JENUFA
After feeling quite stirred with the response for Andrei Kymach in Don Giovanni, the thoughts of war are never far from our hearts. For the next WNO venture in Cardiff, Jenufa by Czech composer Janáček would be a highly memorable encounter. Maestro Tomás Hanus introduced the evening with a reminder of what is happening on the continent, setting up the gloom which would follow for the night. A moment of silence followed the opera, led by Hanus, in memory of those lost and suffering at this time.
Last seen in 2008, Katie Mitchell’s production is a hangover from the company’s many decades at Cardiff’s New Theatre. You see this in the compact, traditional sets of Vicki Mortimer, complementing the tension of the drama. Infanticide is very little on the opera stage and the shock of this permeates the story. To my surprise, I found a friend on the night finding this decision to be the right choice. It’s good to get people talking, at least…
In Janáček’s Jenufa score lies an exquisite field of sound. Utilising the folk melodies from his homeland of Moravia, they envelop the score, the composer never shying away from more modern compositional techniques either. It’s a unique sound, recognisable by ear due to its shrill urgency and jolting vibrancy. How utterly sensational the WNO Orchestra are every time they play him, reined in by Hanus: the real deal, with an authenticity you can’t turn away from.
In her first appearance with the company, Elizabeth Llewellyn shines with all the subtleties this lead role asks for, along with the passions and subtle confidences. This is a diverse choice and the “blind casting” WNO are recognised for is proven with conviction. It is, after all, about the music. Peter Berger, as Laca, is jealous and persuasive in the role, cutting the poor title character at the end of the first act. With a fine voice, unafraid of the composer’s pressured high notes for the tenor, Peter in the finale is also touching.
Rhodri Prys Jones is Števa, the lover who gets Jenufa pregnant and leaves her after much fuss. This tenor has engaged in multiple local operatic and classical feats and featuring with WNO is proof of his impressive future. Hats off to him for sinking his teeth into the Czech language – no small feat, and something for which WNO have employed a language coach.
The evening perhaps belongs to Eliša Weissová as Kostelnička, replacing Angela Denoke. This wicked stepmother role is remarkable, notably for its stone-cold heartlessness and later manic bouts of guilt. We are treated to more authentic musicality, Weissová making a fine theatrical presence with this baddie who perhaps does have a heart after all. Much screaming, some words are spoken and an all-around sense of woe linger here in her playing.
Jenufa remains an extremely powerful opera, one which I’d encourage people to see if they fancied a lesser-known work of great significance. The final image of the night is also an unexpected shock, very touching even if it is a departure from reality. This remains the ticket of the season from WNO.

ANARCHY AT THE OPERA
On a lighter note, WNO’s collaboration with the National Opera Studio and Scottish Opera followed on the next day in the Millennium Centre. In a good use of resources, the set from act one of Jenufa was used for Anarchy At The Opera, featuring students from Ukraine, Russia and the USA amongst other countries in a unifying hour of music-making. Directed by Emma Jenkins, this showcase was a typical pick’n’mix of frivolity, delivering impressive voices from the singers of tomorrow. These choices gave a feeling of ‘theatre of the absurd’, operas performed less often in the standard repertoire.
The selections bled well into one another, the patter of applause halting things briefly on occasion. This was an ensemble effort, though some singers did get some fine highlights. Welsh soprano Ffion Edwards performed Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille from Offenbach’s The Tales Of Hoffmann, a piece not listed in the digital programme. Fine-footed in this ridiculous aria as Olympia, the wind-up doll, she proved she can take on the role with little blemish in the undertaking. Seen in his underwear for most of the show, countertenor Logan Lopez Gonzalez was a sharp and athletic sight, taken as Oberon from Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with aplomb as the creepy, incessant celeste rang out with him.
Opening the selections was Korean baritone Josef Awn, with the jazzy, brow-raising Prologue from Poulenc’s Les Maelles De Tirésias. A fine theatrical figure, Awn impressed throughout, while many other singers that can’t all be written about maintained that onstage spirit on stage. Some more intriguing findings from Handel, Martinů, Johan Strauss II and Shostakovich were also of note. Conductor Andrew Griffiths took on each extract with energy, the orchestra working well in the many, swift changeovers.
Some of the typical opera showcase devices were present. Even with some jovial moments, a forced over-the-top direction couldn’t be ignored, and some of the humour was fairly mediocre. A prop box of tricks saw some inventive usage for a large purple cloth; a pair of balloons repurposed as bosoms for the Poulenc dada scenes stayed in the mind.
A plus one and I noted how under-marketed this event was – the theatre scattered with patrons around the stalls, with ample space for more. If the collaboration continues, we should expect more attention made to these fine singers, on the cusp of promising careers.
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Sat 5 + Sun 6 Mar
WNO’s Jenufa is also at the Wales Millennium Centre on Sat 12 and Fri 18 Mar.
Anarchy At The Opera will be performed at Hoxton Hall, London on Tue 8 Mar. Info: here
words JAMES ELLIS photo CLIVE BARDA & THEATRE ROYAL GLASGOW