The opera ‘A Room of One’s Own’, written by the Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen (2021) and based on the essay of the same name by the British writer Virginia Woolf (1928), which is one of the most important critical texts in the study of gender and feminist theory. It had its world premiere at the Hagen Theater (Ruhr District) in 2022. The Finnish premiere of the opera will take place this summer at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.
Maria Markina performs the role of Mary Seton, which is one of three Marys in the opera. Mary Seton in essay is a ‘Fernham’ College student.* In the opera she reflects different aspects of one person together with two other Marys (Mary Beton and Mary Carmichael).
More information and tickets can be found on the festival website:
Savonlinna Opera Festival
A Room of one’s own:
Conductor: Joseph Trafton
Libretto: Francis Hüsers
Director: Magdalena Fuchsberger
Director assistant: Mareike Teichgräber
Stage design and costumes: Monika Biegler
Lighting: Martin Gehrke
Videos: Aron Kitzig
Dramaturgy: Francis Hüsers
Chorus master: Wolfgang Müller-Salow
Theater Hagenin chorus and extra chorus Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra
Cast:
Mary Beton: Dorothea Brandt
Mary Seton: Maria Markina
Mary Carmichael: Evelyn Krahe
Judith Shakespeare: Marie-Pierre Roy
The Young Man: Anton Kuzenok
The Professor: Kenneth Mattice
*Jane Goldman: The Cambridge Introduction to Virginia Woolf, 2006, p. 97.
Press reviews:
Kimmo Korhonen: A room of one’s own for many women – Outi Tarkiainen dramatises Virginia Woolf’s classic essay in her new opera, Finnish Music Quarterly, 11.05.2022
Maria Markina 