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Savonlinna Opera - The annual summer festival in lakeland Finland
- Three operas at the renowned Savonlinna Opera Festival: Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Verdi’s Nabucco, and Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.
- Productions here are musically and dramatically first-rate, in the incomparable setting of a medieval castle on an island.
- Savonlinna is a pleasant, small town amidst the unassertive beauty of lakeland Finland.
A massive structure of rough-hewn granite rising from a rocky islet, the castle at Savonlinna is the largest in Scandinavia. It was built in 1475 and frequently re-fortified during the next three centuries, for this was border country: Nordic occupancy alternated with Russian until modern times.
Opera has been performed here in the courtyard since 1912, so it even pre-dates Verona as a festival in a spectacular historic setting. During the last few decades its artistic achievements have placed this festival among the best in the world, yet its unlikely and rather inaccessible location keeps the number of international visitors well below what it deserves.
The courtyard is backed by a starkly beautiful wall of rough medieval masonry: its huge gateway and precipitous staircase make a wonderful setting for productions of operas. Musically, the acoustically-designed temporary roof allows both intimate scenes and vast choral ensembles to sound at their best. In all three performances, the Savonlinna Festival Orchestra and Choir – picked from among the finest instrumentalists and singers in Scandinavia – will have the greatest opportunities to show their strength.
The lake district of eastern Finland is an area of gently beguiling beauty. Thousands of inter-connected lakes meet forests of birch and pine at an incredibly convoluted shoreline, the pattern varied with scattered patches of pasture and arable land neatly arranged around timber farmsteads. The scenery and pure air provide a restful and refreshing foil to nights at the opera.
This is one of our more leisurely tours with plenty of free time around a gentle programme of visits and excursions.
Itinerary
Fly at c. 10.15am from London Heathrow to Helsinki (Finnair) and drive on to Savonlinna. The 200-mile journey is broken up by dinner in a manor house.
After a morning lecture, the rest of morning is spent on a boat cruising through beautiful lakeland scenery. Evening opera: The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) (sung in Italian). Andrea Sanguineti (conductor); Henning Von Schulman or Kristian Lindroos (Figaro), Lucrezia Drei or Iris Candelaria (Susana), Waltteri Torikka or Jérôme Boutillier (Conte di Almaviva), Sonja Herranen (Contessa di Almaviva). Full cast to be confirmed.
Visit the castle of St Olaf at Savonlinna for a guided tour. The afternoon is free before an early dinner. Evening opera: Nabucco (Verdi) (sung in Italian). Ivan Lopez Reynoso (conductor), Rodula Gaitanou (director); Marigona Qerkezi (Abigaille), Giorgio Berrugi (Ismaele), Petri Lindroos or Timo Riihonen (Zaccaria). Full cast to be confirmed.
Visit the Punkaharju nature reserve and the Finnish Forest Museum. Lunch is included here before driving to Kerimäki, the largest wooden church in the world (1840s). Return to Savonlinna for some free time. Evening opera: Madame Butterfly (Puccini) (sung in Italian). Piergiorgio Morandi (conductor); Silja Aalto (Cio-Cio-San), Antony Ciaramitaro (Benjamin Pinkerton), Emilia Rukavina (Suzuki), Tuomas Miettola (Goro). Full cast to be confirmed.
Drive from Savonlinna to Helsinki for the flight to London, arriving at Heathrow at c. 5.00pm.
Expert speaker
Practicalities
Two sharing: $5,040 or $4,620 without flights. Single occupancy: $5,710 or $5,290 without flights.
Travel by private coach; accommodation as described below; 2 lunches and 3 dinners with wine; admissions to sites visited with the group; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer, tour manager and guides.
Music: top category tickets for 3 operas, costing c. £500.
Sokos Hotel Seurahuone: located by the lake in Savonlinna, this hotel is the best in town. It is basic but adequately equipped and with modern facilities. All rooms (including rooms for single occupancy) have twin beds and most have showers instead of baths.
In Savonlinna we walk from the hotel to the castle, often on cobbled streets, for all performances (just over half a mile each way). The tour would not be suitable for anyone who could not cope with this. There is also a forest walk covering uneven ground. There are long coach journeys on days 1 and 5; average distance by coach per day: c. 86 miles.
Between 10 and 22 participants.
Before booking, please refer to the FCDO website to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the destination(s) you are visiting.
Lancashire Houses, 2–10 July
Dates & prices
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2026
Date
Speaker
Price
Date:
12th - 16th July 2026
Speaker:
Mr Simon Rees
Price:
from US$4,620
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