Rumon Gamba conductor
Aku Sorensen associate conductor
Emil Karlsén Ovllá
Ànne Máddji Heatta Ánná
Sara Margrethe Oskal Ovllá’s mother
Ánndaris/Anders Rimpi Ovllá’s father
Niko Valkeapää the gatekeeper and Lemet
Sanna Iljin the dormitory director
Martin Iivarinen the teacher and Kauko
Aki Saarela
Ville Hummastenniemi
Team:
Music Cecilia Damström
Joiks Emil Kárlsen
Libretto Juho-Sire/Siri Broch Johansen
Direction Heta Haanperä
Conductor Rumon Gamba
Associate conductor Aku Sorensen
Orchestra Oulu Sinfonia
Set Design Geir Tore Holm
Costume Design Helmi Hagelin
Sound Design Jari Niemi
Lightning Design Øystein Heitmann
Choreography Auri Ahola
Choir Director Kristian Heberg
Makeup and Hair Design Kateryna Vodyana
Libretto Consulting Oda Radoor
Director’s assistant Ánna-Katri Helander
Cecilia Damström: Ovllá (World Premiere)
Ovllá is an opera about the disappearance of truth and about profound loneliness. It tells the story of having one’s roots and cultural heritage torn apart.
Our protagonist, a victim of assimilation policies, has lost something crucial that he has buried and tried to forget: Who he is. Love awakens a desire to return to his roots and helps Ovllá realize that one cannot simply decide to become someone else. Can Ovllá stop forgetting and choose to start remembering?
Ovllá is composed by Finnish composer Cecilia Damström with consultation from Sámi music expert Ánndaris/Anders Rimpi, written by Sámi playwright Juho-Sire/Siri Broch Johansen and directed by Oulu Theatre’s director Heta Haanperä. The opera’s orchestra is Oulu Sinfonia, conducted by Oulu Sinfonia’s chief conductor Rumon Gamba.
In the music, we will hear the Sámi nature through grand and flowing sonic landscapes, reminiscent of what we experienced in Damström’s accordion concerto Permafrost. We will also hear how the narrow-minded and angular industrial society resists the natural flow of nature’s course through rhythm, order, and harshness.
Ovllá is a fictional story, but everything that happens in it has happened to someone on both the Finnish, the Swedish, the Norwegian and the Russian side of Sápmi at some point.
The opera is produced in collaboration with Oulu City Theatre, the Sámi National Theatre Beaivváš, and Oulu2026.
Oulu is the European Capital of Culture for the year 2026. Ovllá is part of the Oulu2026 cultural programme and cultural climate change.
Tickets
Category A 93 € / 88 €/ 79 €
Category B 88 € / 83 € / 75 €
Category C 83 € / 78 € / 71 €
Performance languages: Northern Sami, Finnish
Subtitles: Finnish, Northern Sami, English
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