On 29 and 30 April two performances of Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen at Les Quinconces theatre in Le mons, France, closed the production’s tour organized by the Paris-based opera house Arcal. The company’s aim being to bring high-quality opera performances to regions where these are otherwise not particularly easy to find, the ensemble’s mission consists of travelling through the whole country and playing its productions in some of almost thirty of their partner theatres. The Cunning Little Vixen, premiered in January, was, apart from Le Mons, performed also in Nanterre, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Reims, Besançon, Massy and Sablé-sur-Sarthe.
For the young French production’s director Louise Moaty, who is also an active singer, is this Janáček’s opera her second collaboration with Arcal already, the first one being Viktor Ullmann’s Emperor of Atlantis two years ago. Moaty likes to engage in creating multimedia performances; her Vixen, too, is a combination of live singing, film and object theatre, aiming to make the overall image similair to Toyen’s surrealist collages. The orchestra, led by a conductor and composer Laurent Cuniot, is formed by the members of TM+ contemporary music ensemble and plays from Jonathan Dove’s opera arrange for 16 instruments. The cast, singing in Czech, includes Noriko Urata (Vixen), Caroline Meng (Fox, Cock, Cricket), Philippe-Nicolas Martin (Forester) or Wassyl Slipak (Badger, Priest, Harašta).
Leoš Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen
Director: Louise Moaty, conductor: Laurent Cuniot
Arcal, TM+
Jan 15 & 16, Maison de la Musique de Nanterre, Nanterre
Feb 19, Théâtre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Scène Nationale, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Feb 26, Opéra de Reims, Reims
Mar 16, Théâtre Ledoux, Besançon
Apr 14 & 15, Opéra de Massy, Massy
Apr 23, L’Entracte, Scène conventionnée Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Sablé-sur-Sarthe
Apr 29 & 30, Les Quinconces, Grand Théâtre, Le Mans