Kasper Holten's 'The Flying Dutchman' to be Livestreamed from the Finnish National Opera and Ballet

The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) will be streaming the opera The Flying Dutchman and the ballet Alice in Wonderland live from the Finnish National Opera and Ballet on the Yle Klassinen website. The streamed webcasts will also be available in the Stage24 service on the FNOB website. Alice in Wonderland will be webcast on Saturday 29 October, and The Flying Dutchman on Thursday 24 November. Both performances begin at 18.50 local time (UTC +3 hours). A recording of both webcasts will be available for later viewing.

Kasper Holten to direct a new staging of The Flying Dutchman

A new production of The Flying Dutchman, directed by Kasper Holten, Director of the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, will be premiered at the FNOB on 18 November.

Holten's modern take on The Flying Dutchman is set in today's international urban arts world. The title character in this production is a famous, globe-trotting artist. Holten notes that Wagner's theme of a quest for eternal love is particularly prominent in this work: "The notion of finding peace and everlasting love was one that Wagner was poignantly familiar with, as he himself spent his whole life travelling and never really found a place to settle down. His soul and his way of life made him enemies wherever he went; they also prompted him to find a new woman and then break up with her. Even fame brought him no comfort. His artistic talent was also a curse," explains Holten.

The video design of the production is by Luke Halls. The sets are by Philipp Fürhofer, the costumes by Anja Vang Kragh and the choreography by Signe Fabricius. The performances will be conducted by American conductor John Fiore.

The title role will be taken by Johan Reuter and Olafur Sigurdarson. Senta will be played by Camilla Nylund, one of Finland's internationally most celebrated sopranos, at the premiere and five other performances, and at the remaining performances by Pauliina Linnosaari. Daland will be played by Jyrki Korhonen and Gregory Frank. The rest of the cast includes Mika Pohjonen, Sari Nordqvist and Christian Juslin.

Colourful ballet version of Alice in Wonderland by Jorma Elo

Finnish-born Jorma Elo, Resident Choreographer with the Boston Ballet, created his latest choreography Alice in Wonderland on the basis of the well-known book by Lewis Carroll. The music selected by Elo for this ballet includes Haydn and Handel, among others. The handsome sets and costumes are by American designer Robert Perdziola. The ballet was premiered on 7 October 2016, and all of its performances have been sold out. The final performance, streamed online, will feature Salla Eerola as Alice, and the Orchestra of the FNOB will be conducted by Philippe Béran.

Watch the trailer of Alice in Wonderland.

Live streaming and recordings are an integral part of the new online service rolled out by the Finnish National Opera and Ballet in January. It is designed to serve wider audiences free from the constraints of timetables and geographical location. All the transmissions and videos are available at Stage24, a service offered by oopperabaletti.fi free of charge. The FNOB's partners in organising the transmission are the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle and HSTV, the online service of Finland's largest daily the Helsingin Sanomat. The FNOB is also partner of theoperaplatform.eu, a joint service offered by European opera houses and the French art channel Arte.

Richard Wagner: The Flying Dutchman
Premiere at the FNOB 18 November at 19.00
Other performances: 22 November to 30 December
Live streaming webcast 24 November 2016 at 18.50 local time: yle.fi/klassinen and oopperabaletti.fi/live/

Jorma Elo: Alice in Wonderland
Live streaming webcast 29 October 2016 at 18.50 local time: yle.fi/klassinen ja oopperabaletti.fi/live/

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