Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | The Makropulos Case (Věc Makropulos)

Kornél Mundruczó brings the characters to life in Janáček’s drama of eternal youth; the brilliance of Dennis Russell Davies and the Orchestre National de Lille come close to overwhelming the proceedings.

Katie Mitchell wheels out her tired old tropes in The Makropulos Case, redeemed by its musical performances. 

Orla Boylan’s creation oozes charisma and reeks of entitlement, driven to emotional cruelty by the lassitude of a life too-long lived.

Olivia Fuchs gives a powerful staging of Janáček's morality tale of the perils of eternal youth, with an excellent cast, but there are reservations about the title role.

Director Claus Guth's new production for the Staatsoper Berlin is a bit of a mixed bag but the evening succeeds more on its musical merits, with a splendid ensemble of singers and orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

To outwit death and attain immortality is a dream as old as human history. But isn’t it precisely the finite nature of life that makes it so precious?

National Theatre Brno brings David Radok’s 2014 staging of Janáček’s Makropulos Case to the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the opera's first-ever journey to Asia, with Annalena Persson in the lead.

Despite the black and white palate, this Makropulos Case has plenty of color. Nadja Michael heads the cast with her fiery portrayal of Elina Makropulos, and conductor Mikahil Tatrnikov makes a triumphant San Francisco Opera debut in the pit.

Karita Mattila produces a star turn in the title role, but a pure concert staging does little to bring out the cleverness of the libretto of Janáček’s Makropulos Case.

It took Vienna State Opera almost 90 years to present Leos Janacek's Věc Makropulos, but in Peter Stein's production, it was worth the wait.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” These wise words have fortunately not fallen on deaf ears at the Opéra de Paris, who have brought back their production of Leoš Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski and designed by Małgorzata Szczęśniak, first presented in Paris back in 2007.

The strange yet compelling story of the 350-year-old opera singer Elina Makropulos was Opera North’s showcase in a production première at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. Leoš Janáček wrote The Makropulos Affair, his penultimate opera, based on the Karel Čapek play about Elina Makropulos, who was given a potion to preserve her youth when she was sixteen.

In Janáček's opera The Makropulos Case, the operagoer must accept a single premise of implausible fantasy: from then on, the action flows inexorably and logically to its conclusion. It's a device used by a great deal of fantasy literature, from the low-brow of The Day of the Triffids to the high-brow of Janáček's compatriot Kafka's Metamorphosis.

Le directeur de la maison lyonnaise propose une lecture de l'ouvrage de Janáček efficace à défaut d'être percutante. L'excellent Alexander Joel est à la baguette devant une distribution plutôt convaincante.

La production du metteur en scène polonais est de retour à Bastille et on a bien du mal à lui trouver des défauts, d'autant que la direction musicale de Susanna Mälkki est au diapason.

Le cinéaste hongrois Kornél Mundruczó propose une vision originale et puissamment dramatique du chef-d'œuvre de Janáček, portée par une Rachel Harnisch incandescente. 

Mit enormer Ausdruckskraft verleiht Evelyn Herlitzius den zwei Seiten der Emilia Marty stimmlich und darstellerisch nuancierte Gestalt.

L'Opéra National du Rhin nous livre sa version burlesque et crépusculaire de l'Affaire Makropoulus, l'avant-dernier opéra de Léos Janacek, avec Marko Letonja à la direction et Robert Carsen à la mise en scène. 

337 Jahre Jugend - Segen oder doch ein Fluch? Die Oper Göteborg geht dieser Frage in einem kurzweiligen und spannenden Opernerlebnis nach.

Mit der Sache Makropulos setzt die bayerische Staatsoper gleich zum Beginn der Münchner Opernfestspiele einen überwältigenden Akzent – dank Nadja Michael.