Káťa Kabanová - Royal Ballet and Opera

In Leoš Janáček's Káťa Kabanová, a young woman in a small Volga town is trapped in a loveless marriage to Tichon and ruled by her mother-in-law, Kabanicha. When her husband leaves on business, the family's ward Varvara helps her begin a secret affair with Boris, but as a storm breaks over the town, her guilt overtakes her. The opera is sung in Czech with English surtitles.

Corinne Winters sings the title role, with David Butt Philip as Boris, Nicky Spence as Tichon, Rosie Aldridge as Kabanicha and Marvic Monreal as Varvara. Janáček wrote both the music and the libretto, and Jakub Hrůša conducts. The director is Richard Jones, whose Olivier Award-winning production was first seen at the Royal Opera House in 2019 and earned four-star reviews from The Guardian and The Stage. With designs by Antony McDonald, it tells a concentrated story of longing and guilt through Janáček's folk-inflected score.