Paavo the Great. Great Race. Great Dream.
Paavo the Great. Great Race. Great Dream. (
Performances
Paavo the Great. Great Race. Great Dream. was performed twice in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in 11–12 August 2000. The original premier date was 10 August, but the first performance was cancelled in April due to the simultaneous
The spectacular open-air show included special effects like burning haystacks, a real army helicopter and armored vehicles. The opera was praised by the critics, but was not a box-office success as only 20 000 spectators appeared in two shows. The latter performance was filmed and broadcast live by the
In the late 2003 the Paavo Nurmi Opera was performed in Turku by the Turku Opera Association and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. The production turned out to be a financial disaster causing great losses for the opera association.[5]
Roles
The opera has four main characters; Paavo Nurmi, his spouse Sylvi Nurmi, the later president of Finland Urho Kekkonen and the mysterious "Dark Lady".
Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 11 August 2000 |
The Turku production, 2003 |
---|---|---|---|
Paavo Nurmi | baritone | Gabriel Suovanen | Hannu Niemelä |
Sylvi Nurmi | soprano | Johanna Rusanen | Johanna Rusanen |
Urho Kekkonen | tenor | Seppo Ruohonen | Seppo Ruohonen |
The Dark Lady | mezzo-soprano | Eeva-Liisa Saarinen | Tamara Lund |
References
- ^ Composer Profiles: Tuomas Kantelinen Music Finland. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ^ a b "Finland stages pre-Olympics opera on Paavo Nurmi". Hurriyet Daily News. 15 August 2000. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ^ "Nurmi-ooppera väistää Tina Turneria" (in Finnish). MTV3. 12 April 2000. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ^ "Sport and song combine in Paavo Nurmi Opera spectacle". Helsingin Sanomat International Edition. 7 August 2000. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ^ "Paavo Nurmi juoksi Turun Oopperayhdistyksen kuralle" (in Finnish). Turun Sanomat. 29 January 2004. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
External links
- Paavo Nurmi Opera Helsinki City Theatre (in Finnish)