Edward Gardner clearly has a thing for the Czechs. A month after he made his Royal Opera main-stage debut with Janáček's Katya Kabanova, here he was with the Filarmonica della Scala to conduct a strongly Czech programme.
Amanda Majeski is magnificent in the title role; Ed Gardner shows total master of Janáček's music. But that's not enough to rescue a poorly thought out Richard Jones production.
Jakub Hrůša and Simon Trpčeski with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra impress at Lincoln Center with a programme of works from Central and Eastern Europe.
In a typically ambitious programme, Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra explored how four Czech composers responded to imprisonment, exile and renewal.
Festive Janáček and energetically fresh Sibelius from Rattle and the LSO, with impressive focus and intensity from Janine Jansen in Szymanowski's sensuous Violin Concerto no. 1.
The profusion of images and ideas in Frank Castorf's Bavarian Staatsoper production of From the House of the Dead threatens to rob Janáček's opera of its humanity.
Aperghis’ migrants and a new arrangement of Janáček’s The Diary of One who Disappeared by Schöllhorn were well-handled treatments of their subject matter, yet burdened by an overwrought conceptual framework.
Johan Reuter is gripping in Krzysztof Warlikowski's powerful vision of the universal, timeless horrors of prison, but visual clutter distracts from Janáček’s music.
A stirring account of Elgar’s First Symphony from Sir Mark Elder and the LSO, with a rare outing given to Janáček’s last orchestral work and Francesco Piemontesi polished in Bartók.
The Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich recently nestled a performance by the gifted American violinist Hilary Hahn into its programme of works by Janáček, Prokofiev and Dvořák.
A great programme of varied but accessible 20th-century music excites in spite of its imperfections; Faust gives a beautiful, introspective reading of the second Berg concerto.
The Royal College of Music's first opera of the season, The Cunning Little Vixen has some excellent singing and first-class playing from the student orchestra.
On its current concert tour in Switzerland, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra treated audiences to a programme of works by two of its homeland's most illustrious composers.
Rattle conducts Janáček's glorious score with unerring skill and barely concealed adoration, but is let down by his regular collaborator's muddy vision.
Problems of orchestral balance cloud Olivia Fuchs's straightforward, compelling staging of Janáček’s tirade against the rigidity and hypocrisy of small town society.
Munich revived a thoughtful modern production of Janáček's Jenůfa, with fine orchestral direction and strong singing doing full justice to the rich score.
Grange Park Opera scored a direct hit with a fine production of Janáček's masterpiece, led by a superb performances from Natalya Romaniw and Susan Bullock as Jenůfa and the Kostelnička.
Piotr Anderszewski played and conducted Mozart and Beethoven concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe plus pieces by Bartók and Janáček. An ideal partnership and fine performances.
Sung in English, a performance of Káťa Kabanová lacked the expressive power of the original, but exposed Juilliard Opera students to the marvels of Janáček’s musical style.
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.
Originally conceived by Robert Carsen for the Vlaamse Opera, this production of Katia Kabanova is now at Teatro Regio, second chapter of a Janáček/Carsen project.
Despite the burbling streams with which Smetana's Vltava trickles into life, this was no pastoral stroll on the gentle slopes of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland.
