Innocence

Why it is worth going

Innocence is the final opera of the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, to a libretto by Sofi Oksanen, a recipient of the Nordic Council Literature Prize, in Aleksi Barrière's translation.¹ It had its world premiere at the Aix-en-Provence Festival on 3 July 2021, directed by Simon Stone and co-commissioned by Aix, Dutch National Opera, Finnish National Opera and San Francisco Opera.² Copenhagen gets Stone's original staging, with Elena Schwarz conducting, Sofie Elkjær Jensen as the bride, Francine Vis as the waitress Tereza, and Helena Juntunen, Magnus Vigilius, Johannes Weisser and Stephen Milling in the cast; Erika Hammarberg sings the Finnish herding call, karjankutsuu.¹ It is sung in several languages, with Danish and English surtitles, and is recommended from 15 years old.¹