Juha Uusitalo

The drama emerges from the everyday conversations of the Judge’s family but expands in the viewer’s mind – thanks in no small part to Talvitie’s powerful music, reflecting horrors in its shrieking noises, dissonances and nightmarish repetitions.

Bass baritone Juha Uusitalo's ascent from flautist with the Finnish National Opera first onto the stage there and then that of the world's largest opera venue compares to the heroic tales of a number of Finnish conductors. Sometimes, it seems, there is no great difference between a player in the pit and an international star.