Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence: Audience Testimonials

Members of the audience share their experience attending Kaija Saariaho’s acclaimed final masterpiece. 2025–26 season. Videography by Neville Braithwaite and Micah Joel. Kaija Saariaho’s final opera plays out across two intertwining timelines—one traces the events of a tragic attack, while the other follows a wedding and the buried traumas and painful revelations that resurface years later. Captivating with its eerie, darkly beautiful sound-world and diverse vocal styles, ranging from traditional opera to expressionistic speak-singing to Scandinavian folk music, Saariaho’s opera is a raw and unflinching cry against the senseless violence of our modern age. Buy tickets at the box office, on the Met Opera app, or at metopera.org.