Discover Adriana Mater

Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho‘s second opera Adriana Mater premiered in Paris in 2006.

This contemporary opera is a collaboration between Saariaho and the writer and war correspondent Amin Maalouf. It fuses together Saariaho’s reflections on motherhood and Maalouf’s experiences of war .

Saariaho’s pioneering music often blends electronics with live instruments to create a distinctive, shimmering sound world. Since her death in 2023, she has continued to be one of the most influential voices in contemporary classical music of the last half-century.

In the story of the opera Adriana conceives a son, Yonas, after being raped by Tsargo, a man from her community, during the civil war. When Yonas, as a young adult discovers the truth about his birth, he sets out to find his father and kill him.

Keep reading for everything you need to know about this dramatic contemporary opera including a full summary of Adriana Mater‘s plot in a detailed synopsis.

Amy Holyland sings 'I only feel a heart, a second heart' (Je sens seulement un coeur, un deuxième coeur) from Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater with the Chorus and Orchestra of ENO conducted by Charlotte Corderoy.

Listen to 'Refka’s dream' from Teatro dell’Opera di Roma's production of Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater. This recording is performed by Axelle Fanyo, who will be playing the titular tole in Adriana Mater’s companion piece Tosca at the London Coliseum in 2026.

Listen to the recording of Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater

Adriana Mater Synopsis

Act One

A former concert hall somewhere in Eastern Europe, 1980s

Scene 1: Shimmers

Tsargo, a drunken young man, tries to speak with the young woman Adriana. He reminds her that they once danced together, but she rebuffs him. Adriana’s sister, Refka, sees this and reproaches Adriana for even speaking to him.

A dream is narrated: Night falls; Tsargo is ready to go dancing with Adriana. Adriana touches Tsargo and he turns into a bottle, which she drops and breaks. Adriana wakes, and the humiliated Tsargo rushes off, uttering threats.

Scene 2: Darkness

Tsargo, now a soldier and carrying a gun, knocks on Adriana’s door, claiming he needs to go up to the roof to observe the movements of the enemy. She snubs him as before. He then forces his way in, and we deduce that he rapes her.

Scene 3: Two Hearts

Adriana is pregnant, and she argues with her sister, who condemns her for continuing the pregnancy. The previous night, Refka had dreamed of her own worries about the unborn child, and also of Adriana’s own fears: will the child be Cain or Abel?

Act Two

The same location, 17 years later

Scene 4: Confessions

Adriana’s son Yonas is furious with her. He has found out that his father did not in fact die heroically in the conflict as he had been told by his mother. Adriana tries to explain that she was planning to tell him when he was old enough to deal with the truth. He swears to kill his rapist father, who is notorious for the crimes he went on to perpetrate in the war.

A dream is narrated in which Yonas kills his whole family, finally turning his weapon on himself.

Scene 5: Rages

Refka looks for Adriana, but finds Yonas instead. He chastises her for having lied to him about his father. When Adriana enters, Refka tells them that Tsargo has arrived back in the country that very day. Yonas goes to hunt him down, vowing to kill him. Refka wants to stop him, but Adriana says: “If he is meant to kill him, then he will kill him.”

Scene 6: Duel

Yonas soon finds Tsargo, who admits his identity and his actions. Yonas tells him that he intends to kill him, but asks to see him face to face before he strikes. It is soon obvious that Tsargo is blind. Yonas flees, unable to carry out his task.

Scene 7: Adriana

Yonas asks for forgiveness from his mother for not having killed his father. Adriana rejoices in the knowledge that Yonas is definitively her son, not his rapist father’s, because he has not killed as his father did. “We have not been avenged,” she tells her son, “but we have been saved”.

The cycle of inter-generational male violence is broken.

The literal translation of Adriana Mater is ‘The Mother Adriana’ or ‘Adriana the mother’.

Kaija Saariaho’s opera Adriana Mater was written in French by author and librettist Amin Maalouf.
In 2026, ENO will perform the opera in English in a new, specially commissioned translation by the composer’s son, writer-director Aleksi Barrière.

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Adriana Mater

Discover Adriana Mater