- F. E. Sillanpää deserves own opera, thought baritone Waltteri Torikka while walking for the first time in Myllykolu Hämeenkyrö.
Sillanpää-opera composed by Seppo Pohjola was postponed for couple of times. It finally was first performed in Finland’s 100th anniversary. Five years of passionate work was behind. The audience gave standing ovation in the premiere. The critics agreed. Sillanpää was success and an act for culture!

- F. E. Sillanpää deserves own opera, thought baritone Waltteri Torikka while walking for the first time in Myllykolu Hämeenkyrö.
He called to Sillanpää scholar Panu Rajala and asked, whether an opera of Sillanpää could be produced. Rajala got excited.
One year later, in summer 2012, Myllykolu summer theatre was just renovated and celebrated its 40th anniversary. Summer theater is located in the same environment with the only Finnish Nobel awarded author, F. E. Sillanpää.
Myllykolu is like a ”second home” for me. Above all, I found from theater stage a man, Jere, who played F. E. Sillanpää and I played his wife, Siikri. Panu Rajala wrote us to fall in love and the text became reality. Now Rajala ask for me: “We are planning Sillanpää-Opera. Could you help us?”
Sillanpää-opera about F. E. Sillanpää’s life in his own environment. In the same landscape Sillanpää has made known in his works.
The opera composed by Seppo Pohjola was postponed for couple of times. It finally was first performed in Finland’s 100th anniversary. Five years of passionate work was behind. The audience gave standing ovation in the premiere. The critics agreed. Sillanpää was success and an act for culture!
Sillanpää’s story continues for the second summer in 2018 produced by Hämeenkyrön FEStiwaalit ry.
This summer will not be the last. Big projects that will bring forward the nationally remarkable environs of Myllykolu and Hämeenkyrö’s national landscapes lie ahead.
 

Communality, bringing forward culture and countryside