Savonlinna Opera Festival
Savonlinna Opera Festival is held annually in the city of Savonlinna in Finland. The Festival takes place at the medieval Olavinlinna, built in 1475; the castle is located amid spectacular lake scenery. The birth of the Savonlinna Opera Festival ties in with the emerging Finnish identity and striving for independence at the beginning of the 20th century. Attending a nationalist meeting in Olavinlinna Castle in 1907, the Finnish soprano Aino Ackté famous at opera houses the world over and an ardent patriot spotted the potential of the castle as the venue for an opera festival; the first opera festival was held in 1912. Aino Ackté directed the festival for five summers; the only opera by a non-Finnish composer was Charles Gounod’s Faust, with Ackté herself in the leading female role of Marguerite. In 1917 the festival ran into difficulties because of First World War, Finnish Declaration of Independence and the ensuing Finnish Civil War. For fifty years, the opera festival was dormant, but in 1967, Savonlinna Music Days decided to organise an opera course for young singers.
The high point of the course was a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio in the castle. Therefore, 1967 is nowadays regarded as the start of the present Festival; the Savonlinna Opera Festival has grown into an internationally recognised festival lasting a month. Each year it performs to a total audience of around 60,000, an estimated quarter of whom come from abroad; each year the Festival has, in addition to staging leading works from classical operatic repertoire, staged its own productions. Six operas have been premiered at the Savonlinna Opera Festival since 1967: The Horseman, The King Goes Forth to France, The Palace by Aulis Sallinen, The Knife by Paavo Heininen, Aleksis Kivi by Einojuhani Rautavaara and The Age of Dreams by Herman Rechberger, Olli Kortekangas and Kalevi Aho. For over a decade, the Savonlinna Opera Festival has hosted foreign opera companies: The first of these was the Estonia Theatre from Tallinn; this was followed for the next three seasons by the world-famous Mariinsky Theatre from St. Petersburg, by Covent Garden from London in 1998, the Opéra national du Rhin from Strasbourg in 1999, the New Israeli Opera in 2000, Los Angeles Opera in 2001, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 2002, the Choir and Orchestra of the Municipal Theatre of Santiago in 2003, with a staging of Sergio Ortega's Fulgor y Muerte de Joaquín Murieta, after a libretto by Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda.
List of opera festivals Media related to Savonlinna Opera Festival at Wikimedia Commons Savonlinna Opera Festival
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries or the Nordics are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, where they are most known as Norden. The term includes Denmark, Iceland and Sweden, as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands—which are both part of the Kingdom of Denmark—and the Åland Islands and Svalbard and Jan Mayen archipelagos that belong to Finland and Norway whereas the Norwegian Antarctic territories are not considered a part of the Nordic countries, due to their geographical location. Scandinavians, who comprise over three quarters of the region's population, are the largest group, followed by Finns, who comprise the majority in Finland; the native languages Swedish, Norwegian and Faroese are all North Germanic languages rooted in Old Norse. Native non-Germanic languages are Finnish and several Sami languages; the main religion is Lutheran Christianity. The Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, religion, their use of Scandinavian languages and social structure.
The Nordic countries have a long history of political unions and other close relations, but do not form a separate entity today. The Scandinavist movement sought to unite Denmark and Sweden into one country in the 19th century, with the indepedence of Finland in the early 20th century, Iceland in the mid 20th century, this movement expanded into the modern organised Nordic cooperation which includes the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. In English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, but that term more properly refers to the three monarchies of Denmark and Sweden. Geologically, the Scandinavian Peninsula comprises the mainland of Norway and Sweden as well as the northernmost part of Finland; the combined area of the Nordic countries is 3,425,804 square kilometres. Uninhabitable icecaps and glaciers comprise about half of this area in Greenland. In January 2013, the region had a population of around 26 million people; the Nordic countries cluster near the top in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life and human development.
With only four language groups, the common linguistic heterogeneous heritage is one of the factors making up the Nordic identity. The languages of Danish, Swedish and Faroese are all rooted in Old Norse and Danish and Swedish are considered mutually intelligible; these three dominating languages are taught in schools throughout the Nordic region. For example, Swedish is a mandatory subject in Finnish schools, since Finland by law is a bilingual country. Danish is mandatory in Faroese and Greenlandic schools, as these insular states are a part of the Danish Realm. Iceland teaches Danish, since Iceland too was a part of the Danish Realm until 1918. Beside these and the insular Scandinavian languages Faroese and Icelandic, which are North Germanic languages, there are the Finnic and Sami branches of the Uralic languages, spoken in Finland and in northern Norway and Finland, respectively. All the Nordic countries have a North Germanic official language called a Nordic language in the Nordic countries.
