The Finnish National Opera, with generous support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation has launched The Sugar Factory – New Opera Works. This programme is designed to nurture the collaborative development and presentation of new opera, connecting the art form to our time and place.
New operas as collaborations
The Sugar Factory wishes to bring together creative minds to explore what opera can be today, and to open opera to a diverse range of artistic voices. We invite composers, writers, directors, designers, and other creative artists to create new short operas in collaboration with each other.
Each year, twelve artists will be selected through an Expression of Interest process. No prior experience in opera is required. This is an opportunity to work alongside professional singers, instrumentalists, and theatre practitioners to experiment, innovate, and bring fresh ideas to opera
Throughout the programme, leading experts in new work development will mentor, challenge, and support the artists on their creative journey.
Audiences will encounter these new works at the Almi Hall of the Finnish National Opera. The programme launched in autumn 2025, with the first performances scheduled for autumn 2026.
The open call for the second round at Sokeritehdas has closed. The artists selected for 2026–2027 will be announced in autumn 2027.
The next open call will open in spring 2027.
“”Focusing on the creative process and mentoring”
The first 12 artists (2025-2026) were chosen from among nearly 300 applicants.
“Nearly 300 applications received highlight the wealth of talented composers, writers, directors, and other creative professionals in Finland who are eager to collaborate in shaping opera.
The selected artists share a strong interest in socially engaged themes that reflect current societal issues and structural injustices. These include gender equality and feminism, the rights and visibility of minority groups, economic and social inequality, the effects of poverty, and both local and global conflicts. Through their art, the participants aim to spark dialogue, raise awareness, and challenge prevailing norms.
At the heart of The Sugar Factory are the values of diversity and inclusion. The programme seeks to introduce fresh voices and perspectives into the opera world. Participants are supported throughout the process by experienced international opera professionals. Previous experience in opera was not required to apply, encouraging artists from a broad range of backgrounds to take part.”
THE PARTICIPANTS OF 2025-2026
Susi Siriya Orenius, Sid Hille, Sara Melleri, Eeva Kontu, Ilmari Nera, Stephen James Webb, Carmen Baltzar, Anna-Maria Lipponen, Miika Hyytiäinen, Jenna Viro, Pelzi Piia Peltola, Bálint Barcsai
Susi Siriya Orenius Writer
Susi Siriya Orenius is a playwright born in Bangkok and raised in the Helsinki region. In their artistic work, Orenius explores themes such as death, sex, time, the supernatural, fantasy, class, and popular culture. They have collaborated with various theatres and festivals in Finland, including Viirus Theatre, &-Theatre, Baltic Circle, and Helsinki Biennial, working as a playwright and performance dramaturg.
Sid Hille, born in Germany and residing in Finland since 1994, is a versatile composer, pianist and performer. His stylistically diverse body of work includes orchestral music, compositions for big band, and film scores.
Carmen Baltzar is a writer, artist, and film director. Her work is rooted in embodied experience, the intersections of love and power, matriarchal realities, and the life and death of Roma people. Carmen channels and transcribes ancestral knowledge through writing.
Pelzi Piia Peltola or P. Peltola is a versatile stage artist, with work experience ranging from marginal live art performing to big stage Shakespeare adaptations. Peltola´s interest lies in the sense of truthfulness of art, whether it be the relationship between performers and the audience made visible, or the theme at hand being an urgent societal question.
Sara Melleri is a Helsinki-based actor, director, and creator of alternative cabaret. She has performed in and directed numerous theatre productions and films. In her works (such as Pop Slut, Father Fucker, and Betty Show), she plays with the boundaries of intimacy and exaggeration. Sara is fascinated by show numbers, method acting, and the intersection of luxury and trash.
Anna-Maria Lipponen is a director, actor, and screenwriter who lives and works in both Finland and Zurich, Switzerland. She graduated as an actor from the University of Tampere’s Department of Acting, and in 2021 she began her directing studies at the Zurich University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste).
Jenna Viro is a writer for whom the boundaries of art forms are questions to be explored, categorization a means to create chimeras, and confusion a necessary movement for stirring thought. She is currently studying literary theory and aesthetics in the Master’s Programme in Art Studies at the University of Helsinki.
I am a misfit composer and interdisciplinary artist creating surreal performances and compositions that embrace the bizarre realities of 21st-century life. My work emerges from tech-fueled nostalgia, digital-age immediacy, melancholy, and humor.
I am a director from Budapest, now based in Helsinki. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Film Directing from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest, and I am currently completing my Master’s degree in Theatre Directing at the University of the Arts Helsinki. My background is quite multidisciplinary: I was a member of a Hungarian independent theatre group, acting, directing and playing music in many different shows. Read more
Eeva Kontu Composer
My name is Eeva Kontu, and since 2005 I have worked as a music director, conductor, and composer in the fields of musical theatre and opera. With over 20 years of professional experience, I am deeply passionate about contemporary music drama.
I am Miika Hyytiäinen, composer, researcher and performer. In my music theatre, you can hear the humour and the passion for the human voice. I have studied and performed experimental music theatre all around Europe and found new artistic forms by combining opera, scientific lecture, performance, stand-up and my secret ingredient.
I am a distinctive scriptwriter whose goal is to tell human-centered stories with a twinkle in my eye. As a writer, I am both a bold enthusiast and a pragmatic planner in one package. In my artistic work, the most important thing for me is thinking together. Writing should not be a lonely slog, but a social event. When we tell a story, we are always telling something about ourselves to others. Read more
