A new production of Janáček’s Makropulos Affair opens in Helsinki tonight. 

See details, cast and photos at the Finnish National Opera website.

Happy Birthday Leoš Janáček!

Some recommended reading:

Max Brod’s obituary of Leoš Janáček
Mark Audus on the original Brno version of Jenufa
John Tyrell on From the House of the Dead
Pierre Boulez and Patrice Chéreau on From the House of the Dead

Artistic Director David Pountney has just announced the 2012–2014 programme of the Welsh National Opera.

Under the title Free Spirits, the WNO is presenting Alban Berg’s Lulu and Leoš Janácek’s Cunning Little Vixen in spring 2013.

The full programme is here (PDF file).

Janáček’s Sinfonietta comes to the BBC Proms tonight in a concert by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

Listen live on BBC Radio 3.

For those who can’t wait:

Watch (or rather listen) on YouTube

The final performance of Peter Konwitschny’s new production of Janacek’s From the House of the Dead takes place this Friday in Zurich.

Read an interview (in German) with conductor Ingo Metzmacher and director Peter Konwitschny in the Zurich Opera Magazine.

View on Issuu.

The New York Philharmonic’s production of the Cunning Little Vixen opens at the Avery Fisher Hall tonight.

“Music Director Alan Gilbert, director/designer Doug Fitch, and the New York Philharmonic invite you into the woods, with Avery Fisher Hall transformed into a fantastical forest filled with talking frogs, singing mosquitoes and badgers, and one very fetching little fox.”

See production photos on the NYPhil’s Facebook page.

Watch director and designer Doug Fitch talk about Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen, which opens at the New York Philharmonic on 22 June.

Watch on YouTube

It seems also that a certain little vixen has taken over the NYPhil’s Twitter account.

The new Opera North production of Janacek’s From The House of the Dead opens in Leeds tonight. Watch director John Fulljames and tenor Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts discuss the work during rehearsals.

Watch on YouTube

“La piccola volpe astuta”

Jonathan Dove’s chamber version of the Cunning Little Vixen opens in Rome tonight at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Marco Angius conducts with Damiana Mizzi and Ivo Yordanov in the lead roles.

Read our introduction to the work.

Christoph Marthaler’s celebrated production of Janáček’s Katya Kabanova, first seen at the Salzburg Festival in 1998, returns to the Opéra de Paris with Angela Denoke in the lead role.

The clip above is from the DVD of the Salzburg production, available from Kultur.

“Nicolas Joel programmes Christoph Marthaler? Spot the mistake,” is the sarcastic comment of Le Figaro.

Have you seen this production? Are you going? Comments are always welcome.