'Jen?fa', a stunning operatic thriller to kick off the 2023 program

'Les Arts és Òpera' 

• Gustavo Gimeno, now Spain's most internationally renowned director, returns to the Main Hall eight years later to direct this work by Janáček.
• Katie Mitchell frames her feminist statement in the 21st century, starring soprano Corinne Winters and mezzo-soprano Petra Lang

Valencia (16.01.23). Les Arts begins its 2023 activity in the Main Hall with the premiere of 'Jenšfa', by Leoš Janáček, on January 19, “an impactful operatic thriller”, with musical direction by Gustavo Gimeno and stage direction by Katie Mitchell.

This is how Jesús Iglesias Noriega described it today, during the presentation of the opera to the media, which was attended by Gustavo Gimeno; Robin Tebbutt, stage director of the revival, and the two lead singers: soprano Corinne Winters (Jenšfa) and mezzo-soprano Petra Lang (Kostelniška).

Gustavo Gimeno thus returns to the pit of Les Arts, where he made his operatic debut in 2015 with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, "in one of the great bets of the season," as Iglesias Noriega explained, who also recalled that it is a title that had never been heard before at Les Arts.

The Valencian maestro, already established as one of the most internationally renowned Spanish conductors, musical director of the Luxembourg Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and future principal conductor of the Teatro Real, delves into this exceptional score, of immeasurable expressive power and timbral richness, which will allow us to enjoy the excellences of the OCV.

According to him: “Janášek’s sound world is very particular. It is a late Romanticism, but it has little to do with Wagner or Strauss… It is a very modern story, both in its themes and in the music that Janášek creates.”

Scene

'Jen?fa' is a story about women "that focuses entirely on the female experience," as Mitchell explains. "It's an incredibly modern opera, because it's not common for an opera conceived in the 19th century to have so many female characters on stage. Three generations of women play the lead role, and I added a fourth generation by having a young girl play the role of the youngest son in the final scene."

The opera is based on 'His Stepdaughter', a heartbreaking 19th-century play written by Czech playwright Gabriela Preissovà, in which betrayal, murder, love and forgiveness converge in a portrait so realistic and brutal about rural women that it caused a real shock at its premiere in 1890.

“The lives of the female characters reflect those times and their social class: they depend on violent men who are in turn hurt, usually drunk and used to solving everything with violence,” he recalls.

“One of the main conflicts in the opera is between the stepmother, Kostelnika, and her stepdaughter, Jenůfa,” explains the British director. In order to guarantee her a better future, Kostelnika has raised the young woman under a strict upbringing, which, however, will not prevent her from becoming the victim of a cruel love triangle.

Courted by Laca, she is nevertheless seduced by her handsome and fickle half-brother, Števa, with whom she becomes pregnant. Jenůfa's hopes of marriage are dashed when Števa abandons her after Laca disfigures the young woman in a jealous rage.

To try to save her reputation and be able to marry Laca, her stepmother will commit infanticide, but the small corpse will be discovered on the same day as the wedding, and faced with the anger of the crowd against the young woman, Kostelnička will confess her crime and obtain Jenčfa's forgiveness, who already begins her new life as a married woman.

In her approach to 'Jenšfa', Katie Mitchell emphasizes the feminist perspective of Gabriela Preissová's original text and places the epicenter of the conflict between the two women in the horrific harm suffered by the stepmother in the past and society's failure to protect her from violent men. The British director won the 2019 International Opera Award for her work on this production.

Distribution

Les Arts brings together a cast of leading figures from the operatic scene for the first time Janáček's opera is programmed, headlined by American soprano Corinne Winters, a regular in the programming of major theaters and already designated by critics as one of the reference interpreters of Jenčfa.

Also singing for the first time in Valencia will be German mezzo-soprano Petra Lang, who adds the role of Kostelnička to her repertoire. She will be joined by Americans Brandon Jovanovich, one of the leading dramatic tenors of our time, who will sing the role of Laca Klemeč, and Norman Reinhardt, who made a highly successful debut as Števa in this same production in Amsterdam. Elena Zaremba, a leading mezzo-soprano in the Russian repertoire, will sing the role of Stačenca Buryjovka, the matriarch of the clan.

Sam Carl (the foreman), Scott Wilde (the mayor), Amparo Navarro (the mayor's wife), Laura Orueta (Karolka), Olga Syniakova (a shepherdess), Quiteria Muñoz (Barena), Larisa Stefan (Jano) and Leticia Rodriguez (the aunt) complete the cast. 

Las Arts will perform 'Jen?fa' from January 19 to 29 in the Main Hall.