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Leoš Janáček's From the House of the Dead Triumphs at The Metropolitan Opera

Dec. 09, 2009

The Metropolitan Opera has had a major, historic success with its new production of Leoš Janáček's From the House of the Dead, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and directed by Patrice Chéreau. This stunning new production has been lauded by critics worldwide and marks the work's Metropolitan Opera premiere, as well as the Met debut for Maestro Salonen and Mr. Chéreau.

From the moment Mr. Salonen, who had sneaked into the darkened pit without taking applause, began the eerie opening march, you sensed a milestone in the making... [General Director Peter Gelb] deserves the thanks of opera buffs for having the Met involved from the start and bringing this riveting production of Janáček'sstrange and powerful opera to New York.
- Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

... an uncompromising artistic triumph for the Met... For 90 transfixing minutes, an audience of nearly 4,000 sat in remarkable, stunned silence.
- Mark Swed, The Los Angeles Times

When the curtain fell, stunned silence preceded the inevitable ovation... [The production was] staged with compelling degrees of poetic desolation, expressive simplicity and subtle stylization. The most compelling force must be the orchestra, which propels the action in churning strokes and toys with lyrical introspection yet punctuates the proceedings with percussive dissonance.
- Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times

In addition to the overwhelming praise, Alex Ross includes the production in his Top 10 Performances of 2009 in The New Yorker. A production of The Metropolitan Opera and the Wiener Festwochen in co-production with the Holland Festival, Amsterdam, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and Teatro alla Scala, Milan, this production of From the House of the Dead received its premiere in Vienna in 2007 under the music direction of Pierre Boulez and opens at La Scala in Milan in February.

For more information on the music of Leoš Janáček, visit www.universaledition.com.

To learn more on this production of From the House of the Dead, go to www.metopera.org.

Visit www.nytimes.com, www.latimes.com, and www.ft.com to read the full reviews.

Leoš Janáček
From the House of the Dead (1927-28)
an opera in three acts (four scenes)
based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky
libretto (Czech) by Leoš Janácek
for 3 baritones, 3 tenors and bass baritone
4.3.3.3-4.4.3.1-timp.5perc-hp.cel-str
85'

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