The Finnish National Opera (in Finnish: Kansallisooppera) in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland.

Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993.

Regular opera performances began in Finland in 1873 with the founding of the Finnish Opera by Kaarlo Bergbom. Prior to that, opera had been performed in Finland sporadically by touring companies, and on occasion by Finnish amateurs, the first such production being The Barber of Seville in 1849.

In 1956, the Finnish Opera was taken over by the Foundation of the Finnish National Opera and acquired its present name.

The Finnish National Opera stages a world premiere of at least one Finnish opera every year.

External link

• Finnish National Opera website http://www.ooppera.fi/etusivu.asp?kieli=2 (in Finnish, Swedish, and English)