Where four roads meet in Oulu City Theatre, the 11th of February, 2017

WHERE FOUR ROADS MEET

 

I liked Tommi Kinnunen’s book “Where four roads meet”, so, of course, I had to go and see the opera made of this book in the Oulu City Theatre. And I definitely did not need to regret the decision. The music by Tapio Tuomela and the libretto by Sami Parkkinen formed an extremely touching composition.

Tuomela’s music surprised me with its depth of feeling; you really could hear the spectrum of human feelings in the music. Combined with the austerity of the language of the libretto, they created a fantastic picture of the Finnish soul.

In my opinion the set was wonderfully built (Kalle Nurmela). The technical possibilities of the main stage were used innovatively to create with the help of a few rising/descending/circling elements nice and versatile surroundings for the opera.

But without doubt the story itself was the highlight of the opera. The main character was Lahja by Jenny Carlstedt, who during the evening grew from joyful young woman via bitterness of a middle-aged wife to an old lady begging for forgiveness for mistakes made. Carlstedt made the performance of a lifetime as Lahja. I am not saying that the other main characters were unsuccessful in their roles, on the contrary. One of the most beautiful moments of the opera was when Onni (Gabriel Suovanen) sung Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt to his lover.

I really hope that till opera will be performed also in other locations, since it definitely deserves an even wider audience.

 

The main stage

The programme (copyright Oulu City Theatre)