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WATCH Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen comes to Lime Tree Theatre on Saturday, February 7
Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen comes to Lime Tree Theatre on Saturday, February 7. William Pearson, Heather Sammon, Benjamin Russell, Oryna Veselovska with Director Sophie Motley in rehearsals for INO’s upcoming production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen. PhotoBySteMurray. In collaboraiton with Lime Tree Theatre
Irish National Opera invite you to “discover a world as fierce as it is beautiful” with Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen at Lime Tree Theatre on Saturday, February 7
Follow the Vixen. Enter the forest. Discover a world as fierce as it is beautiful with Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen presented by Irish National Opera at Lime Tree Theatre on Saturday, February 7.
Seen through the eyes of a young fox, The Cunning Little Vixen opens with a chance encounter that results in her capture. Through her courage and resilience, the Vixen manages to outwit her captors, and escapes to untamed freedom in the forest.
The Cunning Little Vixen is sung in English with English surtitles. Janáček’s opera is no fairy tale, but rather a reflection on the cycle of life. His evocative score weaves rich folk melodies with playful humour, capturing the sounds of nature’s eternal rhythm and its wild, irrepressible spirit.
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American soprano Amber Norelai stars as the Vixen, with Irish soprano Jade Phoenix (Die Fledermaus 2025) as the Fox and Irish baritone Benjamin Russell as the Forester. The Cunning Little Vixen is directed by Sophie Motley (Werther 2023) and features the Irish National Opera orchestra and chorus.
Director Sophie Motley said, “It’s about humans and animals. It’s about, for me, the cycle of life and death. And it’s also about the joy of fairytales, the joy of being told a story or listening to a story. So something that is really very simple and human.”
She said the audience would be in for a treat, saying, “We’ve got opera singers pretending to be animals, and those animals singing. So we’re already in a world where anything goes.”
Costume designer Saileóg O’Halloran added, “I think we kind of wanted to have fun. That was the main thing, is, like, we wanted to be accessible. Because it is, I think it’s kind of fairy tale-esque, and we want it to be colourful and vibrant and accessible to like kids as well as like constant opera goers.”
Soprano, Amber Norelai said, “The Vixen, she longs for freedom that she doesn’t find in the Forester’s house. And so I think this opera is the journey that she goes through in finding that freedom that we see in animals.”
The show comes to Lime Tree Theatre on Saturday, February 7 with doors at 7:30 pm with tickets priced at €30 and €27 concession on sale now through the Lime Tree/Belltable website.
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