he city, will be officially inaugurated Saturday in the presence of King Harald and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Located on the shores of the Oslo fjord in the heart of the city, the white marble building with clean lines will host an inaugural soiree with performances of excerpts from famous operas and ballets. On the program are Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and "The Marriage of Figaro", Verdi's "Don Carlo", as well as several ballets. In addition to King Harald, Queen Sonja and Merkel, special guests will include Finnish President Tarja Halonen, her Icelandic counterpart Olafur Ragnar Grimmson, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and members of the Danish and Swedish royal families, the opera's information office said. Designed by the Norwegian architecture firm Snoehetta, which created the Alexandria Library in 2002, the new opera building cost some four billion kroner (503.5 million euros, US$796 million).
