Nicky Spence

Que se passe-t-il quand un nez décide de quitter son propriétaire pour vivre sa vie ? Séduit par la dimension fantastique et « insensée » de la nouvelle Le Nez de Nikolaï Gogol (1836), Dimitri Chostakovitch choisit cette satire de la société russe et de son administration tsariste pour son premier opéra, qu’il compose à 22 ans, en 1928. En raison de sa critique sociale, de son thème surréaliste et de son plaisant mélange de styles musicaux, cette œuvre presque démente est bannie du répertoire soviétique pendant près d’un demi-siècle. En dépit d’effectifs démesurés (près de 80 personnages et une section percussion comptant 14 instruments), cette partition géniale et pétillante reçoit aujourd’hui à nouveau l’attention qu’elle mérite. Àlex Ollé et La Fura dels Baus en donneront une interprétation visuellement spectaculaire, tandis que Gergely Madaras fera ses débuts à la Monnaie à la tête d’un orchestre déchaîné.

Moses und Aron is a three-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg with the third act unfinished. The 2015 Production was led by Romeo Castellucci in Paris. Moses und Aron was filmed for television by film director François-René Martin, in co-production with the Paris Opera, Bel air Media and Arte, with support from the CNC.

Director and visual artist Romeo Castellucci will tackle this mythological material and project his visions over the course of the journey performed by the characters, representing concretely such key elements of the Ring as water and fire. This symbolic reading will concentrate on essential aspects of the libretto, inviting spectators to forge their own interpretation. Avoiding irony, Castellucci will treat each protagonist with equal importance, highlighting the aspirations, emotions and thoughts that animate them: absolute love and the conquest of power.

We are off on an excursion, two excursions in fact, in the company of a landlord from Prague, who is, let us say, a little rough around the edges. The first journey of Mr Brouček is to the Moon where our beer-drinking hero (literally ‘Mr Beetle’) meets the oh-so sophisticated Moon-dwellers. In the second, we travel through time to the early 15th century to a heroic period in Czech history when the Czechs fought off armies of crusaders from the rest of Europe. Will Mr Brouček fare any better in Prague circa 1420, when Czechs are on the eve of a famous victory defending their Hussite faith? For this new production from the heart of the composer’s home country, Janáček Festival Brno has entrusted the staging to the famous Canadian director, Robert Carsen who thus opens the 2024 Festival with this, his sixth production of a Janáček opera.

We are off on an excursion, two excursions in fact, in the company of a landlord from Prague, who is, let us say, a little rough around the edges. The first journey of Mr Brouček is to the Moon where our beer-drinking hero (literally ‘Mr Beetle’) meets the oh-so sophisticated Moon-dwellers. In the second, we travel through time to the early 15th century to a heroic period in Czech history when the Czechs fought off armies of crusaders from the rest of Europe. Will Mr Brouček fare any better in Prague circa 1420, when Czechs are on the eve of a famous victory defending their Hussite faith?