Bravo Club, a community for the most passionate friends of opera and ballet, is an enchanting opportunity to get closer to art and artists in exclusive member events. A Bravo Club membership not only enriches your opera and ballet experiences, but also allows you to support the arts that are close to your heart.
The annual membership fee is 1 000 euros and the membership is valid for one season. Club activities take place between August and May. If you join on 1 January, 2021 or later, the membership fee for the remainder of the season is 50% of the full amount.
The proceeds from the Bravo Club are used to support artistic work at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. In season 2020-2021 they will be assigned to the Opera Beyond project. The objective of this ambitious, multi-year and international project is to place the Finnish National Opera and Ballet among the global leaders of immersive experiences and the use of new technologies in its field by 2022. For more information, please visit: https://operabeyond.com.
In the photo: Erica Back, photographer: Jonas Lundvist
The first event of the autumn will first feature Lilli Paasikivi, Artistic Director of the Opera. She will first tell us about her spring and summer, about programme planning and logistics with the sudden addition of a wholly unexpected complication to an already challenging puzzle. Many scenarios have been considered, adopted and abandoned, but at the same time something creative and quite unique has emerged: Covid fan tutte will be premiered on 28 August.
This production emerged out of a discussion between Lilli and Esa-Pekka Salonen as to which work could replace Die Walküre, which has been rescheduled to the beginning of next year. Lilli will talk about this exceptional concept, and we will be able to attend a stage rehearsal beginning at 19.00.
On 17 August, members of the National Ballet will be rehearsing COW by Alexander Ekman, to be premiered on the main stage on 22 August. Choreographer Alexander Ekman will himself be present. We will be attending the second part of the rehearsal, which is with sets and costumes.
COW is a pompous work of dance theatre in 12 scenes that will touch our senses, tickle our funny bones and also challenge our notions of ourselves and of society at large. Ekman originally created COW for the Semperoper Ballet in Dresden.
Ekman has been described as the enfant terrible of dance in the North; his merits include filling the stage with water for Swan Lake at the Oslo Opera and with straw for A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Royal Opera in Stockholm.
The rehearsal will feature guest coaches and Senior Ballet Master Anu Sistonen, whom we will meet after the rehearsal.
Anu has been a dancer with the Finnish National Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet and the Cullberg Ballet, appearing in leading roles in numerous productions. After her dancing career, she has created more than 20 choreographies with performances for instance in France and Luxembourg. She has also visited several ballet companies in northern and central Europe as a guest teacher.
We will be attending a rehearsal in the ballet studio for a new ballet to be premiered at the beginning of November, Jekyll & Hyde. The choreographer, Val Caniparoli, is already familiar to Finnish audiences, as the National Ballet performed his popular version of Lady of the camellias in 2017. This new work was created by Caniparoli specifically for the Finnish National Ballet. Based on the classic horror novel, the production is set to music by Frédéric Chopin, Krzysztof Penderecki and Henryk Górecki, among others.
The choreographer will be present, and we will hopefully be able to talk to him after the rehearsal (to be confirmed).
The visit will begin with a presentation of the operations and news of the FNB Youth Company by its coordinator Nicholas Ziegler, a Star Dancer with the FNB. We will then attend a rehearsal of the Next Steps evening of the Youth Company under choreographer Emrecan Tanış. The rehearsal in the ballet room begins at 17.15. Emrecan has been a choreographer for some time alongside his dancing career, working with both domestic and foreign companies.
The Next Steps evening will feature a new choreography by Emrecan and another premiere, a new work to be created by Javier Torres for the Youth Company. Extracts from classic ballets fill out the programme. The Next Steps evening was postponed from spring 2020 to spring 2021.
The revenue of the Bravo Club from the 2018–2019 season was donated to the Youth Company, allowing the group to go on an excursion to Amsterdam.
Right to changes reserved; a more detailed programme will be published at the beginning of the autumn.
The proceeds from the Bravo Club are used to support artistic work at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. A more specific objective is set annually.
In the first season of the Bravo Club, 2017 – 2018, the proceeds were directed to the Finnish National Ballet’s Youth Company, enabling the group’s educational visit to Amsterdam. In the season 2018 – 2019 all the proceeds are directed to the Ballet School of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.
In the season 2019–2020, the club supports the Opera Beyond project. The objective of this ambitious, multi-year and international project is to place the Finnish National Opera and Ballet among the global leaders of immersive experiences and the use of new technologies in its field by 2022. For more information, please visit: https://operabeyond.com.
A minimum of four member events are organised each year. These events are an opportunity to meet the artists and hear their thoughts on their work and upcoming productions. You will also have the chance to observe the rehearsals of different productions during member events.
**Read more about buying tickets further down on this page.
A small quota of tickets for premieres is reserved exclusively for Bravo Club members and their plus-one guests. These tickets can be bought for seats in the stalls.
The tickets from the Bravo Club quota will be sold during the following days in the order of inquiries. Please send the inquiries to bravo@opera.fi:
Join the Bravo Club by emailing us at bravo[at]opera.fi. We will send you a confirmation of your membership and an invoice. You can also purchase the membership at our ticket counter. Bravo Club will be on a summer break from 21 June to 4 August, 2019. We will be at your service again at bravo[at]opera.fi from 5 August. If you become a member during the summer, you will hear from us then.
As a Bravo Club member, you will receive regular updates about club news, benefits and events to the email address you have provided. For more information, please read our Privacy policy.
Harri and Sultana Rehnberg, Bravo Club members
Bravo Club members Harri and Sultana Rehnberg attend the first club event of the season with their daughter in August 2017. At the event, the star of the opera Höstsonaten – Autumn Sonata, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter described her preparation for the upcoming world premiere.
Photographer: Heikki Tuuli
Bravo Club members have met, for example, the following people at various events: General Director Gita Kadambi, Opera’s Artistic Director Lilli Paasikivi, Ballet’s Artistic Director Madeleine Onne, Conductor and Composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, Soprano Marjukka Tepponen, Composer Jaakko Kuusisto, Soloist Dancer Rebecca King, Dancer Lucas Jerkander, Ballet’s Artistic Administrator Sampo Kivelä ja Production Manager Jere Pensikkala.
In addition, the club members have been able to get a special tour at the set workshop from Manager Tapio Säkkinen, and have visited the warehouses in Nurmijärvi together with Anders Mattsson. The club members have been observing ballet rehearsals led by choreographers and enjoyed early stage rehearsals of various opera and ballet productions. In addition, Bravo Club members have enjoyed performances of the Finnish National Ballet’s Youth Company and Ballet School.
Request more information:
bravo[at]opera.fi
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