The New Opera House

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Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome aboard! You have entered a ship – or an iceberg – or both.

Now, right here, between the sky and the sea, between the city and the fjord - our new national landmark, our international landmark: Norway’s new opera house.

Just try to grasp its magnitude:

8 000 workers from 600 companies from 25 countries constructed the building. Its foundations rest on 780 piles secured to the rock deep below. More visible are the 36 000 marble and granite slabs that give the building its appearance. There are 1 578 rooms in the house. And I could go on.

We have kicked off a 15-month opening season and a 70-day opening festival. Many words have already been spoken on this account, and my speech will therefore be brief. Words seem almost inadequate in a setting like this. Unless they are sung, that is. But don’t worry, I’m not about to break into song. 

Tonight’s concert – The Ring Without Words – is a version of Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung. And Wagner is an excellent choice. The first director of the Norwegian Opera, the soprano Kirsten Flagstad, made her international breakthrough in the 1930s in Bayreuth and in New York in The Ring of the Nibelung. Tonight’s concert can be seen as a tribute to her.

Dear guests,

Music – and dance – is a universal language, understood by people everywhere. All cultures can meet and communicate through music and dance.

Thus a building like this new opera house is a bridge between nations and cultures, a tool of communication, a strong symbol of cooperation.

And my point is this: the arts can teach politics a lot. About creativity. About inspiration.

And about teamwork. Like the teamwork that was required to construct this opera house. And the teamwork that will be needed for each of the productions that will take place here.

The arts can teach us communication, patience, leadership and endurance. These are also important qualities for politicians engaged in foreign policy.

The production of operas, concerts and ballets requires complex cooperation between a whole range of professions and roles. Such cooperation leads to spectacular results. And just as the materials used in this building have their origins in different countries – Italy, Finland, Germany and many others – the music played here will merge local and global identities.

As many of those present are well aware, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs enjoys close cooperation with the opera director Bjørn (Simensen) and the Norwegian Opera and Ballet and has provided support for many of its projects over the years. The Opera has opened many doors – also for us – and has literally provided a stage for dialogue and contact across borders. It would hardly be an exaggeration – in fact it is quite an accurate observation – that Bjørn probably knows Murmansk just as well as Milan due to the excellent Norwegian-Russian cooperation there. That is a claim few opera directors in the world can make.

I am confident that through international cooperation the new opera house and its many artists and professions – onstage and backstage – will increase interest in Oslo and Norway. The building meets the requirements for hosting large international productions. I look forward to attending as many as I can.

So, dear guests, we are all taking part in the inauguration of a symbol of historic importance. It will contribute to forming the future identity of Norway.

The opera house is a vision expressed in glass, stone and wood.

A ship – or an iceberg – or both.

It is with great pride that I wish you welcome aboard, welcome here tonight.