The world’s happiest country
The musicians during band practice in January 2023. Photo by Fabian Björk.
Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world in the UN World Happiness Report for five years in a row. In April, we will find out whether that really is true. A new multi-art project combining music, theatre, dance, puppetry and choral singing will have its premiere then. Världens lyckligaste land (The World’s Happiest Country) studies happiness and asks what makes us happy. Director Jakob Höglund seizes the topic with humour, yet in earnest.
To counterbalance the two years when the arts and culture sector barely scraped by, we asked the award-winning director and choreographer Jakob Höglund to create an artwork on stage which would bring artists and different art forms together to conjure up something completely new.
Come and experience Världens lyckligaste land (The World’s Happiest Country) – at its world premiere in Helsinki or the two performances in Turku and Vaasa!
The artwork on stage examines happiness and reflects on what makes us happy. The creators play with the subject, combining music, theatre, dance, puppetry and choral singing. The result is a beautiful, if a little wistful, picture of Finland today, spiced up with absurd humour.
Book your ticket to Världens lyckligaste land here!
Three performances open to everyone
Världens lyckligaste land will be performed three times in April 2023. The premiere will be in Helsinki after which the artwork will also be performed in Turku and Vaasa. The free-of-charge performances are open to everyone.
Performances:
- Wednesday 5 April at 7 p.m. at Helsinki City Theatre
- Tuesday 11 April at 7 p.m. at Turku City Theatre
- Monday 17 April at 7 p.m. at Vaasa City Theatre
The performance lasts approximately one hour, and afterwards, we will be presenting Svenska kulturfonden’s prizes and serving a glass of sparking. The performance starts at 7 p.m. but we kindly ask the audience to be present at 18:45, as the preshow begins a quarter to seven.
Världens lyckligaste land is performed mostly in Swedish. Svenska kulturfonden wants to promote bilingualism and multilingualism and has, thus, chosen Finnish speaking theatres as venues for the event.
Svenska Yle will record the performance in Helsinki and broadcast it at a later date.
Artistic team
- Jakob Höglund, direction, choreography and artistic management
- Rasmus Arikka, dramaturgy
- Kaisa Lundán, dramaturgy
- Sven Haraldsson, stage design and costumes
- William Iles, stage lighting design
- Heini Maaranen, puppet design and puppet making
- Eeva Kontu, conductor and musical arrangement
- Tony Sikström, sound design
- Soile Ojala, assistant to director and choreographer
- Johanna Stenback and Mia Smulter, production
Further information:
Mia Smulter
producer
+358 (0)400 774 500
mia.smulter(at)kulturfonden.fi
Martina Landén-Westerholm
communications director
+358 (0)40 595 0817
martina.landen-westerholm(at)kulturfonden.fi