British Czech and Slovak Association

Maria Bartuszová (1936–1996)
2023-06-01 10:00 - 2023-06-25 18:00 (Europe/London) | Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG, United Kingdom
Bringing together many works rarely exhibited before in the UK, this survey exhibition highlights the abstract sculptures of Slovak artist Maria Bartuszová.
Bartuszová worked in relative isolation over three decades in Košice, the second-largest city in Slovakia. Her artistic life was constrained by the limitations of socialist Czechoslovakia, as well as financial concerns and the demands of family life. Even so, she made some 500 sculptures, from small tactile organic forms and reliefs, to commissions for public spaces and ephemeral works in the landscape. Her signature material was white plaster, which lends the perfectly formed sculptures a tentative and fragile quality.
The exhibition starts in the 1960s, when Bartuszová created her own experimental method of casting plaster by hand. Inspired by playing with her young daughter, she found she could create pure abstract forms by pouring plaster into rubber balloons. She would shape the sculpture by pushing or pulling, or submerging it into water, creating uniquely compelling organic shapes. Some are reminiscent of rain-drops, seeds or eggs. Some suggest the human body, with maternal or erotic associations. In later works she allowed the balloons to burst, creating fragile, ephemeral works akin to cocoons or nests.
In the 1980s, Bartuszová frequently photographed her works outdoors to underline their close affinity to nature. The exhibition also includes a selection of these evocative images alongside her drawings, many of which are exhibited for the first time.

East Tilbury walking tour - Czech Shoes and Mucking Flats
2023-05-20 14:00 - 17:30 | East Tilbury station, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, SS17 0RQ, United Kingdom
Ninth in a series of walks along the Thames organised by Footprints of London, this walk looks at the Bauhaus inspired Bata shoe factory built in the 1930s with a surrounding village for workers including a school and a cinema. The factory was closed down in 2005 but is now a conservation area.
The walk starts at East Tilbury station and then heads to the river passing Coalhouse Fort. You will then walk along the river wall to Mucking Flats – an area of marshland popular with wildfowl with views of passing ships and a view along the river to the sea.
The walk finishes back at East Tilbury station and is 5 miles in total, duration 3.5 hours.
Admission £10-£15 see booking details on Eventbrite below.

Milan Kundera documentary
2023-05-16 18:30 - 19:30 | Institut Francais, 17 Queensberry Place, London, SW7 2DT, United Kingdom
This rare documentary, Odyssée des illusions trahies, examines the singular and enigmatic trajectory of one of the most widely read writers in the world. From his time in communist Czechoslovakia to his Parisian exile and writing in French, from his quest for glory to his withdrawal from public life, this moving homage conceived as an odyssey sheds light on the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Preceded with an introduction by director Jarmila Buzková.
In French with English subtitles.
For ticket prices and booking details see below.

The Trial: Prague 1952
2023-05-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
Film screening followed by Q&A with director Ruth Zylberman (filmmaker and author) and Ivan Margolius (see below).
In 2018 workers in Prague find film reels that had been hidden in an abandoned warehouse since the fall of the Berlin wall. These are images from the Slánský trial which in 1952 was the peak of Stalinist terror and anti-semitism: a macabre production in which 14 top leaders of the communist regime, most of them Jews, were accused of imaginary crimes and forced, through torture and threats, to make a public confession of their guilt, which was also imaginary. 11 of them were sentenced to death and hanged.
With the help of these recently restored exceptional archives and a dive into the archives of the secret police, Ruth Zylberman went to meet these broken families in order to retrace the complex trajectory of three of these men, Rudolf Slánský, Artur London and Rudolf Margolius. Three communists, three men destroyed by a world they had helped to build and where the lie that became the law managed to subvert, beyond the political field, the most elementary bonds of human society.
Ivan Margolius, son of Rudolf Margolius who was sentenced to death during the political trials in 1952. He is an author whose work includes memoirs and a number of books and articles on art, architecture, engineering, design and automobile history. He was born in Prague and studied architecture both there and in London following his arrival in the UK in 1966.
Admission £5 see booking link below

Two on a motorbike – Lidice remembered
2023-05-10 18:30 - 20:30 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
Follow an English husband and Czech wife on their route from Cholmondeley Castle to Stoke-on-Trent, then on to Lidice and Prague.
Hear about their encounters on the way and retrace some of the steps by Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík in Operation Anthropoid which resulted in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich but also the tragedy of Lidice and beyond.
They will also recount how John Peers’ father’s visit to Lidice in 1946 brought John and Jiřina together, nearly 80 years later, when they had to overcome the 1,000 mile gap between them.
Now they split their time between the two countries and believe that they have the best of both worlds.
BCSA members enjoy free entry but registration is essential see Eventbrite link below.
Non-members £10, full-time students £5.
Refreshments will be provided.

