Jiří Pavlica: Moravian Dances (world premiere)

On 10 March at the Zlín Congress Centre, Bohuslav Martinů Phlharmonic Orchestra premiered a new orchestral piece by Jiří Pavlica, a violinist and composer whose musical language, though oscillating between various genres, is influenced especially by folk music. The Moravian Dances orchestral suite, too, derives from folk dances from different Moravian regions (Haná, Moravian Slovakia, “odzemek” from … Read more

Miloš Bok: Apocalypse in Kamenická Stráň (world premiere)

On their concerts on March 9, 10 and 11 the Czech Philharmonic performed – as this season’s second world premiere of a piece by a Czech composer already – Miloš Bok’s Apocalypse in Kamenická Stráň. This monumental 50-minute long vocal-instrumental composition for mixed and children’s choir, four soloists and a large orchestra is in fact only the first half of the … Read more

Ondřej Štochl: YIN – Nostalgia and Hope (world premiere)

Ondřej Štochl’s composition YIN – Nostalgia and Hope received its world premiere on 9 March at the Museum of Applied Arts of the Moravian Gallery by Brno Contemporary Orchestra. This piece for vibraphone and 12 instruments was on the programme of an evening called “Assimilation – Concert for people” together with music by Alvin Lucier, Michel … Read more

Graz: The Greek Passion

On 5 March the Austrian Oper Graz premiered a new production of The Greek Passion (1954-1959), Bohuslav Martinů’s opera masterpiece. One of the reasons for choosing this work particularly is without any doubt the topic of Martinů’s libretto, based on the novel of the same name by the Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis, whose plot, depicting the arrival of … Read more

Tokyo: Jenůfa

On 28 February Janáček’s Jenůfa was for the first time in history staged at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Japan’s foremost national centre for performing arts. The production, which was created in 2012 at Deutsche Oper Berlin by the director Christof Loy and then conducted by Donald Runnicles, enjoyed a great success two weeks ago, when it reached … Read more

Poznań: Jenůfa

On 26 February Janáček’s Jenůfa was given its premiere at Teatr Wielki in Poznań, Poland, exactly ninety years after the last performance of the work there. The production was created by the famous Latvian director Alvis Hermanis two years ago at La Monnaie, Brussels, where it was conducted by Ludovic Morlot. In Poznań Gabrial Chmura took … Read more

Umeå, Sweden: The Cunning Little Vixen

A new production of Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen received its premiere at NorrlandsOperan in Umeå in northern Sweden – a town, which was elected as the European Capital of Culture of 2014. A family version from 2008 arranged by the composer Alexander Krampe and librettist Ronny Dietrich was chosen by the opera house; it takes slightly … Read more

Allmendingen, Germany. Concert with music by Eduard Douša

Two works for saxophone and piano by Eduard Douša were performed at the second concert of the “Contemporary Czech Composers” concert cycle prepared by the Czech Centre Munich. The event took place on 20 February at the town hall of Allmendingen, a small historical town in Baden-Württemberg. The saxophone player Christian Segmehl and pianist Moritz Eggert … Read more

Jiří Teml: Puss in Boots (premiere of a new version)

J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen staged a new production of Jiří Teml’s opera Kocour v botách (Puss in Boots). This children’s opera, composed in 2008/9 to a libretto by Jan Tůma and Eliška Hrubá-Toperczerová, consists of 6 scenes and received its premiere in 2009 at the Smetana’s Litomyšl music festival by the Czech Philharmonic Children’s Choir. This year, on 20 February … Read more

Dresden. Viktor Ullmann: The Emperor of Atlantis

Semperoper Dresden created a new production of a one-act chamber opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of Atlantis), which had been composed by Viktor Ullmann between 1944-45 in the concentration camp Theresienstadt, less than 100 km away from Dresden. The premiere took place on 19 February in a less formal environment of the so-called Semper 2, a chamber … Read more