On November 17 in the Mozart Hall of Reduta, Brno, Ensemble Opera Diversa introduced the first opera by Vienna-based composer and musicologist Lenka Nota I Am the Princess of Fools. It tells the story of Božena Němcová as written into the libretto by a famous Czech documentary director Olga Sommerová. “Božena is a friend of all Czech women … Read more
On November 16 in the theatre hall of Metropol, České Budějovice, the South Czech Philharmonic gave world premiere to Lachian Pictures, a new piece by composer and clarinettist Aleš Pavlorek (*1971). This suite for small orchestra drew inspiration from the Lachian folklore, which is manifested also in the titles of its four movements – Lachian Janáček, Lachian Yodel Songs, … Read more
Less than three years since Jenůfa, Theater Aachen in Aachen, Germany, presented another of Leoš Janáček’s operas – Katya Kabanova. The premiere took place on November 12, led by the theatre’s current music director Justus Thorau. The production was created by the Czech-born director Tibor Torell who presents the story as chain of visions of the heroine, who thus … Read more
On November 11, Theater Bremen, Germany, presented a new production of Dvořák’s Rusalka. Directed by Anna-Sophie Mahler, it became already the fourth opera featuring a strong female lead she staged in Bremen, following Carmen, Maria Stuarda and, five years ago, Janáček’s Makropulos Affair. Mahler set the plot into the rooms reminiscent of the socialist Czechoslovakia of the 70s and instead of on the … Read more
One of the guests of the 20. international festival of contemporary music and multimedia projects Meetings of New Music Plus, held between October 11 and December 6 in Brno, was the Prague-based ensemble MoEns. Their concert took place on November 9 at the Chamber Hall of the Faculty of Music of Janáček Academy of Music and Performing … Read more
Premiered this spring at the National Theatre in Prague, Jiří Kadeřábek’s opera No Man moved over to Bremen, Germany, native town of the production’s directress Katharina Schmitt. Here, it was performed twice, on November 7 and 8 as a special part of the festival of contemporary German literature Festival für grenzüberschreitende Literatur. No Man tells the tragic life story of … Read more
Opera povera ensemble introduced a second part of their experimental project Echo – Metamorphoses, subtitled “All that connects sound and space can become an opera.” It was created by Rocc (*1979), Slovenian opera director and opera povera’s art director, and composer and musicologist Vít Zouhar (*1966). “Content-wise, we tried to return to the original inspiration of the very first … Read more
A part of the concert called “garden” held by the Konvergence composers’ association on October 31 at the already traditional venue of the church of st. Lawrence in the Lesser Town, Prague, was a world premiere of Landscape: HypnoticPulsation, a piece by composer one of Konvergence’s co-founders Tomáš Pálka. It was performed by Kalabis Quintet, a young successful ensemble composed … Read more
It has become a tradition for the Prague Orthodox music festival Archaion Kallos to provide space also for young contemporary composers. This (8th) year, it was Martin Klusák (*1987) and Jan Trojan (*1982). Their pieces, Pnoi for solo clarinet and video projection (Klusák) and Refractions – sound interventions (Trojan), were performed on October 22 at the Gallery of … Read more
The penultimate concert of the 7th International Music Festival of F. L. Věk was dedicated to Czech songs. They were performed on October 22 in the palace of Nové Město nad Metují by the legendary Czech bass Richard Novák and pianist Jaroslav Šaroun. A part of the concert was a world premiere of Psalm Songs by … Read more
