Opera on 3

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Migrated podcast image for: Radio 3 Opera Guides

Music: Classical: Opera

Programme presenting rare and fascinating operatic performances

Programme presenting rare and fascinating performances and vividly communicating the immediacy of the live experience

Opera on 3: Leoš Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen

Leoš Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Leoš Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen

Janáček's pantheist hymn to nature, The Cunning Little Vixen, from English National Opera.

Recorded at English National Opera, Sally Matthews sings the title role and Martyn Brabbins conducts Janáček's late, great pantheist hymn to nature, The Cunning Little Vixen.

One of the few operas inspired by a cartoon strip, The Cunning Little Vixen is one of Janáček's late, great works. Despite its simple story (a forester captures a vixen who then escapes, breeds and is eventually shot by a poacher) the opera nevertheless explores the big themes as the human condition – ageing, life lived in misery and regret – is contrasted with the freedom, joy and vigour of animal life and the ineluctable force of nature and its constant renewal. 

Soprano Sally Matthews took the title role in English National Opera's new production, including a cast of fauna drawn from local schools, and in the pit, Martyn Brabbins conducted Janáček's luminous score.

Recorded in February at the Coliseum in London and introduced by Flora Willson in conversation with Nigel Simeone.

Acts 1 & 2

7.40 pm
Interval

7.55 pm
Act 3

Vixen Sharp Ears ..... Sally Matthews (soprano)
Forester ..... Lester Lynch (baritone)
Fox ..... Pumeza Matshikiza (soprano)
Schoolmaster/Mosquito ..... Alan Oke (tenor)
Priest/Badger ..... Clive Bayley (bass)
Forester's Wife/Owl ..... Madeleine Shaw (mezzo-soprano)
Dog ..... Claire Barnett-Jones (mezzo-soprano)
Harašta a poacher ..... Ossian Huskinson (bass-baritone)
Innkeeper/Cock ..... John Findon (tenor)
Inkeeper's Wife/Hen ..... Gweneth Ann Rand (mezzo-soprano)
Pepik/Woodpecker ..... Alexandra Oomens (soprano)
Frantik/Jay ..... Ffion Edwards (soprano)
Frog ..... Robert Berry-Roe (treble)
Cricket ..... Ethan James (treble)
Grasshopper ..... Kavya Kutsa (child soprano)
Young Vixen ..... Esme Gupta-Wright (child soprano)

Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera
Martyn Brabbins (conductor)

Read the full synopsis on the English National Opera website https://bit.ly/3w6QOPr

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Opera on 3

Leoš Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3