Soiva kieli – The 150th Anniversary of Aino Ackté

In the concert we celebrate the opera singer Aino Ackté, whose birth took place 150 years ago this year.

Aino Ackté was a unique star in Finnish cultural history, she inspired composers of Finland’s Golden Age, including Oskar Merikanto, Jean Sibelius, and Leevi Madetoja, to write songs and operatic roles for her. Internationally, she was widely acclaimed; among her many admirers was Richard Strauss, who famously declared that Aino Ackté was “the only Salome.”

After spending several years in Paris and London, Aino Ackté founded the Finnish Opera in 1911 (today the Finnish National Opera) and the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1912. Without this courageous and temperamental woman, the history of Finnish opera would look very different.

This concert features songs, arias, and ensembles that Aino Ackté regularly performed in concert together with her colleagues. 

You will also hear Aino Ackté’s own reflections on the life of a singer through excerpts from her letters and diaries. How, for example, did an internationally renowned opera singer balance a demanding career with family life in the early decades of the twentieth century?

Dramatization Juulia Tapola

Students of Sibelius Academy

Musiikkitalo, Camerata Hall

7.10.2026

19.00-20.30

Free entry