Eugen Suchoň’s Krútňava is one of the fundamental works of Slovak opera – and one whose story has long exceeded the borders of the country in which it was created. The opera is based on Milo Urban’s novella Za vyšným mlynom: dvaja muži milujú jednu ženu [Beyond the Upper Mill: Two Men Love One Woman]; jealousy leads to murder, and the crime gradually returns in the form of unbearable remorse. Behind the story of an apparently simple love triangle lies a drama about remorse, responsibility, punishment and the prospect of forgiveness.

 

Suchoň composed Krútňava between 1941 and 1949. After its première, however, the work encountered ideological objections from the Communist censors, forcing the composer to alter the opera’s original form. The Košice production uses a hybrid version: it returns to the original libretto while also incorporating the composer’s later revisions.

 

Renowned German director of Bulgarian origin Vera Nemirova strips Krútňava of its folkloric decoration, revealing it as a captivating psychological crime drama. Her focus is not on an idyllic rural setting, but on a man who gradually falls apart under the weight of his own actions. She has set the story within Stephan Braunfels’s minimalist stage design, dominated by a monumental millstone – a symbol of fate, guilt and the whirlpool [krútňava], the vicious cycle from which there is no escape.

 

The production was created to mark the 75th anniversary of the opera’s première and has received a strong response from both audiences and critics. Peter Valentovič took charge of the musical preparation, allowing the full poetry, dramatic tension and emotional power of Suchoň’s score to blossom.

 

The guest appearance by the Opera of the National Theatre Košice brings Krútňava to the SND as a living work for today’s audiences – not as a piece of obligatory national heritage, but as an urgent story about crime, conscience and redemption.

 

Musical Preparation and Conductor Peter Valentovič

Direction Vera Nemirova

Scenography Stephan Braunfels

Costume Design Simona Vachálková

Choreography Marek Šarišský

Video Design Bea Kolbašovská

Choir Master Peter Valentovič

Dramaturgy Stanislav Trnovský
 

Štelina Jozef Benci (9. 9.), Gustáv Beláček (10. 9.)

Ondrej Michal Lehotský (9. 9.), Titusz Tóbisz (10. 9.)

Katrena Eva Katráková Bodorová

Zimoň Mihály Podkopájev

Zimoňka Viera Kállayová

Zalčíčka Tatiana Paľovčíková-Paládiová

Školnica Jitka Sapara Fischerová

Marka Michaela Várady

Zuzka Terézia Kružliaková

Pastierik Aneta Hollá

Krúpa Anton Baculík

Hríň Marián Lukáč

Oleň Marek Gurbaľ

Starejší Oliver Olejár

Starejšia Zuzana Orlovská

Prvý družba Filip Kostrub

Žena Ľubica Strapáčová

Kuchárka Alena Fialeková

Žandársky veliteľ Pavol Spišský

Žandár Tomáš Hodermarský

Prvý chlap Pavol Kovaľ

Druhý chlap Marek Mochnáč

Jano Štelina Jakub Kuka

 

Featuring the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opera, the National Theatre Košice Ballet, and the National Theatre Banská Bystrica Men’s Choir