Katya Kabanova

Guardian“Everything about this performance is first rate...” Despite Alden's tight dramatic focus he cannot compensate for what is lacking dramatically in the original...

MusicOMH“As Katya, Patricia Racette is nothing short of sensational... ” Strongly cast, persuasively directed, brilliantly designed and evocatively lit, this staging continues a long line of superlative Janacek productions at the Coliseum...

The Times“I’m still shuddering from the impact...” What a leap Patricia Racette’s magnificently believable, full-blooded Katya makes! She flings herself off the stage with the same impetuous desperation she summoned earlier in her one brief moment of sexual and emotional release with her lover...

this is london“Constantly engaging the emotions, frequently lacerating...” John Graham-Hall’s neurotic Tichon is superb, as is Stuart Skelton’s more suave Boris. Patricia Racette’s Katya may not be the most radiant of tone but the edgy vocal quality emphasises the intensity of her inner torment....

The Telegraph“Katya seems constitutionally melancholy rather than hopelessly trapped... ” I can’t think when I last heard ENO’s orchestra play with such sumptuous richness of texture, with rhythms kept electrifyingly tense and the pacing perfectly judged. Wigglesworth may be a hard taskmaster, but golly, does he get results....

The Stage“There are many fine things...” American soprano Patricia Racette, a star in the US, makes her English National Opera debut as Katya. She registers as a little mature for the part, and her voice is on the slender side - but she’s a strong actress...

The Independent“Big voices, big performers casting big shadows...” The protagonist of the evening is the ENO orchestra attending to every facet of Janacek’s painfully beautiful and brutal score. Mark Wigglesworth conducts it magnificently, with passion and a quiet understanding, where silences become prophecies...

Whatsonstage.com“A wonderful staging that stares long and hard at a woman’s agony...” In a night of splendid performances Skelton is matched by Susan Bickley, stately and imperious as Kabanicha, the mother-in-law from hell, by Anna Grevelius as a spirited Varvara and by John Graham-Hall, lettuce-limp as Tikhon...

Financial Times“Not yet reviewed”

Time Out“Not yet reviewed”