The working languages of the Nordic region's two political bodies are Danish and Swedish. Each of the Nordic countries has its own economic and social models, sometimes with large differences from its neighbours, but to varying degrees the Nordic countries share the Nordic model of economy and social structure: a market economy is combined with strong labour unions and a universalist welfare sector financed by heavy taxes. There is a high degree of income redistribution and little social unrest and these include support for said "universalist" welfare state aimed at enhancing individual autonomy and promoting social mobility; the Nordic countries consists of historical territories of the Scandinavian countries, areas that share a common history and culture with Scandinavia. It is meant to refer to this larger group, since the term Scandinavia is narrower and sometimes ambiguous; the Nordic countries are considered to refer to Denmark, Iceland and Sweden, including their associated territories.
The term "Nordic countries" found mainstream use after the advent of Foreningen Norden. The term is derived indirectly from the local term Norden, used in the Scandinavian languages, which means "The North". Unlike "the Nordic countries", the term Norden is in the singular; the demonym is nordbo meaning "northern dweller". Scandinavia refers to either the cultural and linguistic group formed by the three monarchies Denmark and Sweden, or the Scandinavian peninsula, formed by mainland Norway and Sweden as well as the northwesternmost part of Finland. Outside of the Nordic region the term Scandinavia is used incorrectly as a synonym for the Nordic countries. First recorded use of the name by Pliny the Elder about a "large, fertile island in the North". Fennoscandia refers to the area that includes the Scandinavian peninsula, Kola Peninsula and Karelia; this term is
Peter Lacy
Peter Graf von Lacy was an Irish military commander who served in the Imperial Russian army, he was one of the most successful Russian imperial commanders before Rumyantsev and Suvorov. During a military career that spanned half a century, he professed to have been present at a total of 31 campaigns, 18 battles, 18 sieges, he died at Riga. Peter Lacy was born as Pierce Edmond de Lacy on 26 September 1678 in Killeedy near Limerick into a noble Irish family. In an autobiography preserved by his descendants, Count Peter claimed that his father Peter was the son of John Lacy of Ballingarry. Count Peter claimed Pierce Oge de Lacy of Bruff as a kinsman, it appears that Count Peter's grandfather John Lacy of Ballingarry was of the House of Bruff, the brother of Pierce Oge Lacy of Bruff celebrated from the wars against Elizabeth I, the son of Sir Hempon Pierce de Lacy, who maintained that he was 18th in direct descent from William Gorm de Lacy, son of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, great-great-grandson of Walter I de Lacy, the Norman soldier.
It appears that his father's brother was Lieutenant-Colonel John Lacy of the House of Bruff, that this was the uncle John with whom Count Peter served at the age of 13 in the defence of Limerick, who had rescued Count Peter by buying him off at the capitulation of Limerick fled overseas with Count Peter and the rest of his regiment to join the Irish Brigade in France, and, killed in October 1693 while fighting with Count Peter in the battle of the "Val de Marseilles". Lieutenant-Colonel John Lacy of the House of Bruff who had resided in Killmallock had prior to 1647 been an officer in the time of Charles I of England, had fought in France and Flanders, been a prisoner in England for 2 years. In 1647 he was the only Lacy to be a member of the Supreme Council of Confederate Catholics, in 1651 he was excluded from amnesty after the 1st Siege of Limerick, he was Deputy Governor of Limerick 1685–86, one of the representatives of Killmallock in the Parliament of Dublin in 1689. At the age of 13, during the Williamite war in Ireland Peter was attached to the Jacobite defence of Limerick against the Williamites with the rank of Lieutenant.
The Flight of the Wild Geese followed, with Peter, his father and brother joining the Irish Brigade in France. After his relatives lost their lives fighting for Louis XIV in Italy, Peter was induced to seek his fortune elsewhere. After two years of service in the Austrian army, Lacy followed his commander, Charles Eugène de Croÿ, into the Russian service, his first taste of land battle in Russia was the disastrous defeat at Narva, in which Lacy commanded a unit of musketeers, holding the rank of poruchik. During the Great Northern War he was wounded on two occasions, gaining the rank of colonel in 1706. In the same year Peter gave him command of the Polotskii regiment and three new regiments raising him to colonel status; the following year he led his brigade at Poltava, in which battle he distinguished himself. In the battle of Rumna, 1708 he attacked and captured the headquarters of Charles XII, he gained fame at this stage by advising the Czar that musketeers should wait until they were within a few yards of the enemy before opening fire.
