Well,actually it was sold as Innocence by Kaija Saariaho. I have liked her music, but I didn't care for this one. In my ears the music was average mid-20th century modernism. It largely was in the background, and the libretto - or was it actually a libro? - by Sofi Oksanen dominated. I can easily see it as a theatre play with just a little more text, maybe even a mediocre Finnish film that gets hopefully offered as a candidate for the Oscar Best International Film Award, but doesn't go anywhere. I can't see any cause for the enthusiasm some have expressed, for instance Jukka Kemppinen in his Finnish language blog post calls it art on the highest international level. It was OK for the 1 hour 45 minutes it lasted, but going home I had the silly feeling it had been a waste of time to change clothes for opera.

The spoiler alert in the Helsingin Sanomat review was unnecessary. I obediently avoided reading the synopsis in the programme leaflet, but there was nothing there that would have "spoiled" it for me. The central trauma of the drama was a typical school shooting case that returns to haunt a wedding, and the end was a quiet "life goes on" optimism, in spite of the shooter's brother's marriage being apparently ruined at its start. Of course there were all sorts of points of psychological interest in the text, but it's just not my cup of tea.

The revolving house by Chloe Lamford that serves as various places in past and present was nifty, even elegant.