From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

Whether we knew it or not, the operatic world has been waiting all this time for Karita Mattila to sing the role of Kostelnicka, the imperious and morally conflicted stepmother in Janácek’s fierce ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. By and large, the wait was worth it. When lockdown hit in March last year, it shut down the Royal Opera’s new ...

The 20-year-old design can look overemphatic, but Ylva Kihlberg, David Butt Philip and the rest of an A-list cast make Janáček sound poetic and expressive Stripped to its bare essentials, Janáček’s ...

Jenufa has become pregnant by Steva, who is a bit of a wastrel and a drunk, but stands to inherit the mill when his grandmother dies. However, Jenufa's stepmother, the Kostelnicka (churchwarden) ...

Claus Guth’s Royal Opera production of Janacek’s Jenufa was scheduled to open in March 2020, but was aborted at the last moment by Covid. Better late than never. It has now opened, and it makes a ...

We are in the countryside where Jenufa lives with her stepmother. Above them towers an old family mill, but also the gaze of the village inhabitants, religious dogmas, and strong codes of honor. The ...