Prior to this the Russians were known for uncoordinated fire. From this point began his fame as a soldier, his next active service, still under Prince Repnin, was the siege of Riga. Lacy was reputedly the first Russian officer to enter the capital of Livland and he was appointed the first Russian chatelain of Riga Castle in the aftermath. In 1719 as a Major General Apraksin's fleet landed Lacy with 5,000 infantry and 370 cavalry near Umeå in Sweden, where they proceeded to devastate a dozen iron foundries and a number of mills. Two years he led a similar action against Sundsvall. Soon promoted to General, he entered the Military Collegium — as the Russian Ministry of Defense was known – in 1723. Three years Lacy succeeded Repnin in command of the Russian forces quartered in Livland, in 1729 he was appointed Governor of Riga; these positions brought him in contact with the Duchess of Courland, who before long ascended the Russian throne as Empress Anna. During her reign, Lacy's capacity for supreme command would never be doubted.
Lacey was one of the first recipients of the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky when it was established, furthermore he was given command of all infantry in St Petersburg and Novgorod. By 1728 he was ranked third of only six full generals in the only foreigner; as a foreigner his salary was 3,600 Roubles a year, 15% higher than Russian generals. Higher salaries for foreign born generals was seen in other ranks too. Lacy's signature on documents in Cyrillic script, always appears in English and Latin script which would suggest he never gained proficiency in Russian; when Catherine was Empress Lacy was given responsibility for removing Maurice de Saxe from Courland. Saxe had managed to gain support and was mentioned as marrying Anna, Duchess of Courland. Having saved her from marriage to Saxe Anna was familiar with Lacy and he became one of her most trusted generals; the War of the Polish Succession again called him into the field. In 1733, Lacy and Munnich expelled the Polish king, Stanisław I, from Warsaw to Danzig, besieged by them in 1734.
Thereupon the Irishman was commanded to march towards the Rhine and join his 13,500-strong contingent with the forces of
Sweden
Sweden the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north and Finland to the east, is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund, a strait at the Swedish-Danish border. At 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area. Sweden has a total population of 10.2 million. It has a low population density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre; the highest concentration is in the southern half of the country. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats and Swedes and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen. Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is forested. Sweden is part of the geographical area of Fennoscandia; the climate is in general mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence, that in spite of this still retains warm continental summers.
Today, the sovereign state of Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state, like its neighbour Norway. The capital city is Stockholm, the most populous city in the country. Legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister. Sweden is a unitary state divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. An independent Swedish state emerged during the early 12th century. After the Black Death in the middle of the 14th century killed about a third of the Scandinavian population, the Hanseatic League threatened Scandinavia's culture and languages; this led to the forming of the Scandinavian Kalmar Union in 1397, which Sweden left in 1523. When Sweden became involved in the Thirty Years War on the Reformist side, an expansion of its territories began and the Swedish Empire was formed; this became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, ending with the annexation of present-day Finland by Russia in 1809.
The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since Sweden has been at peace, maintaining an official policy of neutrality in foreign affairs; the union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905. Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars and the Cold War, albeit Sweden has since 2009 moved towards cooperation with NATO. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995, but declined NATO membership, as well as Eurozone membership following a referendum, it is a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens, it has the world's eleventh-highest per capita income and ranks in numerous metrics of national performance, including quality of life, education, protection of civil liberties, economic competitiveness, equality and human development.
The name Sweden was loaned from Dutch in the 17th century to refer to Sweden as an emerging great power. Before Sweden's imperial expansion, Early Modern English used Swedeland. Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod, which meant "people of the Swedes"; this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige means "realm of the Swedes", excluding the Geats in Götaland. Variations of the name Sweden are used in most languages, with the exception of Danish and Norwegian using Sverige, Faroese Svøríki, Icelandic Svíþjóð, the more notable exception of some Finnic languages where Ruotsi and Rootsi are used, names considered as referring to the people from the coastal areas of Roslagen, who were known as the Rus', through them etymologically related to the English name for Russia; the etymology of Swedes, thus Sweden, is not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning "one's own", referring to one's own Germanic tribe. Sweden's prehistory begins in the Allerød oscillation, a warm period around 12,000 BC, with Late Palaeolithic reindeer-hunting camps of the Bromme culture at the edge of the ice in what is now the country's southernmost province, Scania.
