Katia Kabanova

"This magnificent and tragic Katia Kabanova is an absolute must-see."

- ANNE DASTAKIAN, MARIANNE

The celebrated French opera and theatre director, André Engel, joins the programme for the Festival de Otoño a Primavera for the first time in his career. And he does so with a unique proposition, bringing a fresh perspective to Czech composer Leoŝ Janáĉek's popular opera, Katia Kabanova, under the musical direction of Irène Kudela. Furthermore, to get the work into production, Engel and Kudela have been able to count on the top-class Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (home of the acclaimed Peter Brook) as producer.

The origin of this version of Katia Kabanova can be found in a workshop which the French director was giving to young opera singers in the unique Royaumont Abbey, north of Paris. The motivation, commitment and quality of those emerging artists (who, thanks to Katia Kabanova, have taken for the first time a leading role in front of an audience) inspired him to create a chamber version of the opera full of spontaneity and freshness, that can now be seen in Madrid. The musical direction of the work is undertaken by Irène Kudela who has adapted the score using a piano as the only accompaniment. The narrative deals with a desperate woman, Katia Kabanova, eager for freedom but at the same time unable to break the social conventions which prevent her escape. Forced into an arranged marriage with a cowardly man, suicide seems the only way out of her despair until she succumbs to the charms of a courageous suitor. Nevertheless, she prefers to die rather than suffer the shame of having to flee her home as an adultress.

The first performance of André Engel's Katia Kabanova was at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris in February 2012. The French director wanted to rethink the opera in a different way, looking for theatricality and a close and intimate relationship with the audience. During the creative process, Engel worked in depth on the text as if the young interpreters were actors rather than singers. For its part, the scenery was designed to create a heap of ruins while the costumes are of the simplest style in order to clothe the disgruntled feelings of the protagonists. "We were dealing with a breakdown," explains Engel. "And we wanted to create the conditions of the confinement in which the resplendent Katia wasted away so spectacularly."

 

Credits

TITLE: Katia Kabanova (Chamber version of the opera by Leoŝ Janáĉek)

STAGE DIRECTION: André Engel

MUSICAL DIRECTION: Irène Kudela

CAST: Jérôme Billy, José Canales, Mathilde Cardon, Elena Gabouri, Paul Gaugler, Douglas Henderson, Michel Hermon, Kelly Hodson and Céline Laly

PIANO: Nicolas Chesneau and Martin Surot

 

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