Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s breakthrough opera Love from Afar (L’amour de loin) will have its Metropolitan Opera premiere in New York in December. The opera will soon afterwards be seen at Urania National Movie Theatre in Budapest. Love from Afar originally premiered at Salzburg Festival in 2000. It is one of the most acclaimed operas of the 2000s and it has won a Grammy for Best Opera Performance in 2011. This is the first time in more than a century that an opera composed by a woman will appear at the Metropolitan Opera. The production is directed by Robert Lepage and conducted by

The gala world premiere of recently deceased Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s opera, The Mine will be held in the Hungarian State Opera House on 21 October, 2016 and another three performances will be given through October and the beginning of November. The Mine depicts the Hungarian uprising of 1956 and will be performed to commemorate the Revolution’s 60th anniversary this year. The story of miners trapped in a mine unfolds in the opera as the metaphor for a society fighting dictatorship. According to Rautavaara the piece was inspired by Hungarian refugees he met in Switzerland in

The legendary story of the Marimekko founder Armia Ratia delights in Budapest in October, as a movie about her life is seen as part of the Nordic Fashion Ilustration exhibition’s additional program. The fictional film Armi Alive! is directed by Finnish Jörn Donner. Ratia is one of the most famous Finnish business executives of all times and the creator of the distinct Marimekko look, which still represents Finnish design all over the world. Ratia’s story is narrated in the movie through a play being prepared by a theatre group. The play focuses on the 1950s and the 1960s, the decades when

The Finnish all-female trio Olimpia Splendid will be playing at the UH Fest the 4 th of October in Budapest. The band released its debut album Nuttu Nurin in 2012. All members of the group have their roots deep in the Finnish underground and punk scene and are known for various Finnish UG bands. Besides Finland, Olimpia Splendid has gained international reputation by playing e.g. In Estonia and Sweden. In an article in The Wire one can read: "The EP strains post-punk, 1960s surf nuggets, angular No Waves and mangled guitar trough a filter of Finnish bedroom anarchy, birthing a sound so

The Nordic Fashion Illustration exhibition is a collaboration between the Finnish Institute Finnagora, the Estonian Institute, the Danish Embassy, the Norwegian Embassy and the cultural centre Eröművház. The event is also supported by the Hungarian Association of Architects (Magyar Építőművészek Szövetsége). The opening of the exhibition will be held the 26th of September at 7 pm. During the Fashion Illustration exhibition you can discover the ever popular genre of fashion illustration through the works of Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian artists. The exhibition presents