Opera & Ballet

The Finnish National Opera performs some 20 different operas in 140 performances annually, including between 4 and 6 premieres at least one of which is Finnish, attracting around 250,000 visitors every year. Suomen Kansallisbaletti, or Finnish National Ballet, is a professional ballet company operating from the Opera House in Helsinki. It is the only Finnish company regularly performing a classical ballet repertoire, and arranges some 110 performances annually.

Opera in Finland

The leading opera company in Finland is Suomen Kansallisooppera, or Finnish National Opera, and is based in the modern and stylish Opera House located by the lake on Töölönlahti. Featuring state of the art technology and excellent acoustic properties, the Opera House has two auditoriums, the main hall seating 1,350 and the smaller studio auditorium seating between 300 to 500 depending on the arrangement. The Finnish National Opera performs some 20 different operas in 140 performances annually, including between 4 and 6 premieres at least one of which is Finnish, attracting around 250,000 visitors every year.

However, the true star of the cultural calendar in Finland is the annual midsummer Savonlinna Opera Festival, an internationally acclaimed festival staged in the magical setting of the courtyard of medieval Olavlinna Castle. The festival lasts almost the whole month of July and attracts a total audience of around 60,000 every year, with between 20 and 25 per cent estimated to be from abroad. The auditorium seats 2,264 and has excellent acoustics. During the 2011 season, over 300 artists from 12 countries appeared in performances of Tosca by Puccini, Don Giovanni by Mozart, Lohengrin by Wagner, and Don Carlo by Verdi.

There are also opera companies performing in the cities of Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kotka, Kuopio, Lahti, Mikkeli, Oulu, Pori, Tampere, Turku and Vaasa.

Ballet in Finland

The Finnish state provides regular subsidies to The Finnish National Ballet, Helsinki Dance Company, 11 other dance theatres, and five regional dance centres from different parts of the country. In total, there are over 40 dance companies operating in Finland at present. For the year of 2009 there were 170 premieres and close to 2,500 dance performances, with 41 Finnish dance companies performing abroad in around 30 different countries.

The leading exponent of ballet in Finland is Suomen Kansallisbaletti, or Finnish National Ballet, which is a professional ballet company operating from the Opera House in Helsinki. Founded in 1922, there are 73 dancers employed at present. It is the only Finnish company regularly performing a classical ballet repertoire, and arranges some 110 performances annually.