Text Juho-Sire/Siri Broch Johansen
Joiks Emil Karlsen
Commissioner Oulu City Theatre & Oulu Sinfonia
Publisher Gehrmans Musikförlag
Category Opera
Year 2025
Duration 120 min
Orchestration 9 soloists, choir and orchestra (2222-2220-perc- 65432)

Program note

Ovllá is an opera about the disappearance of truth and about profound loneliness. It tells the story of having one’s roots and cultural heritage torn apart. When a child is separated from their parents and forced into a boarding school, they encounter an unfamiliar language and culture. This experience leads to the trauma of abandonment and isolation. What was once familiar becomes foreign, and the child grows up ashamed of their identity. This sense of alienation forms an identity that offers no peace. 

Our protagonist, a victim of assimilation policies, has lost something crucial that he has buried and tried to forget: Who he is. Love awakens a desire to return to his roots and helps Ovllá realize that one cannot simply decide to become someone else. Can Ovllá stop forgetting and choose to start remembering? 

Ovllá is written by Sámi playwright Juho-Sire/Siri Broch Johansen, composed by Finnish composer Cecilia Damström with consultation from Sámi composer Ánndaris / Anders Rimpi and directed by Oulu Theatre’s director Heta Haanperä. The opera’s orchestra is Oulu Sinfonia, conducted by Oulu Sinfonia’s chief conductor Rumon Gamba

The music evokes grand and flowing sonic landscapes deeply rooted in Sámi nature. However, beneath the beauty lies a stark narrative of struggle: colonial powers like Finland, have stripped the Indigenous Sámi peoples of their harmonious coexistence with nature, seeking to replace it with industrialisation and institutionalisation. This is reflected in the music, where the natural flow is juxtaposed with rhythm, order, and rigidity. Amid this orchestral dialogue, the authentic voices of Sámi joikers emerge, embodying the resilience of individuals reclaiming an identity stolen from them in childhood.  

The composer, Cecilia Damström, will write the music in close collaboration with Sámi musicians, who will compose all the joiks we hear in the opera. Their joiks will be an integral part of the musical composition to honor their heritage and integrate their voices into a shared musical expression. 

The production brings to the Main stage of Oulu City Theatre the perspective of the Sámi, the only indigenous people of the Nordic countries, and the painful consequences of state-led oppression that continue to affect new generations of Sámi. 

At the heart of the opera is the sharing of knowledge and taking responsibility for state-led injustices, as well as highlighting the experiences of the Sámi people. While the work critically examines societal structures and discrimination, it also gently focuses on the individual. Ovllá is a fictional story, but everything that happens in it has happened to someone on both the Finnish, the Swedish, the Norwegian and the Russian side of Sápmi at some point. 

The production features Sámi artists as guest designers: Geir Tore Holm as set designer, Helmi Hagelin/Bihtošoabbá Helme as costume designer, and Øystein Heitmann as lighting designer. The sound design is by Jari Niemi from Oulu Theatre. Emil Kárlsen will be taking on the lead role. 

Performance languages are Northern Sámi and Finnish. There will be Finnish, Northern Sámi and English subtitles. The opera is produced in collaboration with Oulu Sinfonia, the Sámi National Theatre Beaivváš, and Oulu2026. 

Oulu is the European Capital of Culture for the year 2026. Ovllá is part of the Oulu2026 cultural programme and cultural climate change. 

 

 

Ovllá Opera Oulu City Theatre
Ovllá Opera  – Oulu City Theatre

 

Interviews and articles

English Articles:
Operawire: Cecilia Damström’s ‘Ovllá’ to Make World Premiere in Oulu 

Finnish Articles:
Kulttuuritoimitus: Oulussa ensi-iltansa saava Ovllá on ensimmäinen Suomessa kantaesitettävä saamenkielinen ooppera

Davvisámegiella:
Yle Sápmi: Ovllá-opera čalmmustahttá ásodatáiggi – sámeoperas gullo juoigan- ja lávlunnuohta seaguhus
NRK Sápmi: Kárlsen váldorollas Suoma vuosttaš operas davvisámegillii
Yle Sápmi: Sámeopera Ovlá náitá oktii opera ja luođi – bihttá čájehuvvo Oulu teáhteris jagi geažes

Swedish Articles: 
Gehrmans Musikförlag: NY OPERA – Jojk och iskristaller i Ovllà av Cecilia Damström

Danish Articles: 
Klassisk Bureau: Den første helaftensopera på samisk får verdenspremiere i Finland


Performances

2026 January 16th World Premiere by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 January 17th second performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 January 20th third performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 January 21st fourth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 January 23rd fifth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 January 24th sixth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 January 28th seventh performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 January 30th eight performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 January 31st ninth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 4th tenth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 5th eleventh performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 6th twelfth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 7th thirteenth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 11th fourteenth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 13th fifteenth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 14th sixteenth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 20th seventeenth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 21st eightteenth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 27th nineteenth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info
2026 February 28th twentieth performance by Oulu City Theatre and Oulu SinfoniaMore info