The opera was commissioned by the Finnish National Opera and composed between 1986 and 1988.
It was intended for the opening of a new national opera house in Helsinki, but building construction delays meant that the work was presented in Los Angeles as part of the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Finnish independence.

Kullervo was first performed on 25 February 1992 at the Los Angeles Music Center with the soloists, chorus and stage production from the Finnish National Opera and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
It was recorded by the original cast and issued on CD by Ondine Records.

The work opened the new Helsinki opera house in 1993 and from its premiere until 2014 had been seen in six countries and three languages, in over 70 performances.
The first performances outside the United States and Finland were given by the Opéra de Nantes in December 1995, with Jorma Hynninen in the title role and Koen Kessels conducting.
Eeva-Liisa Saarinen, Vesa-Matti Loiri and Pertti Makela also reprised their roles from the premiere.

The scenario of Sallinen's fifth opera, between The King Goes Forth to France (Savonlinna, 1984) and The Palace (Savonlinna, 1995), is based on the Kalevala epic and the 1864 play by Aleksis Kivi.
In a later interview, the composer, reflecting on King Lear (on which he was then working) and Kullervo, stated that the earlier opera "is a very black story – it's the most Shakespearean story ever to exist in Finland".

One reviewer has commented: "To call Kullervo dark and brutal does not do full justice to the opera", citing the love of Kullervo's mother, friendship with Kimmo, even humour from the hunter.
However, another, describing the premiere, wrote that "not every new opera packs so immediate a punch, or leaves one feeling – as with the works of Janáček – at once depressed at so bleak a view of the world [...] yet inspired and even elated by the dispassionate passion with which that view has been expressed".

The music has "a strong tonal basis" and "colourful effects enhanced by some imaginative instrumentation".
Another critic noted that there "is not a superfluous quaver in Kullervo" and admired the "sinuously coiled melodies [...] quirky ostinato figures, long-held pedal-points, sardonically percussive setting of arioso dialogue".

Sallinen was not the first Finnish composer to turn to the story of Kullervo for musical inspiration: Robert Kajanus wrote Kullervo's Funeral March, Op.
3 (1880), Jean Sibelius wrote a five-movement tone poem Kullervo, Op.
7 (1892), for soprano, baritone, male choir and orchestra (subsequently withdrawn by the composer and sometimes referred to as his "Kullervo Symphony"), and Leevi Madetoja composed a symphonic poem, Kullervo, Op.
15 (1913).
The opera was commissioned by the Finnish National Opera and composed between 1986 and 1988. It was intended for the opening of a new national opera house in Helsinki, but building construction delays meant that the work was presented in Los Angeles as part of the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Finnish independence.
Kullervo was first performed on 25 February 1992 at the Los Angeles Music Center with the soloists, chorus and stage production from the Finnish National Opera and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. It was recorded by the original cast and issued on CD by Ondine Records.
The work opened the new Helsinki opera house in 1993 and from its premiere until 2014 had been seen in six countries and three languages, in over 70 performances. The first performances outside the United States and Finland were given by the Opéra de Nantes in December 1995, with Jorma Hynninen in the title role and Koen Kessels conducting. Eeva-Liisa Saarinen, Vesa-Matti Loiri and Pertti Makela also reprised their roles from the premiere.
The scenario of Sallinen's fifth opera, between The King Goes Forth to France (Savonlinna, 1984) and The Palace (Savonlinna, 1995), is based on the Kalevala epic and the 1864 play by Aleksis Kivi. In a later interview, the composer, reflecting on King Lear (on which he was then working) and Kullervo, stated that the earlier opera "is a very black story – it's the most Shakespearean story ever to exist in Finland".
One reviewer has commented: "To call Kullervo dark and brutal does not do full justice to the opera", citing the love of Kullervo's mother, friendship with Kimmo, even humour from the hunter. However, another, describing the premiere, wrote that "not every new opera packs so immediate a punch, or leaves one feeling – as with the works of Janáček – at once depressed at so bleak a view of the world [...] yet inspired and even elated by the dispassionate passion with which that view has been expressed".
The music has "a strong tonal basis" and "colourful effects enhanced by some imaginative instrumentation". Another critic noted that there "is not a superfluous quaver in Kullervo" and admired the "sinuously coiled melodies [...] quirky ostinato figures, long-held pedal-points, sardonically percussive setting of arioso dialogue".
Sallinen was not the first Finnish composer to turn to the story of Kullervo for musical inspiration: Robert Kajanus wrote Kullervo's Funeral March, Op. 3 (1880), Jean Sibelius wrote a five-movement tone poem Kullervo, Op. 7 (1892), for soprano, baritone, male choir and orchestra (subsequently withdrawn by the composer and sometimes referred to as his "Kullervo Symphony"), and Leevi Madetoja composed a symphonic poem, Kullervo, Op. 15 (1913).
Kullervo (Sallinen)