Narva Opera Days Marks Its 10th Anniversary With a Minimalist Programme
Text Timo Raussi Photo Ilja Smirnov
The Narva Opera Days will be held for the 10th time, on 14–15 August. However, the anniversary programme is more compact than in previous years. The two-day festival combines classical opera with modern music theatre, featuring just two main performances. On Friday, audiences can enjoy “Turandot 100”, a gala concert by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, or ERSO, and international soloists, while Saturday presents Philip Glass‘s monumental contemporary opera “Einstein on the Beach”.
The festival has been organised annually since 2015 and takes place at the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company, the former textile factory and one of Eastern Europe’s most significant industrial heritage sites. The event aims to bring high-quality music theatre to Narva while showcasing the city’s unique cultural environment to international audiences. The festival was founded and is artistically directed by Narva-born opera singer Julia Savitskaja.
The Turandot 100 gala concert begins at 19:00 on Friday, 14 August, celebrating the centenary of the premiere of Giacomo Puccini‘s final opera. Alongside ERSO, the performers include Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, soprano Ida Falk Winland from the Gothenburg Opera in Sweden, baritone Oleksandr Kyreiev from Ukraine’s National Operetta Theatre, and Estonian National Opera mezzo-soprano Karis Trass. The concert is conducted by Jaan Ots, while pianist and television personality Johan Randvere serves as host. The programme features famous opera arias spanning four centuries, including Puccini’s celebrated “Nessun dorma.”
The festival culminates at 17:00 on Saturday, 15 August, with Philip Glass’s “Einstein on the Beach”, regarded as one of the most original works of 20th-century music theatre. The nearly five-hour multimedia-enhanced performance is presented without a traditional intermission. Instead, audience members are free to move between the auditorium and a café set up backstage throughout the evening, provided they do so respectfully. The production is directed by Italian director Matteo Mazzoni, while the organiser’s announcement simply lists the performers as the little-known “Ensemble X.”
In addition to opera, the evening before the festival opens—Thursday—offers a performance of Argentine tango. Soloists from the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ukraine will dance works inspired by compositions by Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel, and Richard Galliano.
Tickets for the Opera Days performances, as well as English-language guided art tours of the Kreenholm complex held a couple of hours before the performances, are available through the Piletilevi online ticket service. The same event page also contains the full festival programme and schedule.
To learn more about this and similar topicsevents Gala Concert Julia Savitskaja Kreenholm Narva Narva Opera Days Philip Glass Turandot
