The second of the three programs to be presented by San Francisco Opera (SFO) during its spring season will be the United States premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s sixth and final opera, Innocence. SFO co-commissioned this work in conjunction with the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where it received its world premiere on July 3, 2021, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, and the Dutch National Opera. The opera is structured in five acts with no intermissions, and the overall duration is about 105 minutes.
A set design by Chloe Lamford, which accommodates the unfolding of multiple narratives in Innocence (photograph by Jean-Louis Fernandez, courtesy of SFO)
The original libretto was written in Finnish by Sofi Oksanen. However, when dramaturg Aleksi Barrière began in 2013 to develop the production of the world premiere, he developed a polylingual libretto, which included texts in English, Czech, Romanian, French, Swedish, German, Spanish, and Greek, as well as Finnish. The narrative is one of multiple stories, beginning with a wedding taking place at the beginning of this century, which is then intertwined with an account of a school shooting, which took place ten years earlier. What emerges is an exploration of questions of innocence (hence the title of the opera) and guilt in a context of painful truths.
Staging was directed by Simon Stone, whose work will be presented by SFO for the first time. The production here will be directed by Louise Bakker, who will also be making her SFO debut. Conductor Clément Mao-Takacs will also be making his SFO debut. The bride (Stela) and bridegroom (Tuomas) at the wedding will be sung by soprano Lilian Farahani (another SFO debut) and tenor Miles Mykkanen, making his role debut as well as his SFO debut. The character that links present and past at the wedding is the waitress Tereza, whole role will be sung by mezzo Ruxandra Donose, also making her role debut.
As has already been observed, this production will be given five performances at 7:30 p.m. on June 1, 7, 12, 18, and 21, and 2 p.m. on June 16. The performances will take place in the War Memorial Opera House at 301 Van Ness Avenue on the northwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street (across MTT Way from Davies Symphony Hall). Ticket prices range from $26 to $426, and a single Web page has been created for purchasing tickets for all of the above dates and times. Tickets may also be purchased at the Box Office in the outer lobby of the Opera House or by calling 415-865-2000. The Box Office is open for ticket sales Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Web page also includes a hyperlink to an Opera Previews Web site and a second Web page with information about pre-performance talks.
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