Katya Kabanova combines Jan?cek's distinctive 'speech melodies' that highlight the inflections of Czech speech with episodes of passionate lyricism and melodic beauty such as Kudrj?s and Varvara's playful folksongs, Katya's ecstatic Act I monologue and her tender encounters with Boris. The score also contains many orchestral glories, including the brooding Prelude and Act III's terrifying storm. Richard Jones's production has contemporary resonance, placing Katya within a repressive and remote, modern rural community, whose small-town limitations all too easily create a destructive loneliness. Katya Kabanova was inspired by Alexander Ostrovsky's play The Storm, a social critique of Russia's merchant class and its chauvinism. It was part of a remarkable 'late flowering' for Jan?cek that also included three further operas, the Sinfonietta, two string quartets and the Glagolitic Mass. Like Jan?cek's earlier Jenufa, Katya is particularly noteworthy for the composer's thoughtful and sympathetic portrayal of his free-spirited heroine.

The Story

Katya is unhappily married to the ineffectual Tichon Kabanov, and tormented by his bullying mother Kabanicha. Her young neighbour Boris is equally tormented by his tyrannical uncle Dikoj. He sympathizes with Katya and longs to help her. When Tichon goes away on a journey, Katya lets Tichon's foster-sister Varvara persuade her into meeting Boris. While Varvara enjoys a tryst with her own lover Kudrj?s, Boris and Katya talk, and soon realize they have fallen in love. Over the next few days the lovers contrive several happy meetings, but Tichon's return plunges Katya into an agony of remorse.

Important Information

BOOKING PERIOD: 4-26 February 2019

RUNNING TIME:The performance lasts about 2 hours 10 minutes, including one interval

LANGUAGE: Sung in Czech with English surtitles

VENUE: Royal Opera House Bow St, London WC2E 9DD

KATYA KABANOVA Booking Period 15 -27 March 2010 JANACEK Cervinka after Ostrovsky New Production David Alden follows his double Olivier Award-winning production of Jancek's Jenufa with a new staging of the Czech composer's later lyrical masterpiece, Katya Kabanova. A claustrophobically intense yet heart-rending study of sexual morality within a close-knit community, it was inspired by Jancek's erotic obsession with a younger married woman. Stunning singing actress Patricia Racette makes her ENO debut as the passionate soul trapped in a loveless marriage, with Stuart Skelton (a sensational Peter Grimes in another Alden staging in 2009) as the stranger who offers her a brief hope of happiness. Jancek's most lyrically emotional score is conducted by Mark Wigglesworth with an outstanding cast also featuring Susan Bickley, Clive Bayley, John Graham-Hall, Anna Grevelius and Alfie Boe. Costumes were built by The Dallas Opera Costume Workshop A co-production with Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Lisbon and Teatr Wielki-Opera Narodowa, Warsaw Supported by The Friends of ENO and The English National Opera Trust. Cast: Katerina Kabanova - Patricia Racette Marfa Kabanicha - Susan Bickley Varvara - Anna Grevelius Boris Grigoryevich - Stuart Skelton Vanya Kudrjas - Alfie Boe Tikhon Ivanich Kabanov - John Graham-Hall Dikoy - Clive Bayley Kuligin - William Robert Allenby Conductor Mark Wigglesworth Director David Alden Set Designer Charles Edwards Costume Designer Jon Morrell Lighting Designer Adam Silverman