the last temPtations

Joonas Kokkonen’s hit opera The Last Temptations will be heard during the summer of 2022 as a dramatized stage version in Joensuu Church. The main roles are performed by baritone Esa Ruuttunen and soprano Varvara Merras. The work is accompanied by a piano, organ and percussion. The conductor is Kaapo Ijas.

Kokkonen’s only opera, The Last Temptations, premiered at the Finnish National Opera in September 1975. Joonas Kokkonen was inspired to compose The Last Temptations by his little cousin Lauri Kokkonen, who had published a theatre production of the same name in 1959 and had also created an opera libretto based on the play. The opera tells the life story of the layman preacher Paavo Ruotsalainen. This work set in motion a new rise of Finnish opera, and later in 1983 the opera was performed e.g. At the New York Metropolitan Opera. The composition is considered to be one of the most important Finnish-language operas and it also created a new “opera genre” when it came to be called a “mundane opera”. The last temptations eventually became Kokkonen’s masterpiece and best-known composition.

THE LAST TEMPTATIONS

Composition – Joonas Kokkonen
Libretto – Lauri Kokkonen
Conductor in Joensuu – Kaapo Ijas
Conductor in Aholansaari – James S. Kahane
Piano – Jussi Littunen
Organ – Ilpo Laspas
Production – Teatro Productions

Collaboration: Aholansaari Foundation, Herättäjä Association

ROLES:

Paavo Ruotsalainen – Esa Ruuttunen
Riitta, Paavo’s wife – Varvara Merras
Juhana, Paavo’s and Riitta’s son – Olavi Suominen
Jaakko Högman, blacksmith – Matti Turunen
1. woman – Aurora Ikävalko
2. woman – Kaisa Näreranta
3. woman – Margit Westerlund
1. man – Timo Turunto
2. man – Juha Eskelinen
3. man – Hannu Forsberg
Anna Loviisa, Paavo’s 2nd wife – Eeva-Maija Haukinen
Albertiina Nenonen, handmaiden – Emma Mustaniemi
People – choir, Teatro Ensemble