Kaija Saariaho’s Masterpiece Exposes Infection of School Massacre

by Mary Lou Herlihy

Students’ heads jerk backward in unison—a most horrifying moment, brilliantly staged. A sickening event we all recognize from Columbine, Virginia Tech, Oikos, Sandy Hook, Umpqua, Parkland and too many others . . .

Screaming instruments haunt Kaija Saariaho’s orchestral score, imbuing the libretto with shape, depth, and emotion. A flawless cast of performers sing and speak in multiple languages. The unseen Chorus chants the names of this shooting’s gun victims.

An elaborate, life-sized doll house rotates, revealing increasingly gruesome scenes. As Chloe Lamford’s design and engineering masterpiece turns, the two-story structure shows a wedding banquet below and a classroom above.

Joy of new love contrasts with the horror of a school shooting that took place ten years earlier. Although the family wants to bury their connection to the massacre, writers Sofi Oksanen and Aleksi Barrière’s link the two.

The wedding’s grieving waitress Tereza (mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose) uncovers their secret:  The murderer of her daughter and other students is connected to this family. The dark past now mingles with the glittering present.

Stela, the bride (soprano Lilian Farahani), a survivor of Romanian tyrant Nicolae Ceaușescu’s orphanages, believes she’s found a way out. She sings of her great fortune to have found such a wonderful new country in Finland, and family, in Tuomas (tenor Miles Mykkanen). The groom’s parents, Patricia (soprano Claire de Sévigné) and Henrik (baritone Rod Gilfry) now together on the patio, revel in a joyous moment as the newlyweds pose for photos on the balcony.

As Tereza’s contempt for this ‘happy’ family becomes unbearable, she escapes into a closet and transcends time, reuniting with her lost daughter, Markéta (wide-ranging Vilma Jää). With their faces almost touching, we hear Jää’s angelic voice with Tereza’s—in stunning harmony.

Another turn of the doll house reveals an ordinary classroom. A teacher (mezzo-soprano Lucy Shelton) and her students work on assignments above the kitchen where Tereza, below, senses her daughter. Looking upwards, Tereza moves in synch with Markéta. Present and past merge. We feel unsafe.

After the shooting, the set changes direction. A world gone mad. Lives, plans, futures that will never be. Time runs backward and the survivors will be forced to re-live this day, this horror, forever.

Most traumatized are those who were there. The teacher, with a voice between singing, speaking, and wailing, shares her guilt-ridden torment. One student seeks safety in contained spaces. A parent carries blueprints of their kids’ school. Their movements are broken, angular, scars made visible.

In a chilling scene, students are mingling in the cafeteria. Markéta is making up songs and gets attention by teasing misfits. The future shooter, his face hidden under a hat, is tormented. Iris (powerful Julie Hega), the shooter’s friend and would-be accomplice, makes it clear to us, and to future victims, that they all played a role in the carnage.

We are witnessing a deadly public health crisis. No single room, stage, or space is big enough to contain the resulting pain. “Innocence” cracks open a door for dialogue about the trauma of gun violence. A masterpiece of outreach, empathy, and vulnerability—must be seen for its sheer beauty.

 “Innocence” –composed by Kaija Saariaho, original Finnish libretto by Sofi Oksanen, multilingual libretto by Aleksi Barrière, produced by Simon Stone, conducted by Clément Mao-Takacs, Chorus directed by John Keene, set designed by Chloe Lamford,

costumes by Mel Paige, lighting by James Farncombe, sound by Timo Kurkikangas, choreography by Arco Renz, at San Francisco Opera. Info: sfopera.org – to June 21, 2024.

Cast: Ruxandra Donose, Miles Mykkanen, Lilian Farahani, Rod Gilfry, Kristinn Sigmundsson, Claire de Sévigné, Lucy Shelton, & Vilma Jää.

Students: Beate Mordal, Julie Hega, Rowan Kievits, Camilo Delgado Díaz, & Marina Dumont.

Banner photo: Ensemble for “Innocence.” Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera