Fanny Ardant’s ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ opens in Athens

Award-winning French actress Fanny Ardant directs the Greek National Opera in an ambitious and unconventional production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,’ which opened at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens on Sunday. Based on a novel by Nikolai Leskov, the opera explores a woman’s place in provincial pre-revolutionary Russia. The costumes are designed by four-time Oscar-winner Milena Canonero. Vassilis Christopoulos conducts, while Svetlana Sozdateleva stars. [Andreas Simopoulos]