sallinen's first opera ratsumies (the horseman) premiered at the savonlinna opera festival in 1975. together with joonas kokkonen's the last temptations (1975) it started a golden era of modern finnish opera. his second opera, punainen viiva (the red line), was commissioned by the finnish national opera. sallinen's next opera, kuningas lähtee ranskaan (the king goes forth to france), was a joint commission by covent garden and the finnish national opera.