Introducing Rockland

Pine Mountain Music Festival is making plans for the New World Premiere performances of its new opera Rockland, on July 15 and 17, 2011 at the Rozsa Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan.

The Old World Premiere will take place in Nivala, Finland, a few weeks earlier.

On January 27, we held a press conference about the new opera “Rockland,” which will be premiered in July 2011.  The press conference was held at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts in Houghton, the same site where the upcoming premiere will be presented. 

 

This opera is based on a long-forgotten incident in Rockland, Ontonagon County, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in 1906, when a group of striking Finnish copper miners were confronted by sheriff’s deputies.  Shots were fired, and two Finnish miners were killed.

One of the miners, Alfred Laakso, wrote an account of the events, which his grandson, Andy Hill, read a few years ago and thought would make a good piece of musical theater.  He discussed this with John Kiltinen, who saw possibilities for an opera.

John Kiltinen pitched the idea to Pine Mountain Music Festival, whose board liked it.  In short order, John Kiltinen and his wife, Pauline, raised the money for the commissioning phase, partly from themselves and partly from Gloria Jackson, who has family roots in Nivala, Finland.

Jussi Tapola, a well-known stage director at Finnish National Opera, was hired as librettist, and Jukka Linkola, a renowned composer with several other operas and symphonic works to his credit, was given the job of composing the opera.  It was completed in mid-2009.

Currently the Nivala Festival (Jokilaaksojen Musiikkisäätiö) is making plans for the June 2011 production in Finland, and Pine Mountain Music Festival is doing the same for the July 2011 production in the United States.

 

The Logo

In the Rockland logo, the pick symbolizes the mining profession of the protagonists, and generally the frontier life in which so many of the early settlers, our ancestors, struggled to survive and make a better life for their descendants.

The white rose is to provide contrast to the pick, as the opera includes a love interest.  It also provides an interesting historical reference, as Alfred Laakso was a member of the White Rose Temperance Society in Rockland.

The thorns on the rose stem (the arm of the "R") symbolize that life could be hard, and difficulties could arise.

 

The Story Line

To help promote the opera, Pine Mountain Music Festival is working with community artist Mary Wright on a project called "The Story Line."  Schoolchildren and others in many communities in the Upper Peninsula are invited to write the story of an ancestor who worked hard and overcame adversity, like the people in the opera.  These one-page stories are then transferred to dishtowel-sized pieces of fabric and hung from "clotheslines" as a way of honoring our ancestors and making young people aware of the history on which their lives are built.  These displays will appear in various communities and ultimately around the Rozsa Center at the time of the opera’s premiere in July 2011.

 

MUSIC AT THE ROCKLAND PRESS CONFERENCE!

JANUARY 27, 2010

The “Rockland” press conference held at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts in Houghton, Michigan, was unique in featuring a preview of music from “Rockland” the Opera.  This was the first performance of excerpts from the Linkola score, and was sung by Northern Michigan University voice students:  Jacob Laitinen, tenor; Tara Pokela, soprano; and Danielle Teter, soprano.  Lynne Lanczy provided piano accompaniment.  Paul Truckey, NMU faculty and professional tenor, debuted the role of Pete Casavino, singing a solo which provides “comic relief” in the opera.

From Finland, Jukka Linkola, composer, and Jussi Tapola, librettist, participated in the press conference by reflecting on the opera’s development.  Mr. Tapola recalled his personal connection to Michigan through his paternal great-uncle.  Researching in Finland and in Michigan, he described the “surreal experience” of reading authentic historical documents as background for the libretto.  He stated, “I believe this operatic venture will encourage the younger generation to plunge with us into the life of their ancestors.”       

Panels from the Story Line project, developed by artist Mary Wright and displayed at the press conference, illustrated Mr. Tapola’s statement.  Ms. Wright described the development of the project at the request of the “Rockland” Task Force.  Conceived primarily in support of the opera “Rockland,” it is also a stand-alone art piece.

Jukka Linkola remembered his visits to Michigan, including Marquette and Rockland, where,  he said, “feelings of Finnish sisu were palpable.”  He noted he was convinced that the opera  “needed to be not only about the past, but also about the here and now.”  Mr. Linkola has dedicated the opera to John and Pauline Kiltinen, “whose tireless diligence” kept him “engaged with the composition process.”  He called them the opera’s “godparents.”  Mr. Linkola also acknowledged the support of Gloria Jackson, another major donor in the development of “Rockland.”

John Kiltinen reviewed the conception and evolution of “Rockland.”  Andy Hill, Alfred Laakso’s grandson, related historic personal information which was the impetus for the underlying concept of the new opera. 

Josie Olson, Historian of the Rockland Historical Museum, provided an historical context of Rockland, Michigan in 1906.  This is the time-period  in which the opera occurs.  Pine Mountain Music Festival Artistic Director Joshua Major described the opera’s storyline and also the collaboration between PMMF and the Jokilaaksojen Musiikisäätiö in Nivala, Finland.  The Old World Premiere will be performed in Nivala in June 2011.

At the close of the press conference, Bill Leder, President of the PMMF Board of Trustees, presented a white rose to Leona Hill, daughter of Alfred Laakso.  It was Alfred’s documented eye-witness account of the 1906 events in Rockland, Michigan which was the impetus for “Rockland,” the Opera.

                                                           

ROCKLAND TV Coverage

John and Pauline Kiltinen were special guests of Carl Pellonpaa on the February 14, 2010 airing of Finland Calling.  During the interview by Mr. Pellonpaa, the Kiltinens shared information about the background of the opera, “Rockland,” and about the development of the Pine Mountain Music Festival production of the opera.  The PMMF New World Premiere will occur in July of 2011.  The Old World Premiere  will take place in Nivala, Finland in June 2011.  The Kiltinens also discussed this U.S./Finnish collaboration.  With excitement, Carl recalled previous interviews with Jussi Tapola, the librettist, and Jukka Linkola, the composer.

Included in this episode of Finland Calling was a preview of music from the opera.  Footage from the “Rockland” press conference of January 27, 2010, featuring a duet between Danielle Teter, in the role of Johanna, and Jacob Laitinen, as William, was shown.

Mr. Pellonpaa expressed great interest enthusiasm for the “Rockland” opera and its window onto local Finnish history and culture.  He ended by promising to provide the Finland Calling audience on-going up-dates as they are available.

 

FINN GRAND FEST and ROCKLAND

Another preview of the music of “Rockland” will be available at Finn Grand Fest in Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, from July 28 through August 1, 2010.  Esa Ruuttunen,  the internationally renowned Finnish baritone, will include an excerpt from the opera in his planned recital at the Central United Church, 160 Spring Street, on Wednesday, July 28, 2010.  He will be accompanied by Craig Johnson, a familiar face to those who have attended previous Finn Grand Fest events.

In addition, Pine Mountain Music Festival will have a presence at the Tori.  The booth will feature information about PMMF and, of course, “Rockland.”  There will be informative brochures available and also “Rockland”-themed merchandise for purchase.  And…staff from the Jokilaaksojen Musiikisäätiö in Nivala, Finland, will be in attendance to discuss the Old World Premiere of “Rockland.”