4-6-8-11-19-21 July 2023

As a tribute to his teacher for opera directing, August Everding, our in-house artistic partner, Erik Söderblom will take on the revival and upgrading of Mr Everding’s legendary production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

The original production was premiered in 1973 - 50 years ago! Erik, then a curious teenager, followed the rehearsals and the work of the director with great admiration; this very performance was crucial for Erik’s later choice of profession. Another reason for Erik’s curiosity was that it was conducted by his father, Ulf Söderblom.

The premiere of the revival will take place on July 4 2023 with a top cast conducted by Sakari Oramo.

"𝐀 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠," says Erik, "𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟓𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤: 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐖𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 - 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦."

Savonlinna Opera Festival

📷 courtesy of Savonlinna Opera Festival

"Mozart has remained, but the world has changed. We are creating a fresh Magic Flute in our own time, just like the creators of the previous version did 50 years ago." Erik Söderblom