This period was characterised by small bands of hunter-gatherer-fishers using flint technology. Sweden is first described in a written source in Germania by Tacitus in 98 AD. In Germania 44 and 45 he mentions the Swedes as a powerful tribe with ships that had a prow at each end. Which kings ruled these Suiones is unknown, but Norse mythology presents a long line of legendary and semi-legendary kings going back to the last centuries BC; as for literacy in Sweden itself, the runic script was in use among the south Scandinavian elite by at least the 2nd century AD, but all that has come down to the present from the Roman Period is curt inscriptions on artefacts of male names, demonstrating th
South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences
South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences is a University of Applied Sciences in Finland. It was established in the beginning of 2017, when Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences and Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences merged. Xamk's education, given on four different campuses, is connected to the requirements of working life and companies; as of 2017, Xamk offered in total 59 Bachelor's degree programmes and 26 Master's programmes and the number of students graduating annually was about 1700. Xamk offers four Bachelor's level degree programmes and four Master's level degree programmes in English: Bachelor of Business Administration, International Business in Mikkeli Bachelor of Culture and Arts, Game Design in Kouvola Bachelor of Engineering, Environmental engineering in Mikkeli Bachelor of Engineering, Information technology in Mikkeli Master of Business Administration, International Business Management in Kouvola Master of Culture and Arts, Design in Kouvola Master of Engineering, Cybersecurity in Kotka Master of Health Care/Social Services, Health Promotion in Kotka and Kouvola Xamk is the largest University of Applied Sciences in Finland in terms of R&D activities carried out.
The research carried out is applied research in close co-operation with companies and most development efforts concentrate on regional development. Research and development activities at Xamk are divided into four focus areas: Digital economy Forest, the environment and energy Logistics, marine technology and transport Sustainable well-being Official website
University of Eastern Finland
The University of Eastern Finland is a university in Finland with two campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio. It was formed in 2010 by a merger of two independent universities; the University of Eastern Finland was formed through a merger of two independent universities, the University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio. These ceased to exist when the University of Eastern Finland began to operate in January 2010; the merger was affected by the university sector reform carried out in Finland in 2009–2010, which occurred when the previous Universities Act of 1997 was replaced by a newly enacted Universities Act of 2009. The new Universities Act further extended the autonomy of Finnish universities by giving each university an independent legal personality, either as a public corporation or as foundation. At the same time, the universities’ management and decision-making system were reformed; the Finnish Parliament passed the Universities Act on 16 June 2009. Although the University of Eastern Finland launched operations in 2010, cooperation between the University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio was tight before the actual merger.
2006 The University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio decided to intensify their mutual cooperation as part of the Ministry of Education programme addressing the structural development of Finnish higher education institutions. The project for the University of Eastern Finland was selected as one of the Ministry of Education spearhead projects; the project was appointed a working group led by Professor Reijo Vihko.2007 A working group led by Professor Reijo Vihko submitted a report proposing that cooperation between the University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio be intensified. On 2 May, the University Senates of the University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio approved a mutual agreement on forming a new university. On 26 September, the University Senates decided on the official name of the new university, i.e. the University of Eastern Finland.2008 The organisation structure and strategy of the University of Eastern Finland were completed. The University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio received a joint right to confer degrees in Economics and Business Administration.2009 The first joint student admissions to the University of Eastern Finland were carried out in Economics and Business Administration and in Social Sciences in 2009.
Further more, the University of Eastern Finland was in 2009 granted permission to organise dentistry education, which began in 2010. On May 18, 2009 The Sino-Finnish Environmental Research Centre located in Nanjing, China was opened, it is a joint effort by University of University of Kuopio and University of Nanjing. SFERC is focused on higher education and research addressing forestry and environmental issues, it is the first unit established by Finnish universities in China. It will operate at the University of Nanjing campus as a permanent satellite campus for the University of Eastern Finland; the University of Eastern Finland has one in Joensuu and the other in Kuopio. The main campuses are located 130 kilometres apart; the University of Eastern Finland is a public university, administered by the Board, the Rector and the Academic Rector, the University Collegiate Body, the Faculty Councils and the Deans. The practical administrative tasks of the university are carried out by University Services.
