Review: Kaija Saariaho’s INNOCENCE – An Opera About a Killing Spree – Doesn’t Let Up in Met Premiere

I noticed that the Simon Stone production of Kaija Saariaho’s INNOCENCE, which had its local premiere last night at the Met, was a co-commission and -production of five other opera companies. It was not hard to tell why: It was challenging (the music and storytelling included) at every turn—brutal, cruel, angry, depressing and, all around, traumatic.

In other words, it’s a work that isn’t a candidate to replace LA BOHEME in any house’s repertoire, no matter how enthusiastically it was greeted by the Met audience (and it was).  

Saariaho, who died in 2023 and is frequently counted among the greatest composers of our time, worked with Finnish librettist Sofi Oksanen (with multilingual libretto and dramaturgy by Aleksi Barriere, who also happens to be her son), in setting the work in contemporary Helsinki.

From the first notes of music, tautly led by Maestro Mallki, rumbling and difficult to absorb, we were filled with portents of what was ahead. It soared from there, with urgency and the inability of those involved to understand what was happening.

According to director Stone’s interview in the program, the composer had the piece worked out in its entirety in her head so that he could imagine it visually, to put it on stage, without ever hearing a note of her score. He certainly took her ideas and ran with them, in a brilliantly conceived concoction. There was no doubt that Stone was completely in control--and in the best way.

The words and the music melded into one, coolly and succinctly. INNOCENCE follows two storylines: a mass shooting at an international school and a wedding a decade later, of the perpetrator’s brother, bringing in the whys and wherefores of the plot through the stories of people involved in it, from a variety of circumstances.

While technically not a “character,” the stage design by Chloe Lamford was critical to the storytelling, revolving its place-setting from the school where the massacre took place to the wedding reception. She was ably seconded by the lighting of James Farncombe and the sound of Timo Kurkikangas (another debut). The costumes were by Mel Page and the “choreography” was from Arco Renz, both in debuts.

Even as the singers shifted between languages, between different times, between their own perceptions of what was going on, the action remained clear to us who were watching . Although our own attitudes about what occurred might have shifted as details were revealed, there was never a doubt that the sad ending could not have been different…at least for me.

No one was let off easily. Even those who have come to grips with what has happened—and the part they played in the violent denouement—were no closer to anything that might be called peace.

Though there are only about a dozen characters in the piece, there is really no center in the cast.

DiDonato (the Waitress Tereza) might be the name we recognize, but she never acts like she’s the name above the title, even if we see her start to boil when she introduces (rather, reintroduces) herself to the mother at the wedding and begin to see the different forms that violent might take.

There were many stunning pieces to this horrifying puzzle, including a dauntingly good performance from Vilma Jaa as Tereza’s daughter, Marketa, who was one of the victims, in her Met debut, climaxing as she asked her mother to stop marking her birthday and get on with her life.

The towering presence of contralto Julie Hega as Iris, co-conspirator in the events, was remarkable. The shocking nature of the admissions by the Bridegroom was impressively played by tenor Miles Mykkanen, who was notable earlier in the season was Clay in KAVALIER AND CLAY.

Bass Stephen Milling was indispensable as the Priest, as was Jacquelyn Stucker’s Bride, perhaps the closest the opera has to an innocent, and Rod Gilfry again showed off the depth of his acting chops as father of the Bridegroom. And then there was debutant Simon Kluth as Anton, silent witness to his own horrors.

Caption: Joyce DiDonato as the Waitress and Vilma Jää as Markéta.

Credit: Karen Almond/Met Opera

INNOCENCE will be performed through April 29. For more information and tickets, see the Met’s website.