One interesting feature in musical life in Finland during the summer months is the so called folk operas. They are usually performed somewhere in Finland almost every summer. The opera ”Paperimylläri” (Paper Miller) composed by Jouni Sjöblom tells the story of Robert Erolin. He worked for 71,5 in the service of the company Kymi and that did not contain the two years that he delivered post for the local companies. The opera featured the whole life of Erolin: the child (Onni Lahtinen), who delivered the post, the young man (Matias Husgafvel), who wooed his future wife Vilhelmiina and the retiring old man (Terho Happonen). By telling the story of one man, the opera told the story of the company, the town and partly of the whole Finnish business life.
The choir plays an important role in the opera; it took the
story forward and made connections with the history and development of Kymi. The
performance of the choir was charmingly energetic, which was worth the
applause. The opera was performed on the open air stage on the beach of the
Kymi mill. The location was impressive, when the river ran next to the stage
and behind it was the mill itself. The
historical meaning of the location was tangible.
From the point of the music the opera was nice and the
orchestra played enthusiastically. The level of the song varied quite a lot,
but in this kind of works, the story usually plays a more important role. My
favourite was Olli-Pekka Lattu, who sang three small character roles (friend of
Erolin, local priest and civil servant) with gusto. A summer fold opera is
always worth a visit and the folk operas by Jouni Sjöblom that reflect the
local history are normally very intriguing.
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