Hildesheim: The Bartered Bride

On April 30 the Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildeshaim, Lower Saxony, gave premiere to a new production of Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. It was created by Guillermo Amaya, a Spanish director who currently holds the post of the theatre’s chief stage director, and conducted by its music director Werner Seitzer. The leading roles are sung by the Spanish … Read more

Trier: The Excursions of Mr. Brouček

On 30 April the Theatre Trier, Germany, launched for the first time in its history one of Leoš Janáček’s less frequently played operas The Excursions of Mr. Brouček (1920). The production was created by Jasmina Hadziahmetovic, a Germany-based director of Bosnian origin who has collaborated as an assistant director with several renowned institutions such as Komische Oper … Read more

Frankfurt: The Cunning Little Vixen

This year’s winner of the Opernwelt magazine’s ‘Opera House of the Year’ award, Oper Frankfurt, launched a new production of Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen as its 10th premiere of the 2015/2016 season. Owing to the last century’s environmental disasters no longer being able to perceive the forrest as the ‘wonderfully beautiful’ place as sung by the Forester in … Read more

Saarbrücken: Rusalka

A new production of Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka received its premiere on Saturday 23 April at Saarländisches Staatstheater in Saarbrücken, Germany. It was produced by David Hermann, a successful German-French director already experienced with Czech music; his recent production of The Makropulos Affair is currently on at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Saarländisches Staatstheater’s music director Christopher Ward (UK) is … Read more

Leipzig: Concert of music by Martin Smolka

Hats in the Sky (2004), Oh, my Admired C minor (2002) and Rubato (1995). Three chamber pieces by a prominent Czech composer Martin Smolka were performed at the Mendelssohn Hall of Leipzig’s Gewandhaus by the Ensemble Avantgarde, a residential ensemble for contemporary music, together with the music of the ensemble’s artistic director Steffen Schleiermacher. Different as the composers’ musical … Read more

Speinshart, Germany. Michal Rataj: Missa Abstracta

Michal Rataj’s Missa Abstracta accompanied the opening of Patrik Hábl’s art installation at the historical complex of the Speinshart monastery in Bavaria on 26 March. Inspired by the so-called Screen Tearing – a visual artifact created by the disturbance of the display device -, the installation was based on the covering of the nave’s altar area by the monumental … Read more

Frankfurt. Martin Smolka: Observing the Clouds

The programme of the final concert of the 3-day Fokus Sport festival run by the Alte Oper Frankfurt included the composition Observing the Clouds by Martin Smolka. This piece from 2003, which, through its irregular and unpredictable rhythmical structure, expresses the dynamics of a badminton game, was performed on 12 March at the Alte Oper’s Great Hall … 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

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

Berlin: The Makropulos Affair

On 19 February a new production of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Affair received its premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Its authors are the director David Hermann and the scenographer Christof Hetzer, who had already created the productions of Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern (The Little Match Girl) by Helmut Lachenman and Oresteia by Iannis Xenakis … Read more