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
On 13th February the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck premiered a new production of Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair. It was also the very first performance of the work on the stage of this Austrian opera house in history. The members of the creative team, who already worked together on the successful production of Eugen d’Albert’s Tiefland (1903) two years ago, … Read more
Ondřej Kyas’s (*1979) Chamber Symphony no. 2 for oboe, piano, percussion and strings received its world premiere on this year’s first concert of the Brno-based Ensemble Opera Diversa, which took place on 10th February at the Reduta theatre in Brno. A part of the ceremony was the presentation of the ensemble’s very first CD which consists of Jan Novák’s oboe … Read more
Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa received its premiere on 7th February at the German opera house Landestheater Altenburg. The production was premiered and given three reprises with a great success last year at the partner theater Bühnen der Stadt Gera. These two artistic houses merged together in 1995 and nowadays exist under the joint name Theater und Philharmonie Thüringen; … Read more
During a concert called “Jazz Inspirations”, which took place on 4th February at Reduta concert hall in Olomouc, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra gave world premiere of Zdenek Merta’s Century Dance. The trumpet concerto, which the author describes as a classic crossover piece, is in fact a symphonic transcription of five distinctive dances of the 20th century. The movements are … Read more
The Prague Chamber Orchestra gave the world premiere of Pražské divertimento (Prague Divertimento) by the composer and visual artist Vladimír Franz. Apart from this four-movement piece, the program of the concert, which took place on 2nd February at the Rudolfinum’s DvořákHall, included music by J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and P. I. Tchaikovsky. “Prague. A city both magical … Read more
Three new pieces by three Czech composers received their world premiere on this year’s first concert of Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra’s “New Horizons” subscription series. During the performance of the works by Martin Kumžák, Petr Wajsar and Jan Kučera, which are all written for a string quartet and orchestra, was the Radio orchestra accompanied by the Prague-based crossover … Read more
On Sunday 31st January the long-awaited world premiere of the opera South Pole by the Czech composer Miroslav Srnka took place at the Bavarian State Opera. The event, referred to as being one of the peaks of this year’s Munich opera season, also represents a crucial moment in the context of Czech contemporary music’s history, the last Czech … Read more
Pavel Haas Study Day, the first international conference focusing specifically on the life and work of the Czech composer Pavel Haas, was held on 30 January at the Cardiff University. Its purpose was to stimulate critical discussion about Haas’s work, which, owing to rather inauspicious politial development, was until 1990s pushed to the verge of oblivion. … Read more
One of the world’s greatest orchestras, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, selected an all-Czech programme for its concerts on 21, 22 and 23 January. Jiří Bělohlávek, who had been forced to withdraw from the concerts due to medical reasons, was replaced by Seattle Symphony Orchestra Music Director Ludovic Morlot. Smetana’s Moldau opened the show, followed by Fantaisies symphoniques … Read more
