Ovllá

by Cecilia Damström

Description

"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."

Cecilia Damström

Instrumentation

2222 2220 01 0, str, chx, 7 soloists

Category

Works for the Stage

Language

Se

Opus no.

Op. 92

Lyricist

Juho-Sire/Siri Broch Johansen

Premiere

Oulu City Theatre and Oulu Sinfonia, January 16, 2026, Oulu, Finland

Commisioned by / dedications

Commissioned by Oulu City Theatre

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