Kát’a Kabanová - Janacek - Glyndebourne - 20 May 2021

The dark clouds rolled in. Rain, storms, high winds, Glyndebourne was back – and with a bang too! Janacek’s Kát’a Kabanová directed by ‘enfant terrible’ Damiano Michieletto, provides an abstract production of white walls and a white settee, with the spirit of angels caught in hanging gilded cages. In a performance that was discretely socially distanced with the chorus singing off stage and a reduced sized LPO orchestra, the music and singing shone through.

The first performance of this opera took place in the Czech city of Brno in 1921, so this production was a fitting centenary albeit that Tony Burke worked on the Covid related orchestral reduction. In a thrilling account of the score Glyndebourne’s music director, Robin Ticciati brought life once more to an auditorium that had been closed for too long. Despite its size, the orchestra was on the effervescent form under Ticciati’s baton. The opening scene with a gilded cage bearing a rock - being a symbol of Kát’a’s burden - is supplanted by half-naked angels who dance across the stage and by the end of the performance are joined by 40 or more gilded cages with symbolism at its extreme. The only real disappointment is the final scene of Kát’a’s underwhelming death as she falls into the Volga, but there is no river death here. Just a death at the back of the stage and out of sight to most of the audience. Notwithstanding this, some of the production, particularly where the wall closes off Kát’a’s movement, is incredibly powerful.

And then we come to some great singing. The opening notes of the tenor Thomas Atkins, the schoolteacher, warns us that this is going to be a great night musically. The Russian bass Alexander Vassiliev is a wonderful foil for the tyrannical Kabanicha of Katarina Dalayman. Her son Tichon, Kát’a’s husband, is sung by the outstanding tenor of Nicky Spence. But it is the triumvirate of the Kát’a of the Czech soprano Kateřina Kněžiková, her Boris of David Butt Phillip and the foster child of the Russian soprano Aigul Akhmetshina that steal the show. Kněžiková’s emotional rollercoaster is sung with great depth of sound, vocally meeting every demand required of her. David Butt Phillips reveals a depth of sound and quality that is propelling him to great tenor heights and Akhmetshina’s childlike soprano rings from the rafters. There is a great supporting cast including Sarah Pring, Jessica Ouston, Tom Mole, Bethany Horak-Hallett and Robert Lewis, with the elegant wings of Robin Gladwin always in attendance. Congratulations to the choreographer Chiara Vecchi for the control of the angels and the lighting designer Alessandro Carletti.

How wonderful to be reminded of the strength of a live opera performance instead of the steady streams that have been a necessary part of life during our horrible pandemic. I never thought I would say that seeing Gus Christie on stage before the performance, could be quite so heart-warming. More, please.