Audience Premiere: Leoš Janáček's JENŮFA
On May 22nd, Leoš Janáček's JENŮFA, directed by Damiano Michieletto, can be seen live for the first time. With Asmik Grigorian, who is making her house debut in the title role, and with Evelyn Herlitzius as sexton, under the musical direction of Thomas Guggeis.
The rigid moral standards of a village community put a young woman under pressure: Jenůfa is pregnant by her lover Števa, who, however, turns away from her and withdraws his promise of marriage. After the child has seen the light of day, her stepmother, the village sexton, also fears for Jenůfa's reputation and her own future. When another marriage candidate, Laca, comes up, she begins to think that life without the child would be better for all of them... Social themes that get under your skin in Janáček's opera from 1904 and, in their tragedy and explosiveness, are still relevant today. In his production, director Damiano Michieletto focuses entirely on the characters and their psychology. With clear, austere images of external and internal coldness, he drives JENŮFA out of any folklore. The new production is finally taking place in front of an audience, after being broadcast on TV, radio and streams in February 2021 due to the pandemic.
In the premiere review of the broadcast, Bavarian Radio said: "What the Staatsoper Unter den Linden presented that evening and will hopefully play in front of an audience soon cannot be surpassed artistically."
Janáček's music grips with enormous dynamics, rhythmic power and tonal diversity. Psychological extreme states are audible with tremendous force and the incomprehensible can be experienced directly musically. JENŮFA (in Czech, “Její pastorkyňa” – “Your stepdaughter”) has a special relationship with the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, because the Berlin premiere in 1924 brought the work its final breakthrough on German stages.
Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian has been hailed as "one of the fiercest dramatic talents in the field" and "a soprano with a bottomless appetite for risk" (The New York Times). She was a founding member of the Vilnius City Opera and has twice been awarded the Golden Stage Cross. In 2016 she received the award for best young singer at the International Opera Awards, followed in 2019 by the award for singer of the year. She was awarded Best Leading Role at the Austrian Music Theater Awards 2019 for her performance in SALOME at the Salzburg Festival. In March her recording of Rachmaninoff songs with pianist Lukas Genusias was released under the title “Dissonance” and in April the documentary “Fuoco Sacro” by Jan Schmidt-Garre was released in cinemas, in which she was one of the three portrayed singers. Asmik Grigorian can now be seen on the stage of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden for the first time.
With his short-term replacement for Christoph von Dohnányi in the new production of SALOME at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Thomas Guggeis caused a sensation internationally and has held the title of Staatskapellmeister at this opera house since 2020/21. From the 2023/24 season he will be General Music Director of the Frankfurt Opera. Thomas Guggeis is currently leading the European tour of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he has taken on for Daniel Barenboim, after which he will conduct three performances of Otto Nicolai's THE MERRY WOMEN OF WINDSOR at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (15th, 18th, 20th May) before he can be heard at JENŮFA conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin beginning May 22nd.
In addition to Asmik Grigorian in the title role and Evelyn Herlitzius (Die Küsterin Buryjovka), the ensemble includes: Hanna Schwarz (Die Alte Buryjovka), Stephan Rügamer (Laca Klemeň), Alexey Dolgov (Števa Buryja), Jan Martiník (Altgesellschaft), David Oštrek (Richter ), Natalia Skrycka (the judge's wife), Evelin Novak (Karolka), Adriane Queiroz (Barena), Victoria Randem (Jano) as well as Ema Nikolovska (shepherdess) and Clara Nadeshdin (base), both of whom are from the Liz Mohn Kultur- und Music Foundation-sponsored International Opera Studio. In addition, the State Opera Choir, rehearsed by Martin Wright, sings. The Staatskapelle Berlin is playing. The set was designed by Paolo Fantin, the costumes by Carla Teti.