Board The Board of the University of Eastern Finland is the university's highest executive organ. The Board of the University of Eastern Finland is composed of a total of 10 members, 4 of whom are external members; the term of office of the Board is 1 January 2018 – 31 December 2021. The current members of the UEF Board are DMus. Rector and Academic Rector The University of Eastern Finland has a Rector and an Academic Rector, both of whom are based at a different main campus of the university; the Rector of the University of Eastern Finland is Prof. Jukka Mönkkönen and the Academic Rector of the University of Eastern Finland is Prof. Harri Siiskonen. University Collegiate Body The Collegiate Body of the University of Eastern Finland comprises a total of 24 members. Eight of the members represent the university’s professors, eight represent the university's teaching and general staff, eight represent the university's students; the term of office of the University Collegiate Body is four calendar years.
However, the term of office of the members representing the university’s students is two calendar years. Faculties The University of Eastern Finland has four faculties: 1) the Philosophical Faculty, 2) the Faculty of Science and Forestry, 3) the Faculty of Health Sciences, 4) the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies; the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty is Prof. Janne Pietarinen, the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Forestry is Prof. Jukka Jurvelin, the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences is Prof. Jussi Pihlajamäki, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies is Prof. Sari Rissanen; the University of Eastern Finland is a multidisciplinary university. The four faculties of the UEF offer teaching in degree programmes; the university's annual student intake is 2,200 and the university attracts nearly 9,500 applications for admission every year. The university of offers Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral level education in 13 fields of study: pharmacy, humanities, education and business administration
Old Finland
Old Finland is a name used for the areas that Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War and in the Russo-Swedish War. Old Finland was joined to the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland as Viipuri province in 1812. In the Peace Treaty in 1721 that concluded the Great Northern War, Sweden was forced to cede Käkisalmi County and Viborg/Viipuri County to Russia; the ceded Finnish-speaking Ingria around Saint Petersburg, was not included in Old Finland. In the Peace Treaty in 1743 Sweden had to cede the areas in southern Karelia east of the Kymi river and around Savonlinna to Russia; the area corresponded with that of the medieval province subjugated to Viipuri castle. The Russian ruler guaranteed religion, property rights, old Swedish laws, some privileges to the inhabitants of these territories. However, a circumvention occurred, as the Russian administrators and Russian military were unfamiliar with the Swedish system; the Russians were used to a different system with serfdom. As a result, the economy of the area was markedly different from that on the other side of the border.
The ruler's guarantee froze the situation. Thus legal developments in Sweden were not introduced to these areas: the Viipuri and Käkisalmi territory did not adopt the 1734 General Law of Sweden, the new constitution of King Gustav III was not implemented in the entire area; the territories enjoyed a sort of autonomy and much particularism, since the Russian rulers applied similar principles here as in the Baltic Provinces. The administration resembled a German principality, rather than a Russian province. Under Russian rule the combined territories formed Government of Vyborg. Ecclesiastically, the areas were without a bishop; the church building in Viipuri and another in Hamina were assigned as cathedrals, with a diocesan chapter, led by the archdean. The area was not forced to contribute men to the Russian Army until 1797. However, there were many non-Finnish troops in the area after the 1788-90 war. Scandinavian-style district courts continued in judicial function, each with a judge and lay members.
However, the Russian estate owners and military ignored these courts' decisions and imposed illegal punishments on the peasants. Because of the absence of an evenly applied, up-to-date legal system in the area, apathy in some ways dominated among Old Finland's residents. Two of these are Maximilian von Alopeus and his brother David Alopaeus, born into a Finnish family in Viipuri and both serving many posts in Imperial administration, including ambassador in some Central European countries; these areas, Government of Vyborg, were referred to as Old Finland. The population in these provinces came to receive the same legal system as the rest of the Grand Duchy, including its Constitution and General Law, although some privileges took time to implement; the so-called donated estates in Karelia were a headache resolved by monetary compensation from the Grand Duchy's Treasury. This was a long lasting burden. Fief of Viborg Finnish Karelia History of the administrative division of Russia Viipurin läänin liittäminen muun Suomen yhteyteen, A. Danielsson-Kalmari
Finland
Media related to Savonlinna at Wikimedia Commons
Savonlinna travel guide from Wikivoyage
