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La Kala has also staged performances at the restored Suolahti railway station, which is part of the Keitele Museum. Photo: Visit Äänekoski
Outstanding opera for everyone Starting with a few locals listening to Marie Finne-Bray’s rehearsals during summer evenings, and growing into an opera house performing unique versions of well-known operas, the story of Marie Finne-Bray and Piers Bray and their La Kala Opera House is nothing short of exceptional. By Mari Koskinen | Photos: Katri Hernesmaa
Finnish-born Marie Finne-Bray and her Australian husband, Piers Bray, moved from Australia to Sumiainen, Finland, in 2010. “We wanted to move to Finland for its pure nature and green forests. We had never visited Sumiainen before, nor seen the house before we moved in, but we used online maps to look around and loved what we saw,” says Marie. 100 | Issue 128 | September 2019
When Marie and Piers moved into their new home, they found out that there was a spacious garage downstairs – a tractor repair shop back in the day. During the hot summer, Marie noticed how pleasant and cool it was down there and, more importantly, that the space had exceptional acoustics. She started to use it for rehearsing and opened the double doors to the garden – though
slightly worried that the new neighbours might be disturbed. But, as it turned out, the opposite happened: the neighbours started to ask around to find out who sang so beautifully, making polite enquiries about her practising at specific times so that they wouldn’t miss it. The rehearsals soon grew into performances, where Marie and Piers sang to the locals. In 2012, they started their own opera house – La Kala Opera House. The name La Kala is a humoristic version of the worldfamous La Scala, loosely translating as ‘La Fish’ – and to complete that, there is actually a pike in their logo.