School shooting sets backdrop for new SF Opera production

San Francisco Opera has three big productions in store for the summer — including two works you may have seen, and one you probably haven’t.

Two are enduring classics — Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and Handel’s “Partenope” — and the third is “Innocence,” which, for many operagoers, is this year’s must-see offering.

Written by the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, the 2021 opera takes place at a wedding reception 10 years after a school shooting. “Innocence” makes its widely anticipated American premiere June 1 at the War Memorial Opera House, and already may be the most talked-about event of the season — one that unfolds in surprising ways.

“It’s a masterpiece,” says company General Director Matthew Shilvock, who first saw “Innocence” in its world premiere production in 2021 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. “I would say it’s the most impactful thing I’ve seen onstage. The story takes you into a deeply nuanced subject.”

“Innocence,” with a libretto by Sofi Oksanen and Aleksi Barrière, is set in Saariaho’s Helsinki, where the shooting took place years earlier; the story focuses on a wedding party a decade later.

Part of the opera’s intrigue is how the two events — a horrific one in the past, and what promises to be a joyous occasion as the opera begins — are linked. As the event unfolds, a waitress whose daughter was slain in the tragedy recognizes the bridegroom as the brother of the shooter.

Shilvock says the opera depicts violence in ways that are seldom portrayed. “The families arriving know each other — something you don’t typically see in the news. The longtime impact — 10 years from the shooting until now — has brought many layers of emotional trauma.”

Director Louise Bakker, who staged “Innocence” in a Dutch National Opera production, agrees. The opera is brilliant, she says, exploring a hard subject in a transfixing score. “Its psychological depth, the richness of the libretto — Kaija’s written tension, chaos, all those things,” she said. “She’s written atmosphere. There’s no predictability in the opera; it’s unlike any other.”

In rehearsals, Bakker and the cast — which includes mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose, soprano Lelian Farahani, tenor Miles Mykkanen, baritone Rod Gilfry, and bass Kristinn Sigmundsson — have devoted hours to discussing the opera, and the company has enlisted trauma experts to work with the artists. “If you don’t do that,” said Bakker, “where do the emotions go? You see how trauma manifests physically, where bodies have retained it, repressed it for so long.”

Like Saariaho’s dramatic “Adriana Mater,” which the San Francisco Symphony presented in a semi-staged 2023 production, the “Innocence” score is riveting, with music that confers Saariaho’s unique combination of beauty and intensity on the subject. “It’s unlike anything we’ve had on the stage before,” said Shilvock, who met the composer in Paris not long before her death in 2023. “She showed me the sketches for ‘Innocence.’ She’d mapped out the entire opera on a timeline — every single scene by the minute. To see her lay out the blueprint that way was astonishing.”

If “Innocence” promises unforgettable drama, the season’s other two productions tap into sublime comedy.

“The Magic Flute,” in an award-winning production from Opera Komische, arrives in a streamlined production inspired by silent cinema, 1920’s cabaret, early Hollywood animation and illustration by Edward Gorey, with Christina Gansch as Pamina and Amitai Pati as Tamino. “It’s clever, heartfelt, funny,” says Shilvock, “a production full of beautiful storytelling that travels through different worlds.” Company music director Eun Sun Kim conducts.

“Partenope” rounds out the season in Christopher Alden’s Roaring Twenties production, conducted by Christopher Moulds and featuring Julie Fuchs in the title role, with Daniela Mack as Rosmira and Alek Shrader as Emilio. “As with all good comedy, it’s a work of the heart, full of fabulous comedic humor,” notes Shilvock. “It’s great fun to be back in that production.”

Still, “Innocence” is the opera of the season, and Shilvock hopes that opera lovers who haven’t yet experienced Saariaho’s work will this summer. “I would count her among the great composers of our time,” he said, “someone who had an absolute grasp of her craft, but also the ability to bring that craft into something truly global. With this opera, we’re now able to bring her music into the Opera House for the first time, and I’m incredibly proud of that.”

All three operas are available for in-person performances; live-stream performances are available for “Innocence” (June 12) and “Partenope” (June 23).

Contact Georgia Rowe at growe@pacbell.net.