Munich: From the House of the Dead

21 May 2018, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich Leoš Janáček: From the House of the Dead (premiere) Directed by: Frank Castorf, music director: Simone Young Cast: Peter Rose (Gorjančikov), Evgeniya Sobotnikova (Aljeja), Aleš Briscein (Luka), Charles Workman (Skuratov), Bo Skovhus (Šiškov) and others Language: Czech with German and English subtitles Following performances: 26 and 30 May, 3, 5 and 8 … Read more

Munich: From the House of the Dead

21 May 2018, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich Leoš Janáček: From the House of the Dead (premiere) Directed by: Frank Castorf, music director: Simone Young Cast: Peter Rose (Gorjančikov), Evgeniya Sobotnikova (Aljeja), Aleš Briscein (Luka), Charles Workman (Skuratov), Bo Skovhus (Šiškov) and others Language: Czech with German and English subtitles Following performances: 26 and 30 May, 3, 5 and 8 … Read more

Bern: Katja Kabanova

19 May 2018, Stadttheater, Konzert Theater Bern, Bern, Switzerland Leoš Janáček: Katja Kabanova (premiere) Directed by: Florentine Klepper, music director: Kevin John Edusei Cast: Johanni van Oostrum (Katja), Alessandro Liberatore (Boris), Andries Cloete (Tichon), Eleonora Vacchi (Varvara), Andreas Daum (Dikoj), Ursula Füri-Bernhard (Kabanicha) and others In Czech with German subtitles Following performances: 23 and 27 May, 1, … Read more

Coburg: Rusalka

29 April 2018, Landestheater Coburg, Coburg, Germany (following the cancelled performances on April 22 and 25) Antonín Dvořák: Rusalka (premiere) directed by: Tobias Heyder, music director: Roland Kluttig Cast: Judith Kuhn / Betsy Horne (Rusalka), Milen Bozhkov (Prince), Michael Lion (Water Goblin), Kora Pavelic / Gabriela Künzler (Witch), Kora Pavelic / Marlene Lichtenberg (Foreign Princess) … Read more

Petr Kotík: Mater-Pieces (New York premiere)

28 April 2018, Bohemian National Hall, New York, USA Czech American Inspiration Petr Kotík: Master-Pieces (2014-15) – New York premiere directed by: Jiří Nekvasil, David Bazika, music director: Petr Kotík S.E.M. Ensemble (Christina Kay – soprano, Steven Wilson – tenor, Jose Pietri-Coimbre – baritone, Nicholas Hay – bass, Pauline Kim Harris – violin, Liuh-Wen Ting – viola, Amanda Gookin – violoncello, Jeffrey Reinhardt – … Read more

A Russian premiere of Bohuslav Martinů’s Greek Passion

For the first time ever, Bohuslav Martinů’s operatic masterpiece The Greek Passion was performed in Russia, at the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ekaterinburg. The premiere took place on 19 April with reprises over the following three days. The first of the opera’s two versions was directed by Thaddeus Strassberger and conducted by the theatre’s chiefconductor … Read more

Ivan Acher: Sternenhoch (world premiere)

On 7 April, the New Scene of the National Theatre in Prague presented the long-awaited premiere of the opera adaptation of Ivan Klíma’s mystery novel The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch. Its author, primarily a scenic music composer and musical autodidact Ivan Acher (*1976) had already written music for the book’s theatre adaptation at Divadlo Komedie eleven years ago; … Read more

Frankfurt: From the House of the Dead

On 1 April, Oper Frankfurt introduced their new production of Leoš Janáček’s last opera From the House of the Dead. It was created by Italian conductor Tito Ceccherini and German-French director David Hermann, who had for the last time worked with Janáček’s music only two years ago, directing The Makropulos Affair in the renowned Deutsche Oper Berlin. … Read more

Linz: Brundibár

„How to talk about the terrors and inhumanity of the Nazi period to kids? And how to speak about those whose names have never made it to historical literature?” These are the questions Landestheater Linz was trying to answer in their new production of Hans Krása’s children’s opera Brundibár premiered on 31 March. Conductor Martin Braun and … Read more

Hagen: The Cunning Little Vixen

After 45 years, Leoš Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen returned to the stage of Theater Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The premiere on 24 March has already received a very positive critical response. The praise has concerned mainly the direction by Mascha Pörzgen, who perfectly balanced both levels of the story – a beast fable and an allegorical drama – and the performance of … Read more