{"id":18720,"date":"2021-07-22T12:47:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T09:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/2021\/07\/saariaho-opera-probes-the-tragic-resonance-of-massacre-at-school\/"},"modified":"2021-08-24T12:56:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T09:56:13","slug":"saariaho-opera-probes-the-tragic-resonance-of-massacre-at-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/2021\/07\/saariaho-opera-probes-the-tragic-resonance-of-massacre-at-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Saariaho Opera Probes The Tragic Resonance Of Massacre At School"},"content":{"rendered":"

DIGITAL REVIEW \u2014\u00a0Kaija Saariaho<\/a>\u00a0creates dream worlds unlike any composer since Debussy, with saturated harmonies often augmented by an underlying electronic music track, creating a landscape where disparate musical events are positioned with quietly insinuating power at times or erupting into operatic cataclysms at others. These gardens of sound \u2014 with microtonal haze, muted trumpets, and woodwind trills \u2014 always have dark undercurrents, though never darker than in her complex\u00a0<\/strong>new opera\u00a0Innocence<\/a><\/em>, premiered to great acclaim and in grand, fully realized form July 3 at\u00a0Festival Aix-en-Provence<\/a>. It\u2019s now available for streaming through Sept. 7, 2024, on\u00a0Arte.tv<\/a>, where I\u2019ve watched it multiple times for lack of a plane ticket to France.<\/p>\n

Musically, Saariaho is very much her dreamy self but in ways that are radically re-contextualized in dramatizing a highly realistic nightmare about a student who suddenly opens fire in a Helsinki high school. Yes, significant Columbine parallels are here. But why should this story be an opera, as opposed to a film or extended news report? As one friend observed, the opera creates an aura of urgency and horror that facts can\u2019t touch.<\/p>\n