Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk 2019

Opera in four acts and nine parts (1934)

Of Shostakovich’s initial undertaking – a trilogy on the tragic destinies of Russian women through the ages – only one opera was ever written: the hard-hitting Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Although one of the mainsprings of the work, the Shakespearean parallel is here bitterly ironic: unlike Lady Macbeth, Katerina Ismaïlova who, in the remote reaches of rural 19th century Russia, falls in love with one of her husband’s employees and is finally forced to commit suicide, is less a manipulator than a victim of a violent and patriarchal society. Krzysztof Warlikowski liberates all the subversive power of this scorching and scandalous work, which marked the early years of the Opéra Bastille.

Country Russia

Production Country France

Language Russian

Spoken Language Russian

Gnere Music

Production Company Opéra National de Paris

Release Date 16 April 2019

180 mins