Vilppu Kiljunen (Stage Director)
Vilppu Kiljunen received a varied education in theatre, dance and music. He studied musicology, theatre and drama and theoretical philosophy at the University of Helsinki, the violin at the Helsinki Conservatory, and dance at the Finnish National Opera Ballet School before finally becoming interested in mime, which took him to the international school of Marcel Marceau in Paris for two years.
On returning to Finland he studied theatre direction at the Theatre Academy of Finland, obtaining a Master‘s degree in 1990. He then worked in dramatic theatre before soon turning to opera.
In 1993 he staged Poulenc‘s La voix humaine at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, followed in subsequent years by Einojuhani Rautavaara‘s Aleksis Kivi, Gounod‘s Faust and Sallinen‘s The Horseman.
He has worked a lot in Finland and Scandinavia. His main works at the Finnish Opera have been Puccini‘s La Fanciulla del West, Tchaikovsky‘s Eugen Onegin, The Queen of Spades and the world premier of Einojuhani Rautavaara‘s opera Rasputin (2003) with Matti Salminen in the title role.
The latest works include Carmen in Tampere, Finland, Rigoletto in Gothenburg, Forza del Destino in Bern and The Horseman by Aulis Sallinen in Savonlinna.
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