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. Read more about the performances.
The open call for the 2026-2027 round at The Sugar Factory has closed.
The next open call will open in spring 2027.
“Focusing on the creative process and mentoring”
“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 2026-2027
Librettists: Khalil AbuSharekh, Anna Viitala, Nastja Rönkkö, Juho Gröndahl
Composers: Aurora Hentunen, Amanda Onnela, Maija Ruuskanen, Yuto Obata
Directors: Jonna Wikström, Kaisa-Liisa Logrén, Ona Korpiranta, Sofia molin
Khalil AbuSharekh Librettist
Khalil AbuSharekh is a Palestinian American writer based in Helsinki, Finland. He grew up in Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. His essay “Zeppole (aka Awama)” was selected for The Best American Essays 2025 (Mariner Books).
Anna Viitala is a Helsinki-based dramaturg, playwright, screenwriter, director and lyricist. She graduated as a dramaturg from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Throughout her career, she has worked on major stages, in the independent theatre scene, and across film, music and dance.
Nastja Säde Rönkkö is an artist working with video, text, performance and installation. Rönkkö has exhibited and performed internationally in places such as Somerset House, London, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, SXSW, Austin, TX, Royal Academy of Arts, London, Glasgow International, FACT, Foundation for Art and Technology, Liverpool, Museum of Moving Image, New York, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki and BMoCA Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO.
Juho Gröndahl ia a playwright, dramaturge, and translator. They graduated from the University of the Arts Helsinki Theatre Academy in 2015. Gröndahl’s previous work includes various projects ranging from big stage musical theatre to community theatre and audioplays.
Ona Korpiranta is a Helsinki-based theatre director and playwright. She graduated from the Directing programme at the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2021. She has studied dramatic arts in four different countries, with studies in cities including Washington, D.C. and São Paulo.
Kaisa-Liisa Logrén is a director and performance artist whose work has taken her to the stages of both institutional theatres and independent companies. She has worked particularly on premieres of new Finnish plays. Logrén is a long-standing member of two independent performing arts communities: in the Toisissa tiloissa collective, she explores performance through transformation, while at Myllyteatteri she investigates a multifaceted theatrical language.
Jonna Wikström has been captivated by opera for longer than she may have realised. At around the age of nine, she saw Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Back at the family’s summer cottage, a group of children decided to create an opera of their own, with Wikström naturally taking on the role of the Queen of the Night – coloratura flourishes and all. At the time, she could hardly have imagined that more than forty years later, she would be directing opera at the Finnish National Opera.
Sofia Molin works as an actor, director, and theatre educator. Her artistic practice ranges from clowning to postdramatic stage adaptations and strongly site-specific experimental forms of performance. Her recent works have been presented at venues including Turku City Theatre, Teatteri Telakka, Tehdasteatteri, Grus Grus Teatteri, and Åbo Svenska Teater.
Maija Ruuskanen is a composer, pianist, and music theatre professional whose work brings music and the performing arts together. Born in Savonlinna, Finland, Ruuskanen began her professional relationship with opera at an early age, working as a pianist at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.
Yuto Obata is a Japanese composer based in Helsinki, Finland. Through finely detailed acoustic works, his music explores the often-overlooked potential of Western classical instruments, creating new sonic and performative possibilities. In recent years, his practice has expanded to include multidisciplinary collaborations with dancers, librettists, and stage directors, exemplified by the mini-opera Piggy Sparkle (2025) and Palm-of-the-Hand Songs (2026), a work for a dancer and pianist.
Amanda Onnela became a composer after years of studying classical voice and working as an opera singer—an experience that sharpened her awareness of the power structures embedded within opera. Her work explores power, politics, tension, utopian thinking, radical freedom, and the spectres of worlds past. Her special interests include handwritten music, history and chess.
Aurora Hentunen is a pianist-composer best known for her work in the jazz scene, where she leads her own ensemble and is active as a performing musician. In her work, Hentunen often explores ideas related to nature and its protection, as well as broader social themes.
