Come June, Martyn Brabbins will be directing the orchestra of English National Opera in David Pountney’s new production of Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa, a story of wartime Ukraine, at Grange Park in Surrey. Brabbins, who resigned his position as music director of ENO in October 2023, has, however, chosen to make his first return to the pit with Scottish Opera, making his company debut with a score he had not previously studied, Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair.
The result is a triumph, his immaculate pacing of the music and the sparkling detail in the playing crucial to the gripping storytelling of Olivia Fuchs’ production. With three striking sets for each of the three acts by Nicola Turner, beautifully lit by Robbie Butler, and video by Sam Sharples in the style of early 20th century experimental cinema, this staging was seen at WNO in Cardiff three years ago, but the Scottish premiere of this co-production, with a fresh cast, uses Pountney’s English translation of the libretto, sung so clearly that the surtitles are almost superfluous.
