ASIAN PREMIERE "A fabulous piece with restless, sharp-edged, brilliantly scored music."San Francisco Classical Voice A beautifully crafted production revealing the curse of immortality INTRODUCTION Seductive opera diva Emilia Marty has broken hearts for more than 300 years and doesn’t look a day past 35. But now the magical elixir giving her eternal youth is wearing off. When she reveals uncanny knowledge of events long gone and exerts inexplicable power over men surrounding her, it’s soon obvious that there is more to this enigmatic femme fatale than meets the eye. This beautifully detailed and meticulously crafted award-winning production directed by David Radok opened the Janáček Brno International Festival in 2014 to great acclaim. The work itself premiered at the National Theatre Brno in 1926, in the same hugely creative period of Janáček’s life which also saw masterworks like Katya Kabanova and the Glagolitic Mass. From the very first note it contains some of his most radiant, life-affirming music. Based on Czech writer Karel Čapek’s play, Janáček’s penultimate opera unfolds as an exciting mystery thriller, tackling the big questions of love, life and death. It keeps its audience guessing until the gripping end. The young conductor/composer Marko Ivanović leads an impeccable cast featuring the sensational Swedish soprano, Annalena Persson. CAST PRODUCTION Conductor Marko Ivanović Director David Radok Set Design Ondřej Nekvasil, Zuzana Ježková Costume Design Zuzana Ježková Lighting Design Petr Kozumplík Emilia Marty Annalena Persson Albert Gregor Aleš Briscein Vítek Petr Levíček Kristina Eva Štěrbová Jaroslav Prus Svatopluk Sem Dr Kolenatý František Ďuriač Janek Peter Račko A Stage Technician Jiří Klecker A Cleaning Woman Jitka Zerhauová Hauk-Šendorf Josef Škrobánek Chambermaid Jana Hrochová With Orchestra and Chorus of the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno ADDITIONAL INFO National Theatre Brno The elegant city of Brno is steeped in culture. Once capital of Moravia in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and now the second largest city of the Czech Republic, Brno is the birthplace of Czech writer Milan Kundera and its National Theatre is indelibly associated with the music of Leoš Janáček, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. Opened in 1884, the National Theatre Brno premiered almost all of Janáček’s operas including Jenůfa, The Cunning Little Vixen and The Makropulos Case, works which feature in the repertoire of every world-ranking opera house. The flowering of Janáček’s creative genius came in his later years. In his seventies, aflame with desire for a married woman half his age, he produced a stream of fresh and youthful works of art, including the Sinfonietta and the Glagolitic Mass. Sense of drama, good and evil, joy and sorrow – Janáček’s works seethe with love for life and reflect his own turbulent life. With a special focus on Czech music, the 2017 Hong Kong Arts Festival welcomes more than 180 musicians and singers from the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno, together with world class soloists, in an extraordinary musical celebration featuring masterpieces by two of the best known Czech composers, Janáček and Dvořák. SPECIAL NOTES Performed in Czech with English and Chinese surtitles Approx 1 hr 40 mins with no interval