The Makropulos Case - Leos Janacek

Tha National Theatre

Premiere: Dezember 12, 2008

Musical preparation: Tomáš Hanus
Conductor: Tomáš Hanus / David Švec
Director: Christopher Alden
Co-Director: Peter Littlefield
Stage design: Charles Edwards
Costumes: Sue Willmington
Lights: Adam Silverman
Chorus master: Martin Buchta
Dramaturgy: Beno Blachut

Emilia Marty: Gun-Brit Barkmin
Albert Gregor: Gianluca Zampieri
Solicitor Vítek: Jan Markvart
Kristina: Alžběta Poláčková
Jaroslav Prus: Martin Bárta
Janek: Tomáš Kořínek
Dr. Kolenatý: Gustáv Beláček
Stagehand: Bohuslav Maršík
Charwoman: Lenka Šmídová
Hauk-Shendorf: Jan Ježek
Chamber-maid: Stanislava Jirků
Orchestra and Choir of the National Theatre Opera.

Janáček’s penultimate opera takes up the basic storyline, characters and situations of Čapek’s renowned “philosophical comedy” about the desire for immortality, as well as the weariness and fear it engenders. The composer also follows Čapek’s trajectory in the comedic bustle around the central character, the singer Emilia Marty. Janáček’s independent and unmistakable input is the foregrounding of the erotic relationships and the story’s erotic atmosphere in general. He captivates through precise empathising with a woman who despite all the cynicism accumulated during her three-hundred-year life still longs for love, sense and fulfilment, and envies the mortals who are able – perhaps naively – to believe in these “ordinary things”. For her portrayal of the lead role, Gun-Brit Barkmin won the Director’s Prize at the Opera 2009 festival.

“The German soprano Gun-Brit Barkmin performed the role of Emilia Marty in an engrossing, dramatic manner, in all the necessary expressive breadth. Her vocal and acting skills enable her to imbue the character with a significant degree of naturalistic forcibility." Hospodářské noviny, Petr Veber, 22. 12. 2008

“Alden’s conception of Janáček’s The Makropulos Case chimes with our contemporary world more than it would seem.” Respekt, Magdalena Platzová, 5. 1. 2009

A co-production with the English National Opera, London

The opera is staged in Czech original version and Czech and English surtitles are used in the performance.

Duration of the performance: 2 hours and 15 minutes