Organization

Lighting designer

Karl Wiedemann

Conductor

Giedrė Šlekytė

Stage director

Stefan Herheim

Set designer

Silke Bauer

Costume designer

Doris Maria Aigner

Choreographer

Beate Vollack

Dramaturge

Kai Weßler

Chorus master

Erwin Ortner

Singer

Baritone

Milan Siljanov

Forester

Contralto

Alžběta Vomáčková

Forester's wife

Soprano

Mélissa Petit

Cunning Vixen

Jana Kurucová

The Fox Zlatohrbitek

Bass

Marcell Bakonyi

Harasta

Levente Páll

Priest

Badger

Tenor

Ya-Chung Huang

Mosquito

Woodpecker

Mezzo-soprano

Schoolmaster

Pasek

Mrs. Paskova

Paul Grilj

MusikTheater an der Wien

Others

Arnold Schoenberg Chor

Orchestra

Vienna Symphony Orchestra

tékkneska

Příhody lišky Bystroušky -  (The Cunning Little Vixen)

Vienna

Austria

What does nature mean when it is brought onto an opera stage with the means of art? A forester catches a little fox in the forest and drags it home with him. Following her animal instincts, the fox behaves surprisingly human: she gossips, steals and kills, fights for her freedom, seizes the moment of great love and shows people what it means to live. With his idiosyncratic depiction of humans and animals, Leoš Janáček broke new ground in the opera The Cunning Little Vixen, which premiered in 1924 and was based on a story by Rudolf Tešnohlídek. His music, which is as cheeky as it is melancholic, celebrates the cycle of life. An occasion for Stefan Herheim to celebrate the transformative power of music theater with Janáček's work when he makes his debut as artistic director at the Theater an der Wien.

PLOT

Act 1 The forester lies down to sleep while walking through the forest. The large and small animals of the forest move around him. When he wakes up, he sees a little vixen. He catches them and takes them home to play with for his children. – The fox grows up in the forester's lodge next to the dog, who has long since got used to living with humans. The forester's son and his friend tease the animal, and the fox then bites the boy. As punishment, the vixen is put on a leash in the yard. Now the fox incites the chickens to revolt against the humans. When she realizes that the chickens are completely immersed in their role as farm animals, she bites their throats in rows and bolts.

Act 2 In the forest, the vixen drives the badger out of his house and settles down there. – In the tavern, the forester, schoolmaster and pastor sit together over a beer. The forester mocks the schoolmaster for his crush on a certain Terynka. He teases back with the reference to the runaway vixen. The three men set out on their way home at dawn. The priest remembers a lost childhood sweetheart, the schoolmaster thinks a sunflower is the unreachable Terynka, and the forester thinks he sees the vixen in the bushes. – In front of her new home, the vixen meets a fox and the two fall in love. Offspring will soon be on the way, and the animals of the forest are celebrating the marriage of fox and vixen.

Act 3 In the forest, the forester meets the chicken dealer Harašta, who has just “found” a dead rabbit. To distract from the accusation of poaching, Harašta tells that he will soon marry Terynka. The forester sets the hare as a trap for the foxes. The vixen and the fox, who now have numerous children, see through the trap immediately. The fox cheekily provokes Harašta while her children plunder the chicken coop. Harašta furiously shoots at the flock of foxes that are jumping around. The vixen is hit and dies. – Only the forester and schoolmaster are still sitting in the inn, because the pastor has been transferred to another town. The schoolmaster mourns for Terynka. The forester is drawn back into the forest. – In the forest, the forester remembers his youth and perceives the beauty of nature for the first time.

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