4 – 7 May 2018, Royal Pump Rooms, The Parade, Leamington Spa, UK Leamington Music Festival Weekend Seven concerts of music by Antonín Rejcha, Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček, Josef Suk, Bohuslav Martinů, Ervín Schulhoff, Klement Slavický and Luboš Fišer Ensemble 360, Pražák String Quartet, Guarneri Trio, Ivan Klánský, Jana Vonášková-Nováková, Martin Kasík, Nicholas Wearne…
7 May 2018, Dvořák Hall, Rudolfinum, Prague Jan Ryant Dřízal: Narcissus for cello and orchestra (world premiere) Tomáš Jamník – cello, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Marek Šedivý…
5, 6 and 7 May 2018, Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Rohnert Park, California Au Revoir, Bruno Michal Rataj: Temporis for cymbalo and large orchestra (US premiere) Jan Mikušek – cymbalo, Santa Rosa Symphony, cond. Bruno Ferrandis…
1 May 2018, Martinů Hall, Lichtenstein Palace, Prague Exotic Noise Slavomír Hořínka: Pocket Guide to Bird Fly (world premiere) BERG Orchestra, conductor: Peter Vrábel…
29 April 2018, Landestheater Coburg, Coburg, Germany (following the cancelled performances on April 22 and 25) Antonín Dvořák: Rusalka (premiere) directed by: Tobias Heyder, music director: Roland Kluttig Cast: Judith Kuhn / Betsy Horne (Rusalka), Milen Bozhkov (Prince), Michael Lion (Water Goblin), Kora Pavelic / Gabriela Künzler (Witch), Kora Pavelic / Marlene Lichtenberg (Foreign Princess) … Read more…
28 April 2018, Bohemian National Hall, New York, USA Czech American Inspiration Petr Kotík: Master-Pieces (2014-15) – New York premiere directed by: Jiří Nekvasil, David Bazika, music director: Petr Kotík S.E.M. Ensemble (Christina Kay – soprano, Steven Wilson – tenor, Jose Pietri-Coimbre – baritone, Nicholas Hay – bass, Pauline Kim Harris – violin, Liuh-Wen Ting – viola, Amanda Gookin – violoncello, Jeffrey Reinhardt – … Read more…
28 April 2018, Music Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA Michal Rataj: Long Sentence I (American premiere) Del Sol String Quartet (Ben Kreith, Rick Shinozaki, Charlton Lee, Kathryn Bates), Ben Carson – piano…
25 April 2018, Smetana Hall, Municipal House, Prague Violin Gala. Special concert for the 60th anniversary of Kocian Violin Competition Lukáš Sommer: Gala Violin (world premiere) Pavel Šporcl, Stefan Milenković, Josef Špaček, Bohuslav Matoušek, Pavel Hůla, Pavel Eret, Leoš Čepický, Petr Matěják – violin, Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, cond. Jessica Cottis…
25 and 26 April, St Anna’s church, České Budějovice Roman Pallas: Spring Hymn (world premiere) Petr Hanzlík: Anima mea (world premiere) Karolína Berková – mezzosoprano (2), South Czech Philharmonic, cond. Jan Talich…
For the first time ever, Bohuslav Martinů’s operatic masterpiece The Greek Passion was performed in Russia, at the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ekaterinburg. The premiere took place on 19 April with reprises over the following three days. The first of the opera’s two versions was directed by Thaddeus Strassberger and conducted by … Read more…
At the opportunity of releasing his new album by the French Arion Music label, Kryštof Mařatka, Czech composer permanently living in Paris, presented the world premiere of his piece Fables pastorales. The concert took place on 16 April in Salle Cortot, Paris, under the auspices of Czech Republic’s ambassador to France Petr Drulák, and, as … Read more…
An attractive musical programme was presented on 9 April in Studio Hrdinů (Trade Fair Palace, Prague) by the BERG orchestra. The concert named Archeology of the 20th century introduced John Cage’s renowned Radio Music, a Czech premiere of Graffiti, a piece by an internationally acclaimed Korean composer Unsuk Chin, Archeologia del telefono. Concertante for 13 instruments by … Read more…
On 7 April, the New Scene of the National Theatre in Prague presented the long-awaited premiere of the opera adaptation of Ivan Klíma’s mystery novel The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch. Its author, primarily a scenic music composer and musical autodidact Ivan Acher (*1976) had already written music for the book’s theatre adaptation at Divadlo Komedie eleven … Read more…
On 1 April, Oper Frankfurt introduced their new production of Leoš Janáček’s last opera From the House of the Dead. It was created by Italian conductor Tito Ceccherini and German-French director David Hermann, who had for the last time worked with Janáček’s music only two years ago, directing The Makropulos Affair in the renowned Deutsche … Read more…
On 28 and 29 March in St Anna’s Church, České Budějovice, the South Czech Philharmonic presented the world premiere of Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra by the Budějovice-born composer and guitarist Lukáš Sommer (*1984). The solo part was performed by a leading Czech oboist Vilém Veverka. The four-movement concerto was a perfect choice for the Easter time – … Read more…
„How to talk about the terrors and inhumanity of the Nazi period to kids? And how to speak about those whose names have never made it to historical literature?” These are the questions Landestheater Linz was trying to answer in their new production of Hans Krása’s children’s opera Brundibár premiered on 31 March. Conductor Martin … Read more…
After 45 years, Leoš Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen returned to the stage of Theater Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The premiere on 24 March has already received a very positive critical response. The praise has concerned mainly the direction by Mascha Pörzgen, who perfectly balanced both levels of the story – a beast fable and an allegorical drama – and the performance of … Read more…
Conductor Will Humburg concluded his three-year-long Janáček cycle at Staatstheater Darmstadt with a new production of The Makropulos Affair. The theatre’s general music director is already an expert when it comes to the Moravian composer; apart from Jenůfa and The Cunning Little Vixen in Darmstadt, he had also conducted Katya Kabanova a couple of years ago in Bonn. The directress Eva-Maria Höckmayer tried to depict especially … Read more…
On 9 March at the Morat-Institut in Freiburg, ensemble recherche, top-class German contemporary music ensemble, gave world premiere to String trio no. 2 by Czech composer Petr Bakla. In the 2017 piece, the author asks the players to produce “an objective, pure sound”, devoid of any interpretational stereotypes, one he has since long found to be the “most … Read more…
For the first time in its history, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, presented From the House of the Dead, the last opera by composer Leoš Janáček. Created in co-production with Brussels’ La Monnaie theatre and Opéra National de Lyon, the performance is remarkable for the involvement of several Czech and Slovak singers; apart … Read more…