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October 2019
Makanna
London premiere of music documentary film MAKANNA, together with a live cello performance and film introduction. Based on the novel of the Jewish writer Jiri Weil (1900 - 1959), from the concert performance of the ballet MAKANNA, composed by composer Irena Kosikova for voice (Jan Zidlicky), solo cello (Frantisek Brikcius) and orchestra (Jan Talich - conductor, Talich Chamber Orchestra). Free admission but booking is essential via Eventbrite see link below.
Find out more »The Cunning Little Vixen
Inspired by a newspaper comic strip, the Welsh National Opera’s colourful production is charming, funny and profound in equal measure. It reunites director, David Pountney with WNO music director, Tomas Hanus who conducts Janacek’s blend of folk-like music and sophisticated orchestrations, gloriously evoking the vibrancy of nature. One afternoon deep in the forest, the forester stumbles across a young vixen, and takes her home as a pet for his family. But this playful creature has bigger plans and escapes to…
Find out more »The Greek Passion
The Greek Passion is a passion play within a passion play. At the beginning of the opera, members of a remote community are assigned roles in an Easter performance – including Manolios, who will play Christ, Katerina (Mary Magdalene) and her lover Panait (Judas). However, the sudden arrival of a group of refugees from a nearby conflict divides the community in two: should they be helped or turned away? As events unfold, the boundaries between life and art become blurred…
Find out more »LSO Discovery Day: Janacek
Attend a morning rehearsal of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the Barbican followed by talks and chamber music in the afternoon at LSO St Luke's. The full schedule will be posted two weeks before the event. Please note that the conductor may choose to not use the full rehearsal time and there is no guarantee that equal rehearsal time will be given to each piece. You will be seated in the Circle. Full…
Find out more »Janacek: Glagolitic Mass
Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the London Symphony Orchestra bring together three works that define the ‘Czech sound’, by composers who drew their material from Czech history, legends and landscapes – Dvoak and Janacek. Janacek’s Ballad of Blanik and Dvorak’s Golden Spinning Wheel are both symphonic poems that take Czech legends as their inspiration – the first using the tale of Wenceslas as a vehicle to celebrate the peaceful regeneration of Czechoslovakia as an independent nation after World War I;…
Find out more »The Women in Czech Opera
An evening talk and recital. Samantha Crawford and Lada Valesova explore the female roles in the operas of the great Czech composers, Dvorak, Janacek and Smetana. During this entertaining and illuminating evening they will perform highlights and discuss the music and characterisation in depth. Afterwards there are limited spaces for a dinner with these two fascinating artists. Katya Kabanova, Jenufa and Rusalka are the title roles in just three masterpieces in the Czech repertoire. Katya is unhappily married and tormented…
Find out more »An evening of Slovak Literature
Slovak writers' tour 22 -25 October - Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, London Join a panel of renowned authors chaired by Diana Vonnak for a celebration of modern Slovak literature. Ursula Kovalyk, Ivana Dobrakovova and Balla will discuss their award-winning works of fiction. Also taking part will be their English translator, Julia Sherwood. Ursula Kovalyk is a feminist writer, social worker and theatre maker and a leading representative of contemporary feminist literary discourse in Slovakia. The Night Circus and other stories published…
Find out more »Czech Roots: London Symphony Orchestra
Composers pouring their most personal thoughts and feelings into their work is not unusual, but these two pieces by Dvorak and Suk feel much more deeply connected than most. Dvorak and Suk had a very long and close relationship as father-in-law and son-in-law. Suk’s Second Symphony, ‘Asrael’, named for the Hebrew Angel of Death, was written in tribute to Dvorak after his sudden death in 1904. Tragically, Suk’s wife – Dvorak’s daughter Otilka – died shortly afterwards and the symphony…
Find out more »CS PARTY @ 229 VENUE with MIRO ŽBIRKA
Miro Žbirka – a living legend of Slovak and Czech popular music is celebrating his 40 year-long music career with concerts in London, Prague and Bratislava. Don't miss this greatest hits show supported by Abbey Road Studio musicians with whom he recorded his last two albums. Drums – Blair Cunningham Bass – Hamish Stewart, Pearse MacIntyre Guitar – Robbie McIntosh, Pearse MacIntyre, Rob Cass Keyboards – Pearse MacIntyre Piano – Dean Ross, Jon Hall, George Stewart Percussion – Rob Cass…
Find out more »In Quest of History: On Statehood and Identity with Jiri Priban and Pavel Seifter
As contemporary politics drift closer to totalitarianism, historiography from scholars and thinkers who have experienced twentieth-century totalitarian regimes is more important than ever. A professor of legal philosophy Jiri Priban and Pavel Seifter, historian and former Czech Ambassador to the UK, search for the roots of contemporary problems in our past, examining how we navigate history among the shifting tides of our national identity and what statehood and democracy mean 30 years after the fall of communism. Chaired by Sir…
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