The Cunning Little Vixen at Glyndebourne

Smyth's rarely performed tale of evil deeds on the Cornish coast provides searing drama marred by poor intelligibility and an overpowering orchestra.

A welcome return to the Glyndebourne Festival for Melly Still's staging, which brings out the full emotional range of Dvořák’s fairytale of denial, heartbreak and forgiveness.

Melly Still returns to revive her 2012 staging at Glyndebourne, laying nature bare. Cartoonish, but never sentimental, it presents Vixen red in tooth and claw, 

Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka, moving between the worlds and rooted in myth, is a shivering opera to experience with its opulent music and its fantastical plot. 

This bracing performance of The Flying Dutchman is a powerful reminder of the extraordinary musical standards which are at risk in the face of WNO’s subsidy cuts.