| Janáček, Leoš (1854-1928) | Osud (Fate) |
| Opera North | ||
| Martin André | Conductor | |
| Annabel Arden | Director | |
| Charles Edwards | Set Designer | |
| Hannah Clark | Costume Designer | |
| Chorus of Opera North | ||
| Orchestra of Opera North | ||
| Giselle Allen | Soprano | Míla Valková |
| Rosalind Plowright | Mezzo-soprano | Míla's mother |
| John Graham-Hall | Tenor | Živný |
| Peter Auty | Tenor | Dr Suda |
| Ann Taylor | Mezzo-soprano | Miss Stuhlá |
| Dean Robinson | Bass | Konečký |
| Richard Burkhard | Baritone | Lhotský |
Janáček’s score for this hidden gem has an expansive lyricism that glows with some of his most incandescent music.
Osud was spurred by a chance meeting in a Moravian spa town in 1903 between Janáček and a woman who complained to him that she had been unflatteringly portrayed in an opera by another composer a few years earlier. Infatuated with the woman, and determined to present her in a rosier light, Janáček set to work on his own opera.
Janáček’s original outline for Osud subsequently underwent many adjustments. What finally emerged was the story of a composer, Živný, who has written an autobiographical opera about his obsessive, tormented love for Míla, with whom he has a young son. The last act is unfinished, however: Živný’s opera cannot be concluded until its story has been lived...
