I started to plan works for stage already before my studies at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. My first chamber opera ”Velhosiskot” (The Witch Company) was performed in Helsinki as an independent production in the autumn 1996 (Link). In 1997-98 I could study in France the very basics of the music theatre composition, because I was chosen as a composition student at Académie européenne de la musique connected to the festival of Aix-en-Provence . The result of my studies was a short but intense chamber opera ”Madame de Sade” based on the French translation of the play by Yukio Mishima ”Sado kôshaku fujin” (1965). Later I composed a new version in a collaboration with the stage director Janne Lehmusvuo. The premiere of the new version was performed in Helsinki in August 2010 as a production of the opera ensemble ”Ooppera Skaala” . I finished the score in Japan during my artist recidency at Tokyo Wonder Site .

*WATERFIRE is a free interpretation in the form of an opera of the writings of Myoe Shonin (1173-1232), a Japanese monk who took concrete action in favor of the rejects and outcasts of his time, but he is most famous for keeping a Dream Diary (Yumenoki) for over forty years. What do we learn from our dreams? In them we meet memories, fears, fantasies. We visit real and imaginary places. Some say we witness glimpses from the future. At any rate, it is a space of exploration, of learning and of healing. The audience is invited to experience one dream cycle together, 100 minutes of sound, vision and multiple languages of which we are the dreamers. Like in a dream, we will be visited by familiar things in strange forms.

Premiere: Maison de la Radio, Paris, Festival Présences, February 14, 2017. Thomas Kellner, actor Vladimir Percevic, viola Secession Orchestra, conductor Clément Mao-Takacs Stage director: Aleksi Barrière Premiere of the new version: Finnish National Opera, Musica nova Helsinki Festival, February 6, 2019. Thomas Kellner, actor Vladimir Percevic, viola Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera, conductor Clément Mao-Takacs Stage director: Aleksi Barrière