Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen
André Engel (stage director), Dennis Russell Davies (conductor) – With Elena Tsallagova (The Vixen), Paul Gay (Harašta)
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Cast
André Engel — Stage director
Nicky Rieti — Set designer
Elizabeth Neumuller — Costumes
André Diot — Lighting
Chœurs du Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris
Alessandro di Stefano — Chorus master
Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris
Dennis Russell Davies — Conductor
Elena Tsallagova — The Vixen
Jukka Rasilainen — The Forester
Michèle Lagrange — The Forester's Wife
David Kuebler — The Schoolmaster
Roland Bracht — The Parson
Paul Gay — Harašta
Hannah Esther Minutillo — The Fox
Program notes
Elusive and always insolently free, even when the forester chains her up and the schoolmaster in his inevitable cups believes he is pursuing Terynka, this little vixen is a will-o'-the-wisp whose flashing russet, wherever it blazes, revives the smart of their ancient desires and departed loves in the hearts of men. In a community living as close to the natural state and its prodigies as it is imaginable to be, no other creature better personifies the life-force which demands that we accept the implacable cycle of Nature, encompassed between the extremities of birth and death.
Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen was described by its composer as "a comic opera with a sad ending." It is a profoundly poetic tale for which the composer wrote some wonderful, life-enriching music that is magnificently orchestrated. "His music is quite simply overwhelmingly moving," says André Engel, who, working with an outstanding cast, directed a new production of this fascinating work for the Paris Opéra.
