Innocence
Innocence is a piece that Opera fans will be well aware of, but laymen may have only heard about recently when it burst onto the Met stage. It's rare these days that a contemporary Opera catches the cultural zeitgeist in the way Innocence has, but boy is it exciting when it does.
Innocence features a score by Kaija Saariaho (1952 - 2023), a Finnish composer she produced an impressive catalog across genres, receiving high profile commissions and having the distinction of being the first female composer to have an Opera presented by the Met in more than a century. The Finnish libretto is by Sofi Oksanen with the Multilingual libretto and dramaturgy by Aleksi Barriére. Indeed, the piece features nine languages including Finnish, Czech, French, Romanian, Swedish, German, Spanish, English and Greek. One of the principal roles, Markéta, was written for an indigenous Finno-Ugric folk singer. There is an off stage chorus and a full orchestra marked by a preponderance of woodwinds and brass, strings and four separate groupings that include vibraphone, celesta, bells and crotales. The piece is built around an ensemble of characters with no true "lead" of the piece.
Spoilers ahead for the story (you can't really talk about it without revealing the central plot element, which is featured in all of Innocence's marketing materials.)
Innocence is set in contemporary Helsinki, Finland, and follows two storylines. One recounts the events of a mass shooting at an international school, while the other, a decade later, is set at the wedding of the perpetrator's brother. At the same time, victims of the shooting offer recollections of the attack and comment on their struggles to overcome the trauma it wrought in their lives. One of the victims we hear from did not survive the shooting, and when, ten years later, her mother finds herself as a caterer at said wedding, she brings history to light, threatening the marriage and the stability of the groom's family. Indeed, the bride has not even been told that her now husband HAS a brother, let alone anything about the shooting. Eventually we learn that the groom, and a friend, were going to help his brother with the shooting, but "chickened out" last minute, causing his brother to take all of the blame, while he was able to, in some way, go on with his life.
The concept and execution of the story are smart. And perhaps the biggest aid in the storytelling (and the star of the evening) is the set by Chloe Lamford and the direction by Simon Stone (this is the same production that premiered in 2021, and is finally coming to the Met Stage.) the set is a giant two story, 360 structure that rotates in a full circle almost the entire show without stopping. In the structure we can see various rooms that at first show the wedding reception (banquet hall, kitchen, closet, bathroom, hallway, balcony) and slowly turns into the high school where the shooting took place. The transformation happens seamlessly and almost magically. We see a scene in an upstairs dining hall, and by the time we rotate back to it, it is a classroom, with every set piece changed. Not only is the set a marvel, but I have no idea how Stone managed to stage this piece...a scene will end in the banquet hall with two characters walking into the kitchen, and we will then see a scene between the two of them in the kitchen. How Stone managed to time this out so that the staging is completely organic, but we are seeing the characters we need to see in the location we need to see them at precisely the right time is one of the most incredible pieces of theatrical magic I think I've ever seen. Especially since we experience the set always moving at the same speed. Whether this is actually true or not, it gives us the feeling that the tension of the situation is driving and dictating the story... the story is not dictating the rules of the world.
Sadly, for me, and I know many will disagree, the score was the weak point for me - which isn't great in an Opera. The music is incredibly atonal and abstract, and while this frequently sets a brilliant mood, it does little for a two hour intermission-less listening experience. It's the kind of score that brings to mind Lydia Tár's discussion of Anna Bogolubova in Tár. Not that every score needs to be hummable, but there was pretty much nothing to latch onto in this score. Opera scholars will likely criticize this description, but the experience is of listening to an entire Opera comprised of nothing but recitativo accompagnato. There are no arias here, at least not experientially. The one exception is the material written for Markéta (as mentioned above). The girl who died in the shooting. Her material can't be considered anything close to an aria either, but because of the unique style it stands out beautifully and is the most memorable music of the evening (and performed incredibly here by Vilma Jää.)
The use of the title, Innocence, is clever. The clear assumption is that it refers to the children who were victims of the shooting (and, let's be clear, they all were, I'm about to speak metaphorically about the meaning behind the dramaturgy of the piece.) But as becomes clear towards the end, they weren't as innocent as they seemed. It turns out sweet, ethereal Markéta was the school bully and, along with and egged on by other students, would mercilessly and publicly torment the shooter (not that that's justification for anything.) In one of Markéta's beautiful solo moments earlier in the show we learn what she did the morning of the shooting - which includes making up a song while she was walking to school (something we're told she frequently did.) We're hearing her sing beautifully and are imagining the kind of Finnish Disney Princess ditty she sang, and morn that her voice has been silenced. Later, in a brilliant reveal, we learn that the songs she made up were mocking songs created to wound the shooter - at the request of her classmates. We learn that another student, Iris, and the shooters brother (the Groom) both planned on helping in the shooting before they "chickened out." Markéta's mother (Waitress) has, obviously, been devastated by the shooting. But she also refused to acknowledge the true nature and actions of her daughter, and (seemingly deliberately) destroys the wedding. The teacher, who was present at the shooting, who was an incredibly caring teacher, still didn't see the warning signs leading up to the shooting...
Indeed, the true innocent here is the Bride (Jacquelyn Stucker). A woman who's mother abandoned her in an Eastern European orphanage, she is in awe that she has found love, and made her way to a country that is supposed to be (and she feels is) the safest in the world. During the course of the show she has her entire world ripped out from under her through absolutely no fault of her own. It's devastating to see the ripples of how the shooting reached out to ruin the lives of people who were hundreds of miles away, and entirely unconnected, when it took place.
All of the performers are excellent. The standouts for me were Vilma Jää as Markéta as Markéta, Joyce DiDonato as the Waitress, Julie Hega as Iris, and Miles Mykkanen as the Bridegroom. Their singing and acting were incredible.
This is an unusual piece with a compelling story, wonderful performances, direction and design. The score won't be for everyone, but I don't think that's a hinderance to enjoying the piece. I highly recommend checking it out, especially if you're not a big fan of more "traditional" Opera.
Laura Sele
Innocence is currently playing on in NYC at the Met
Tickets: https://www.metopera.org/season/2025-26-season/innocence/
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