Pavel Haas Study Day, the first international conference focusing specifically on the life and work of the Czech composer Pavel Haas, was held on 30 January at the Cardiff University. Its purpose was to stimulate critical discussion about Haas’s work, which, owing to rather inauspicious politial development, was until 1990s pushed to the verge of oblivion. … Read more
One of the world’s greatest orchestras, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, selected an all-Czech programme for its concerts on 21, 22 and 23 January. Jiří Bělohlávek, who had been forced to withdraw from the concerts due to medical reasons, was replaced by Seattle Symphony Orchestra Music Director Ludovic Morlot. Smetana’s Moldau opened the show, followed by Fantaisies symphoniques … Read more
A new production of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen received its premiere on 19 January at the Theatro Regio Turin. Eigth Czech singers in total are starring in this co-production between the Opéra National du Rhin and Opéra de Lille by the well-known Canadian opera director Robert Carsen: Lucie Silkenová (Bystrouška), Michaela Kapustová (Zlatohřbítek), … Read more
PKF – Prague Philharmonia performed a world premiere of the composition I Hear the Sky by Michal Nejtek (*1977). The 13-minute long piece, which had been commissioned by the orchestra, was given its premiere on 17 January at the Dvořák’s Hall of Rudolfinum followed by music of Richard Wagner, Claude Debussy and Béla Bartók. The orchestra was … Read more
The premiere of a new production of Janáček’s opera Katya Kabanova took place on January 16 at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. The stage director was Matthew Wild, a South African opera director, who is currently working as Artistic Director of Cape Town Opera, and who set the story into a gloomy post-Soviet periphery. Zsolt Hamar, General Music Director of … Read more
