Less than a year and a half since its premiere at the Bavarian State Opera, South Pole, opera by Miroslav Srnka, made its appearance again, this time in a new version on the stage of Staatstheater Darmstadt. The story of two polar expeditions competing in their quest to be the first ones ever to reach the South Pole … Read more
For the second time in its history, the Ekaterinburg State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre staged Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka. The production, premiered on May 19, was created by a Czech-Slovak team led by director Tomáš Pilař, current head of the opera ensemble of the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, and Ekaterinburg’s music director Oliver Dohnányi. The other … Read more
On March 31, the New Stage of the National Theatre in Prague introduced the long-awaited premiere of No Man, opera by composer Jiří Kadeřábek (*1978). It was watched by a sold-out stage where the spectators were seated; the auditorium, this time, was the place of action. The tragic life story of sculptor Otakar Švec who, against … Read more
On Saturday 4 March, Staatstheater Darmstadt premiered a new production of Janáček’s Jenůfa. Its author Dirk Schmeding belongs to experienced Janáček-directors; he directed Jenufa already three years ago at Landestheater Detmold and his first work in Darmstadt was The Cunning Little Vixen. His co-workers from the latter production included other members of the present creative team – stage … Read more
One of the four operas presented this season at Opera Santa Barbara, California, is Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen. The new production by Crystal Manich, which is dedicated to both adult and children spectators (which is also one of the reasons why it is sung in an English), received two performances – on 3rd and 5th March at … Read more
One of the ensembles performing at the 45th year of the prestigious international Hong Kong Arts festival (Feb 16 – Mar 18) was the ensemble of the National Theatre Brno. HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall, which can host nearly 1,600 visitors, saw them perform four times altogether – twice it was Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Case, then his Sinfonietta, Eternal … Read more
On 25th February, Seattle Opera in Washington, USA, premiered a new production of Leoš Janáček’s Katya Kabanova. The Australian director Patrick Nolan, debutant at this opera house, did not set the story into the tsarist Russia, but into a small American town in the 50s. The heroine is thus presented as a modern woman rebelling against the patriarchal environment … Read more
On 25th February, Seattle Opera in Washington, USA, premiered a new production of Leoš Janáček’s Katya Kabanova. The Australian director Patrick Nolan, debutant at this opera house, did not set the story into the tsarist Russia, but into a small American town in the 50s. The heroine is thus presented as a modern woman rebelling against the patriarchal environment … Read more
After Vienna and London, the acclaimed all-evening opera Biedermann and the Arsonists (2005-2007) by a Czech-Austrian composer Šimon Voseček received its German premiere, too. It was produced in Stadttheater Bremerhaven in northern Germany by director Christian van Götz and conductor Thomas Kalb. Based on Max Frisch’s absurd drama of the same name (1958), the opera tells how … Read more
On 4th February, Landestheater Coburg, Bavaria, presented a new, radical production of Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen. The Hungarian director duo Alexandra Szemerédy and Magdolna Parditka, who are also responsible for the scenography and costumes, completely abandoned the animal realm and set the story into the world of child prostitution in Eastern Europe. Cages holding underage girls prisoner … Read more
