- Finnish National Opera
. The Opera House features state-of-the-art technology and two auditoriums: the main auditorium with 1,350 seats and a smaller studio auditorium with 300 to 500 seats.
History
Regular
opera performances began in Finland in1873 with the founding of the Finnish Opera byKaarlo Bergbom . Prior to that, opera had been performed in Finland sporadically by touring companies, and on occasion by Finnish amateurs, the first such production being "The Barber of Seville " in1849 .In
1956 , the Finnish Opera was taken over by the Foundation of the Finnish National Opera and acquired its present name.Personnel
The Finnish National Opera has some 30 permanently engaged solo singers, a professional choir of 60 singers and its own orchestra of 120 members. The Ballet has 90 dancers from 17 countries. All together, the opera has a staff of 735.
Past music directors and chief conductors have included
Okko Kamu (1996-2000) andMuhai Tang (2003-2006) [cite news | author=Vesa Sirén | title=Muhai Tang the unanimous choice at National Opera | url=http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20020528IE17 | work=Helsingin Sanomat | date=28 May 2002 | accessdate=2008-03-30] . Since 2006, the music director and artistic director isMikko Franck .Productions
The Finnish National Opera stages four to six premieres a year, including a world premiere of at least one Finnish opera, such as "Rasputin" by
Einojuhani Rautavaara . Some 20 different operas in 140 performances are found in the opera's schedule yearly. The Ballet arranges some 110 performances annually. The Finnish National Opera has some 250,000 visitors a year.References
External links
* [http://www.ooppera.fi/etusivu.asp?kieli=2 Finnish National Opera website] (in Finnish, Swedish, and English)
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