Sallinen’s opera Ratsumies (The Horseman) in Helsinki

Aulis Sallinen’s (b. 1935) opera The Horseman (Der Reitersmann / Ratsumies) is on stage at the Finnish National Opera on 9-28 May, 50 years after its world premiere. Composed to a libretto by Paavo Haavikko, it was Sallinen’s first opera. It won the Savonlinna Opera Festival competition and marked the beginning of the Finnish “opera boom” that precipitated a wave of Finnish operas. The Helsinki production takes the audience on a journey filled with symbolism and historical allegories, presenting a dystopian future where love is challenged in the shadow of oppression. Buy the score.