17.03.2017
Vixen. Love
Opera for Young Adults
The 14th Harlequin Children’s Festival of Performing Arts will open at the Mikhailovsky Theatre on 17 April. The Natalia Sats Moscow State Opera and Ballet Theatre for Young Audiences will present the opera Vixen. Love, based on the score from Leoš Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen.
One of the most popular operas of the 20th century across the globe, translated into many languages and performed in numerous countries, the opera is nonetheless almost unknown in Russia. The Natalia Sats Theatre’s version of the opera, which premiered in Autumn 2015, is only the second staging of the famous opera in this country. For director Georgy Isaakian, Vixen is a kind of modern-day mystery. He sees the opera as intended primarily for young audiences, specifically for those on the threshold of adulthood. They will be moved to think about the opera’s meaning: about love, loss, and about their own place in the world. The fate of the Vixen is a reflection of life itself. The Vixen is both a predator who hunts chickens and a girl whom everyone loves. She is both a dream and a memory. “The story of the vixen — who lives, falls in love, raises children, and then dies — is a parable on the cycle of life,” says Isaakian. “Winter turns into spring, spring into summer, summer into autumn, and so on — year after year, without end. There is no pathos in this reality, and that is precisely the point.”
The creators have changed the name of Janáček’s opera. This was a conscious decision: they did so primarily to emphasize that the production is not intended for young children; and also to emphasize its main theme. Musical director and conductor Evgeny Brazhnik explains, “Our opera is called Vixen. Love, and it is about the fact that love does not disappear when a person does. It lives on, appearing again and again. It is love that nourishes all life on earth. And it is only in love that the real substance of human existence can be found.”
Janáček’s compatriot, the writer Milan Kundera, called Vixen “the most nostalgic opera in the world”. The composer himself believed that music based on the intonations of living human speech can “open a window” to the human soul. The creators of the opera have no doubt that their young audience will respond to the sophisticated musical language of the Czech classic. “I strongly believe that children should be educated about highbrow, complex music. A teenager is ready to listen to and embrace this,” opines director Georgy Isaakian, “but he needs a moderator, a good teacher, an interlocutor. And what could be better in this role than a children’s musical theatre?”
One of the most popular operas of the 20th century across the globe, translated into many languages and performed in numerous countries, the opera is nonetheless almost unknown in Russia. The Natalia Sats Theatre’s version of the opera, which premiered in Autumn 2015, is only the second staging of the famous opera in this country. For director Georgy Isaakian, Vixen is a kind of modern-day mystery. He sees the opera as intended primarily for young audiences, specifically for those on the threshold of adulthood. They will be moved to think about the opera’s meaning: about love, loss, and about their own place in the world. The fate of the Vixen is a reflection of life itself. The Vixen is both a predator who hunts chickens and a girl whom everyone loves. She is both a dream and a memory. “The story of the vixen — who lives, falls in love, raises children, and then dies — is a parable on the cycle of life,” says Isaakian. “Winter turns into spring, spring into summer, summer into autumn, and so on — year after year, without end. There is no pathos in this reality, and that is precisely the point.”
The creators have changed the name of Janáček’s opera. This was a conscious decision: they did so primarily to emphasize that the production is not intended for young children; and also to emphasize its main theme. Musical director and conductor Evgeny Brazhnik explains, “Our opera is called Vixen. Love, and it is about the fact that love does not disappear when a person does. It lives on, appearing again and again. It is love that nourishes all life on earth. And it is only in love that the real substance of human existence can be found.”
Janáček’s compatriot, the writer Milan Kundera, called Vixen “the most nostalgic opera in the world”. The composer himself believed that music based on the intonations of living human speech can “open a window” to the human soul. The creators of the opera have no doubt that their young audience will respond to the sophisticated musical language of the Czech classic. “I strongly believe that children should be educated about highbrow, complex music. A teenager is ready to listen to and embrace this,” opines director Georgy Isaakian, “but he needs a moderator, a good teacher, an interlocutor. And what could be better in this role than a children’s musical theatre?”
