Finnish National Opera Announces New Opera Writing Laboratory
By Francisco SalazarThe Finnish National Opera has announced it is launching a new opera writing laboratory.
The new writing program will be supported with €1.2m from the Finnish Cultural Foundation. This new initiative was proposed by Thomas de Mallet Burgess, Artistic Director at Finnish National Opera, and is designed to explore the challenges and opportunities in the writing and development of new opera for our time and place with Finnish composers, writers, directors, and dramaturgs.
The idea is to invest in artists that will serve the future of the art form, its audiences, and Finnish artists.
The initiative will see a maximum of 12 people selected each year for the program of masterclasses, workshops, mentorships, and short practical performance outcomes. These artists will then form four teams that will include a composer, a writer, and a director or dramaturg.
Previous opera experience is not required.
In a statement, Thomas de Mallet Burgess, Artistic Director of the Finnish National Opera said, “We hope this opportunity opens opera to a diversity of creative voices and acknowledges the power of sung theatre to tell our stories. The Sugar Factory New Opera Laboratory recognizes opera’s history as an art form that placed the development and presentation of new work at the heart of its social and cultural relevance. Our guiding principle is that opera is written collaboratively by artists for audiences in a way that is meaningful for our time and place.”
The Finnish National Opera recently announced that it is set to world premiere a new opera, The Morning Star,” on Jan. 30, 2026, that will be composed by Sebastian Fagerlund and written by Gunilla Hemming. The work will be adapted from Karl Ove Knausgård’s acclaimed novel and will be the first opera based on Knausgård’s work.
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