Eva-Maria Westbroek Plays an Unhappy Housewife in an Opera Stalin Hated

Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek, tells us about Shostakovic’s opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”—she plays the title character, an unhappy housewife named Katerina Ismailova. The opera has been scandalous since it was written—the main character is an unrepentant murderer and adulteress, and Stalin condemned the performances. The opera includes music for all sorts of special occasions: music to have sex behind a refrigerator by, music to be buried by, music to have high anxiety by, and music to have nightmares starring men in bloodied wedding gowns by.