When Vilma Jää enrolled at the Sibelius Academy to study folk music she never expected to end up playing a major role in one of the 21st century’s most acclaimed operas.
Kaija Saariaho, Finland’s leading opera composer, was working on a piece called “Innocence” and wanted one of the characters to sing in a style based on Finnish folk music rather than with a traditional operatic sound. She had heard Jää’s work on YouTube and asked her to make an audition tape.
