Yesterday evening I saw Gounod's Faust, set in 18th century Finland, and why not? A pleasant experience, only the pious ending jarred slightly. The conductor was Kari Tikka.

At the gate outside the opera stood two girls distributing thin white scrolls bound with golden string. I took one and opened it at the tram stop. It turned out to be a religious tract. The headline referred to Faust, and then continued by quoting Tolstoy and New Testament. There was more text on the other side: "Did you know that Kari Tikka has let Jesus into his heart like Bach, Gounod, and other great composers?" Etc. At the bottom of the page there were several web addresses to Christian media.

I can only hope that Kari Tikka was not responsible for this stunt.