
Mozart and Da Ponte were driven by the same theme also in Don Giovanni, in which the villain gets a punishment in Hell. Count Almaviva, his comrade in debauchery, only becomes an object of ridicule, but loss of prestige can be devastating for a nobleman.
The miracle of Mozart and Da Ponte was their ability to transcend sordid material so brilliantly. They guide the opera through tragedy and comedy, the sacred and the profane, the sublime and the ridiculous, the solemn and the playful, the venerable and the insolent. All in a halo of a multi-layered irony.
The plot is artificial in construction and genuine in emotional intelligence. It is a purgatory of emotions: fun and sorrow, hope and despair, bliss and agony. We descend into valleys of tears and climb mountains of happiness.
The groundswell is joy. Even in darkest moments the joy of comprehension and compassion. It is always about the joy of life, and love supreme.
The aesthetic category for Mozart and Rococo is grace. ("Grace" in the sense of "grace under pressure". "effortless grace", "the grace of youth", "with good grace", "social graces", the three mythical Greek goddesses of charm and beauty). Mozart and Da Ponte discuss disgrace with grace.
In anticipation of tonight's performance I prepared by listening to recordings such as that of the Glyndebourne Festival 1962 (recommended by Hannu Nuotio) and the tv record of the Mozart 250th anniversary production in 2006 at Milano's La Scala (stage directed by Giorgio Strehler).
At Olavinlinna Castle, already the overture invites us to a warm embrace. A compelling and confident Mozartian harmony is at the orchestra's command. Such a full-bodied, resonant sound no recording can convey. We the 2000 audience members are the living soundboard to the music, spellbound in its grandeur and approach to the divine. I am certainly not alone in thinking that this is God's music played by a band of angels. A reminder of a lost paradise and a promise of happiness.
The cast is great. Kristian Lindroos as Figaro and Waltteri Torikka as Almaviva excel in masculine swagger. Iris Candelaria as Susanna and Johanna Nylund as Rosina incarnate love triumphant. They are the burning heart of the production. Elsa Angervo triumphs in the trouser role of Cherubino, the ubiquitous troublemaker, the untamed, polymorphous Eros, a key queer characters of the opera.
The most profound numbers are the arias of Rosina (Johanna Nylund) "Porgi amor qualche ristoro" and "Dove sono i bei momenti" and Susanna (Iris Candelaria) "Deh' birni non tardar, oh gioia bella / Al desio di chi t'adore" - and their duet "Sull aria".
A tragicomic moment is brilliantly interpreted by an all-voices sextet in "Sua madre, sua padre?". Figaro learns the secret of his parentage in the nick of time when he is about to be force-wed with his own mother. And the parents are amazed at a reunion with "the fruit of our ancient love".
"Voi che sapete", the aria of Cherubino, the ball of confusion, is performed by Elsa Angervo with a fine sense of torment and complexity. "I seek something beyond myself, but I don't know what it is."
Serene Ehrie conveys movingly the agony of Barbarina about the loss of the tell-tale pin in "L'ho perduta me meschina".
The mise-en-scène is a fiasco. The stagecraft is so meaningless that I ignore it. Those who see in Mozart the surface only mistake his works as mere divertissement. The official promotion material of the festival is so clueless that I suspect that it has been made by a machine. What a pity. The Marriage of Figaro is full of great themes both timeless and topical. The topical issues include Me Too and queer identity, ignored in the PR introductions.
The Marriage of Figaro is a satire on the aristocracy. When the aristocrats have abandoned their values of generosity, honour and dignity, also "noblesse oblige", it is time for the people to appropriate them.
The turbulent voyage of desire and agony ends in a happy end worthy of Hollywood.
But the greatest achievement is a triumph of the spirit.
...
CINEMATIC
La Règle du jeu (FR 1939, Jean Renoir) begins with a quotation from Le Mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais:
Cœurs sensibles, cœurs fidèles,
Qui blâmez l'amour léger,
Cessez vos plaintes cruelles :
Est-ce un crime de changer ?
Si l'Amour porte des ailes,
N'est-ce pas pour voltiger ?
N'est-ce pas pour voltiger ?
N'est-ce pas pour voltiger ?
The opening music is by Mozart. Not from The Marriage of Figaro but:
Dreizehn Deutsche Tänze, K. 605, No. 1.
Savonlinna official promotion: "Mozart is one of the fastest composers and wrote The Marriage of Figaro in just six weeks—and even added new arias during rehearsals to suit the singers."
"Susanna and Figaro want to get married. They are very much in love, have good jobs at the count’s court and are just moving in their first apartment together. Live is good. If it wasn’t for the conniving count himself, who is in love with Susanna and wants to instill his right to the wedding night again. Together with the countess and the help of teenage page Cherubino, Susanna and Figaro plot against the count."
"After 11 years, this fun and lively production from the prestigious Semperoper in Dresden, is returning to Olavinlinna with a fresh cast. Johannes Erath’s production highlights the finest qualities of one of the greatest comic operas, with clever costumes and vibrant, dynamic direction. Together with Mozart’s absolute mastery of musical comedy, but also for intimate moments full of beauty, vulnerability and finesse, this evening is something special, that has captivated our audience also in the year 2015."
"“Too many things happen at Figaro’s wedding in one day. After a few champagne bubbles, you get a hangover,” director Johannes Erath says. “Mozart was a playful guy, who did what he liked and I wanted to the same energy that Mozart had.” "
"Susanna and Figaro have it all: New jobs, a shiny apartment and a wedding coming up. But Count Almaviva is also more than interested in Susanna and wishes to claim his right to the wedding night. This is not only for Susanna and Figaro the proverbial sour apple, but also for Countess Almaviva, who is jealous. Together with the young Cherubino, who himself is in love with the Countess, they invent a plot against the Count. Through a lot of confusion and mix-ups with everyone plotting against everyone, the end is a celebration of love. Susanna and Figaro get married, and the Countess and the count experience their love again. " Savonlinna official promotion
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