Iiro Rantala’s Sanatorium Express on stage in Australia

Sanatorium Express (Pikaparantola) will be staged in Melbourne on 22 and 27 February by the Australian Contemporary Opera Company at their 2025 International Festival of Contemporary Opera & Song. The most recent performance of this delightful opera buffa to a libretto by Minna Lindgren was last year in Germany, by the Frankfurt Chamber Opera. Sanatorium Express takes the audience on an uplifting journey blending humour with social commentary transporting the audience to a bizarre sanatorium where a healing charlatan conducts his business with a motley crew of patients.
Rantala’s latest opera, The Magic Melodica – a highly acclaimed sequel to Mozart’s Magic Flute – was premiered at the Komische Oper Berlin in 2021.