Z mrtveho domu (From the House of the Dead), JW I/11

Composer: Janacek, Leos

Librettist/Text Author: Janacek, Leos

Conductor: Young, Simone

Orchestra: Bavarian State Orchestra

Chorus: Bavarian State Opera Chorus

Chorus Master: Eckhoff, Soren

A Prostitute: O'Sullivan, Niamh

Alexandr Petrovic Gorjancikov: Rose, Peter

Aljeja: Sotnikova, Evgeniya

Blacksmith: Milev, Alexander

Cekunov: Kammler, Johannes

Cerevin: Power, Dean

Cook: Prygl, Boris

Don Juan, Brahmane: Thorpe, Callum

Drunk Prisoner: Salas, Galeano

Guard: Long, Long

Kedril, Prisoner: Grills, Matthew

Luka Kuzmic: Briscein, Ales

Nikita, Big Prisoner: Gunther, Manuel

Old Prisoner: Ress, Ulrich

Pope: Lobert, Peter

Prison Governor: Rieger, Christian

Sapkin: Conners, Kevin

Siskov: Skovhus, Bo

Skuratov: Workman, Charles

Small Prisoner: Kuypers, Tim

Set Designer: Denic, Aleksandar

Costume Designer: Peretzki, Adriana Braga

Lighting Designer: Casper, Rainer

Stage Director: Castorf, Frank

Television Director: Sommer, Andy

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Date of Production: 14-02-2020

Venue: Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich

Playing Time: 01:36:41

Catalogue Number: BAC173

UPC: 3760115301733

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The House of the Dead is the moniker accorded to the Siberian labour camp by those who are held within it: thieves, killers, political prisoners. This is a place in which captives are incessantly monitored and punished. With its very own rules involving power and submission; its hierarchies and bullying by those in authority; this is a place far from civilisation, which acts both as its blind spot and its mirror. Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic novel The House of the Dead, in which the author processes his own four-year incarceration, Leos Janacek created a singular work of musical theatre. This is an opera without heroes; without the standard plot revolving around conflict and its subsequent resolution. Against a backdrop of the tedium and gruelling routine of camp life, Janacek allows individual prisoners and their stories to emerge briefly from the multitude. He draws out personal journeys marked by humiliation and abuse. Janacek's unique musical idiom feels like eavesdropping and provides a raw, gestural expression for the brutality faced in the camp, but also for the moments of shared hope, compassion and solidarity.