Milan’s La Scala is our destination for this week’s Sunday Opera (6/28 3:00 p.m.) and their recent production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” a 1934 opera based on the 1865 novella “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District: by Nikolai Leskov with a libretto by the composer and Alexander Preis.
This domestic tragedy centers on Katerina (Sara Jukubiak) who is in a loveless marriage with Zinovy (Evgeny Akimov) who cannot or will not give Katerina the child she desires. Katerina is accosted by Sergey (Najmiddin Mavlyanov) while Zinovy is away on business and reluctantly agrees to have an affair with him. Sergey is accidentally locked in Katrina’s room and, in the morning, is caught climbing down from Katerina’s window by Boris (Alexand Roslavets), Zinovy’s father, who whips Sergey.
The unhappy Katerina decides to murder Boris, who blames her for not having any children, by mixing rat poison with the mushrooms she prepares, and Boris dies in agony.
After Zinovy returns, he guesses the truth, but before he can run for help, he is killed by Katerina and Sergey, and his body is placed in the wine-cellar where it is eventually found, and Katerina and Sergey are sent to a penal colony in Siberia. However, Katerina drowns before they board the convict train.
Riccardo Shailly conducts the La Scala Orchestra and Chorus and a cast that also includes Valery Gilmanov, Jiri Rajnis, Oleg Budaratskiy, Ekaterina Sannikova, and Elena Maximova.
Stay tuned after the opera when host Michael Kownacky continues with more tragedy from the pen of Shostakovich, his Symphony No. 8 in C minor (which does, however, end optimistically, even though slightly. This performance of the 8th will feature The Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton.
