Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence delves into guilt, grief and anger over a phenomenon largely thought of as distinctly American
Gun violence, particularly the high-profile incidents that take place on school campuses, are often seen as a uniquely American phenomenon, one that exemplifies the nation’s deep history and complicated relationship with guns.
But an opera set around a mass shooting at a Finnish international school 10 years ago approaches this topic through a global lens. Innocence, which opens at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Monday, is performed in nine different languages including English, Swedish and Spanish, and delves into themes like guilt, grief, anger and how time doesn’t always heal the damage done by violence.