Olli Kortekangas
Messenius and Lucia - Opera in Two Acts
Hannu Niemelä, baritone
Päivi Nisula, soprano
Essi Luttinen, mezzo-soprano
Oulu Symphony Orchestra
Arvo Volmer, conductor
Track listing
2 tracks · 101:55CD1
Olli Kortekangas
- Messenius and Lucia
- 1 Act I 50:07
CD2
Olli Kortekangas
- Messenius and Lucia
- 1 Act II 51:48
About this recording
World première recording - The opera was commissioned by the City of Oulu in northern Finland as part of its 400th anniversary and premiered there on September 16th, 2005. The recording features leading soloists from the Finnish National Opera, as well as the ensembles of the premiere performance. The libretto by Juha Seppälä combines true historical drama with a fictitious mismatched love story. The story, in two acts, traces the life of Swedish historian Johannes Messenius, a popular lecturer at the university of Upsala, who fell foul of powerful people and was sent into exile. Messenius and his wife Lucia spent twenty years as prisoners at Kajaani castle in eastern Finland, where he wrote his most lauded works. He died in Oulu less than a year after his release, in 1636.
Features
2 CDs; booklet with liner notes and synopsis in English, German, French and Finnish, and the libretto in the original Finnish and in English
Press
This production is very much on the highest level, in terms of vocal performances, sound, and technique. (...) It aims at a general audience without being opportunistic.
- Michael Kube, FonoForum, October 2006, Music / Sound
The artists
Päivi Nisula
Finnish soprano Päivi Nisula has been a permanent member of the Finnish National Opera ensemble since 1993, when she was voted 'Opera Soloist of the Year' in Finland. She has since performed an extensive repertoire, including Waltraute in Götz Friedrich's Götterdämmerung, Jane Seymour (Anna Bolena) and notably Eboli and Azucena.
Oulu Symphony Orchestra
The Oulu Symphony Orchestra is the only symphony orchestra in Northern Finland and the most northerly in the European Union. Formed in 1937, it was granted the right to call itself the Oulu City Orchestra in 1954 and was adopted by the City in 1961. Its present name dates from 2005.