Peabody opera presents a lesson from the comics

This all-new English translation of Leos Janacek’s “The Adventures of Sharp-Ears the Vixen,” often translated as “The Cunning Little Vixen,” features stage direction by Roger Brunyate, director of opera programs at Peabody and music direction by Hajime Teri Murai, who will conduct the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.

“[The] story is about animals versus mankind and how the two groups interact with each other,” said Master of Music candidate Kathryn Guthrie, who is one of two actors/vocalists performing the title role of the vixen. “When people try to control animals, the animals most often revolt or escape, only trying to find a life that makes them happy.”

Clearly the golden rule applies in this case, most especially with animals and their environment.

“The opera has humor and charm, but also a surprising toughness,” said Brunyate, who last staged it at Peabody 10 years go. “These are not Disney-fied animals, but the real thing. There is violence and death out there in the forest, as well as the more gentle emotions.”

The opera’s music is tonal but complex, filled with the sounds of nature, the vocal parts derived from folk songs and normal speech patterns. When combined with the lush scenic design, a magical forest is evoked, complete with singing badgers and hens, a drunken schoolmaster, a gypsy and a forester who falls in love with the vixen.

“Making opera appealing to today’s younger generation is a challenge the artistic world is taking on with aplomb,” Guthrie said. “I think it is important to show that the stories, the settings, the characters and the lessons … are just as applicable today as they were when written.

“Opera is not as far away from the modern generation as people think. I believe it simply has to be marketed in a different way to a new audience.”

Just think about the “Peanuts” gang.