A finnish voice for Katya

Performances of Leoš Janáček’s operas in Western Countries are still all too rare events. Theaters often take the risk of producing them only at the request of a celebrated prima donna or of an equally well-known conductor. Starting from the 1980s, Sir Charles Mackerras has put much of his energies in promoting these works both by editing philologically accurate versions of the scores in cooperation with the Viennese publisher Universal, and by convinging Decca to record them. The recording enterprise profited not only from Mackerras’s inspiring conducting, but also from the presence of a remarkable cast led by the Swedish soprano Elisabeth Söderström, who achieved world-wide popularity with the title roles of Jenufa, Katya Kabanova and The Case Makropoulos, and became closely associated with them for over a decade. At the turn of this…