
Atte Kilpinen named Honorary Patron of the Helsinki Contemporary Opera Festival 2024
Atte Kilpinen is a choreographer, dancer, and the first soloist dancer of the Finnish National Ballet. He is originally from Turku and has worked across Finland and around the world, including a two-year engagement with the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier.
Atte's relationship with musical theatre and especially opera is long-standing, having worked in an opera house for almost 10 years.
“Opera has a lot of power. As a dancer, I am used to constant movement and seeing crowds of people. However, in opera and other musical theatre, one must calm down and focus on listening and watching. Nowadays, we live in a social media world with constant stimuli. Opera offers a counterbalance to this and helps find calmness within oneself. In opera, I can focus only on emotions, which is the essence of art. I enjoy opera because it is unfamiliar and new to me.”
Atte looks forward to seeing as many performances and productions as possible and hopes that the festival will make experimental musical theatre and opera accessible to new audiences.
“It's great that there is so much happening in Finland outside the opera house. This festival brings different musical theatre and opera cultures close to the audience and lowers the threshold to come and watch performances. I don't always understand opera, but when something resonates, it truly resonates, and that's what matters most to me."
Photos by Nils Krogell.


