The Savonlinna Opera Festival began in 1912 thanks to the efforts of Finnish soprano Aino Ackté who saw that the romantic setting of Olavinlinna Castle on Lake Saimaa would be a perfect stage for opera. Her dream was short-lived as war put a cease to artistic activities for decades, but since opera returned to Savonlinna in 1967, more than 700,000 people have enjoyed the summer spectacle surrounded by the Finnish landscape that so inspired Sibelius. Today, the covered auditorium inside the castle courtyard seats an audience of 2,200, which enjoys varied and high-calibre performances in the long Nordic summer evenings.