Markku Pölönen has directed the story of losing rural men to the big screen many times. Now the movie has turned into an opera, and the women are keeping up the pace. The black tragedy of Elina’s death is a bath that will definitely be felt.
– Many operas are forgotten because they are boring. This is not.
– I was looking for humor in it – stupid as I am – and I found it. But Merikanton’s music turned my sled completely. The composer himself mentions that \”I wrote the fourth act in tears\”.
The art of great emotions is therefore in store when Elina’s death practically gets a new premiere in Mikkeli on Saturday, March 4.
– It’s opera at its best. Let’s cut to the chase: it either works, or it’s ridiculous. Singers have to dive in there. If done at half power, the end result is corn.
My hero baritone is a jerk
When Elina’s death was shown for the first time in 1910, the viewers were shocked. Finne’s story was ahead of its time.
Pölönen considers the main culprit to be Kirsti’s character, who completely overshadows Klaus Kurje. Kirsti is a fierce, powerful woman with pagan thoughts and hints about sex.
– I assume that the gentlemen of that time didn’t like it when the handsome, star-chested guy was a total jerk. But today the story feels quite modern. It doesn’t fight or beat, but there are some great pictures written on it.
Vale docent Aapo Heikkilä’s story for the stage
More about Aapo Heikkilä, for example, from Yle’s story from 2018.
Heikkilä died on the train journey to Helsinki, where he was supposed to give a lecture in the university’s largest hall, Porthania.
Pölönen plans to bring Nuojua’s resurrected Heikkilä to Porthania during the spring. Half of the box office revenue of the play is to be donated to students’ mental health work.