Admin

Semperoper Dresden

Conductor

Maxime Pascal

Orchestra

Staatskapelle Dresden

Stage director

Stage director (+2)

Lorenzo Fioroni

Set designer

Composer (+4)

Paul Zoll

Costume designer

Costume designer (+1)

Annette Braun

Lighting designer

Lighting designer (+3)

Fabio Antoci

Chorusmaster

Jonathan Becker

Dramaturge

Dramaturge (+1)

Dorothee Harpain

Mezzo-soprano (+3)

Paula Murrihy

Waitress

Soprano (+3)

Rosalia Cid

Bride

Soprano (+2)

Anu Komsi

Mother-in-Law

Tenor (+3)

Mario Lerchenberger

Groom

Baritone (+4)

Markus Butter

Father-in-Law

Mezzo-soprano (+4)

Fredrika Brillembourg

Teacher

Tenor (+1)

Simon Jensen

Student 4

Soprano

Olga Heikkilä

Student 6

Semperoper

Sound designer

Romualdas Urba

Singer

Venla Blom

Student 1

Jessica Elevant

Student 2

Nusch Batut

Student 3

Carlo Nevio Wilfart

Student 5

Regiehospitanz

Stage director (+1)

Leonie Dehne

Chorus

Saxon State Opera Choir Dresden

Bass (+4)

Timo Riihonen

Priest

Bass-baritone (+2)

Jukka Rasilainen

Can the past be denied and memories erased? After a mass shooting at an international school, pupils, parents and teachers are left horrified and traumatised. The teenage perpetrator is committed to a psychiatric ward. Ten years later, Stela is celebrating her wedding to Tuomas, who she met in her home country of Romania, together with his parents and a priest. She is so happy that she doesn’t ask why there are so few guests. But the waitress hints that there is something Stela doesn’t know – that her groom has another brother.

„Innocence“ is the fifth and final opera by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952 –2023). Following its acclaimed premiere at the d’Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2021, it went on to enjoy great success in London, Helsinki and Amsterdam. This work deals with acutely relevant questions: What happens to a society after such a gruesome and disturbing act of violence? How can trauma be overcome? Together with librettist Sofi Oksanen and dramaturge Aleksi Barrière, Kaija Saariaho created a gripping yet poignant psychological thriller that relentlessly unpicks the characters’ entangled culpability, layer by layer, while leaving unanswered the question of each person’s guilt or innocence.

Photos