See what’s coming up on on the BCSA’s Events Calendar.
The Bedřich Smetana Má vlast (My Country) exhibition at the National Museum in Prague commemorates the personality of Bedřich Smetana and one of his most important compositions. Through authentic notes, correspondence and, above all, scores, it presents the individual symphonic poems as the composer himself conceived them, the historical context in which they were composed... Read more »
As Europe faces yet another major crisis only 80 years after the end of World War Two and confronts the threat of war while latter-day dictators set the terms of peace in Ukraine, it is timely to revisit the role and aim of the Runciman Mission to Prague from 3 August to 16 September 1938.... Read more »
A screening of the film The Auschwitz Report (Správa) based on the true story of Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler, two prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp who managed to escape with details about the camp's operation including a label from a canister of the pesticide Zyklon-B, used in the murders there. Once across the border... Read more »
Our summer social will once again be held in the gardens of the Czech and Slovak Embassies, with their kind permission. All are welcome – not just BCSA members. Bring your friends, bring your family! Enjoy an afternoon relaxing among Slovak, Czech and British people. Traditional dance performance by Okénko Raffle prizes include Ensana hotel... Read more »
Janáček's powerful tale of love and heartache in a searingly beautiful staging. Trapped in an unhappy marriage Káťa is drawn into a passionate affair. As a wild storm brews, she is overwhelmed by her actions. Damiano Michieletto’s raw staging cuts to the heart of Káťa’s guilt and despair as she makes a choice between love and life itself.... Read more »
New Music Director of The Royal Opera Jakub Hrůša leads the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in a rich programme of Czech and Hungarian music. From the hallucinatory orchestral colours of Béla Bartók’s scandalous Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, to Antonín Dvořák’s rarely-heard cantata for soloists and chorus, The Spectre’s Bride, an evening of extraordinary musical storytelling... Read more »
Trio Gaspard, hailed by Fanfare for its ‘chameleon-like ability to adapt’ to a vast array of musical styles, follows its residency at Wigmore Hall in 2023-24 with an exploration of two dark-hued works that project the tremendous power and rhythmic energy of Czech music at its finest. general sale opens 23 April Bohuslav Martinů Piano... Read more »
Twenty years after the Pavel Haas Quartet triumphed in the Prague Spring Competition, their intelligent artistry, distinguished by intoxicating tonal refinement and searing energy, continues to mature and deepen. They move from Martinů’s acerbic Third String Quartet to the old-world charm of Korngold’s Op.26 and yearning romanticism of Dvořák’s last string quartet. Bohuslav Martinů String... Read more »
A lecture by Richard Bassett. At the age of just twenty-three Empress Maria Theresa succeeded to the Habsburg domains only to find them contested by almost every European power. Over the next forty years she became a fierce leader and opponent, as well as a devoted wife and mother to sixteen children. Her radical reforms... Read more »
Composed between 1923 and 1925, The Makropulos Case (or The Makropulos Affair) is characterised by its unique, modernist musical style that aligns closely with the opera’s dark and philosophical themes. Janáček’s score employs short and repetitive motifs that mirror the psychological tension and emotional complexity of the opera’s characters. Marked by sharp contrasts, rhythmic irregularities and unexpected... Read more »
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