FNO–Musica nova–Taite ry by Venables, From (2023/2023), Directed by Johanna Freundlich, Almi Hall, Helsinki, Finland

Denis & Katya tells the heart-wrenching true story of a teenage couple. The tragic chain of events makes us consider both how we tell stories and how these stories may become distorted over the internet. This affecting production had its world premiere at Opera Philadelphia in autumn 2019 and has since been performed to critical acclaim at opera companies around the world. It won the Fedora Generali Prize for Opera in 2019 and the Ivor Novello Award in 2020. In November 2016 Denis Murayov and Katya Vlasova started a broadcast on the Periscope live streaming app, which showed the harrowing final days of the teenage couple. As the hours passed, Denis and Katya continued their broadcast, reaching an ever bigger audience, and speculation on the internet became increasingly rampant. An opera that poses difficult questions ”The British composer Philip Venables and the American librettist Ted Huffman have created a unique work with a striking dramaturgy,” says Johanna Freundlich, who has directed and translated the opera for the Finnish stage. “It poses questions about humanity, which are often not easy. What effect does our gaze have? Where do you draw the line on voyeurism? How can we really see someone before it’s too late? Despite its distressing subject matter, the work has a remarkable sense of documentary and respects the integrity of its characters.