Introducing… Káťa Kabanová
Find out more about this Glyndebourne revival, returning in 2025.
In this video, Paul Brown (head of props) and Tom Harrison (production manager) tell us how one of the most memorable scenes in the production was created…
A brief introduction:
Trapped in an unhappy marriage and a small town filled with even smaller minds, Káťa Kabanová longs for escape, for beauty, kindness, love. But when she finds herself drawn into an affair with the outsider Boris, her guilt overwhelms her. Her confession rips lives and families apart, leaving Káťa herself with no way out.
This is one of the 20th century’s most beautiful and heart-wrenching operas. Janáček weaves Czech folk-inspired melodies together with a naturalistic approach to setting and character, to create a devastating portrait of passion crushed and innocence tainted by a cruel and hypocritical society.
Why not to miss it:
Damiano Michieletto’s production debuted at Festival 2021 to great acclaim. The action takes place on pared-back sets allowing the raw emotion of the story to take centre-stage. Surrealist imagery of angels and bird cages add symbolic weight to Káťa’s inner turmoil, and will linger in the mind long after the curtain has come down.
A great moment to look out for:
A love-duet is always a highlight of any opera, but what happens when you multiply that intensity by two? Act II of Káťa Kabanová features an unusual double duet, with Káťa and Boris’s first romantic encounter musically colliding with that of her sister Varvara’s tryst with schoolmaster Kudrjaš. The lyrical folk music of the younger couple contrasts with the laden tension between the title character and her lover. The atmosphere is charged with emotion: possibility, tenderness and desire colliding with a powerful sense of threat.
Cast and creative team:
Glyndebourne’s Music Director Robin Ticciati conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Kateřina Kněžíková, who led the 2021 cast, makes a welcome return as Káťa. Nicky Spence, who played Tichon is 2021, will be taking on the role of Boris.
The internationally renowned British singers Susan Bickley and John Tomlinson play Kabanicha and Dikój, while Miles Mykkanen makes his Glyndebourne debut as Tichon.
You can hear more from Nicky Spence in this short video:
To find out more about production support for Festival 2025 click here
or contact our Director of Development, Helen McCarthy for an informal chat:
call 01273 013308 or email helen.mccarthy@glyndebourne.com
Image credits: Main image – Stocksy/Image treatment by Melissa Castro Duarte, Glyndebourne Festival 2021 image – Richard Hubert Smith.