Antonín Dvořák piano trios
2023-05-03 19:30 - 21:30 | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP, United Kingdom
Two members of the Pavel Haas Quartet are joined by a leading pianist for two of Dvořák’s piano trios. When the F minor piece received its first Viennese performance in 1884, critic Eduard Hanslick thought it the pinnacle of the composer’s career. The title ‘Dumky’ refers to a Slavic ballad form alternating sad with cheerful – a procedure Dvořák emulates.
Programme
Piano Trio in F minor Op. 65
Piano Trio in E minor Op. 90 ‘Dumky’

Boris Giltburg piano
Veronika Jarůšková violin
Peter Jarůšek cello

Daria Klimentová
2023-04-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
Having spent most of her career as a lead principal dancer at the English National Ballet, Daria will discuss her journey from ballet beginnings in communist Czechoslovakia to her peak as a dancer, then retirement and a change of career direction. She will share what it takes to get to the top (and remain there), reveal the backstage struggles of a ballerina, and whether it is possible to combine a busy career with a family life.
Following her graduation from the Prague State Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 1989, Daria Klimentová joined the National Theatre Ballet in Prague as a soloist, and was promoted to principal dancer a year later. In 1992, she joined Cape Town City Ballet in South Africa as principal. The following year, she joined the Scottish Ballet as a principal dancer. In 1996, Klimentová joined the English National Ballet at the invitation of then artistic director Derek Deane. Since 2003 Daria has been the founder and director of the Prague International Ballet Masterclasses held in the studios of the National Theatre Company in Prague.
In March 2013 Daria published her autobiography Daria Klimentova – Agony and Ecstasy: My Life in Dance. In 2014 she finished training as a teacher at The Royal Ballet School in London and joined the teaching staff there in September 2014, following her retirement as a ballet dancer.
Free admission but registration is required – see link below
Part of the Czech Centre London series Women in Focus.

Extreme [the new norm]
2023-04-22 19:30 - 2023-04-26 19:00
A satire about life in a pandemic. ).
The Slovak Theatre in London reflects on the biggest event of the past decade which globally influenced the life of every individual. In a colourful collage of scenes and characters, the play shows the contrasting situations brought by the pandemic, often based on real events. By using physical movements, music and songs, the artists explore the patterns of behaviour by society and individuals in a time of crisis. The performance reaches out to the audience by direct interaction with the actors, aiming to serve as a mirror challenging opinions and inviting new perspectives. The show is both serious and funny, offering collective therapy through art.
The show lasts 70 minutes without an interval.
Dublin 22 April (in Slovak)
Brussels 25 & 26 April (in Slovak)
For these book via NEW SHOW & TOUR 2023 | SlovakTheatreLondon (slovaktheatreinlondon.com)

The Slovak Theatre in London is run by young Slovak and Czech professional artists living in London.

Bat'a Tilbury Heritage Open Day
2023-04-22 10:00 - 16:00 | Bata Heritage Centre, East Tilbury Library, Princess Avenue, East Tilbury, Essex, RM18 8ST, United Kingdom
Our main exhibition displays, records and research facilities are now back in the newly refurbished East Tilbury Library. Here you will find displays of some of our collection illustrating the life and times of the Bata factory and those living on its residential estate between the 1930s and the early 2000s.
A two-centre event as follows:
10:00 – 13:00 – Building 13 (the old admin building of the Bata factory) Thames Industrial Park, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, Essex RM 18 8RH
10:00 – 16:00 – East Tilbury Library, Princess Avenue, East Tilbury, Essex RM18 8ST
14:30 – free illustrated “Heritage Talk” at the Library, all are welcome to attend
Optional guided walks around the Bata estate leave from Building 13 (11:00, 12:00 and 13:00) and will finish at the Library. Booking for these tours is essential – please email us at brrcatbatamemories@hotmail.com to reserve your place. A donation of £5 per person* is suggested and this will be collected at the start of the tour.
*Open Day special offer – For just £8, combine the purchase of our informative booklet about the history of Bata at East Tilbury (normally £4) with your donation for the tour.
It is recommended that all those attending the Open Day head for Building 13 initially where ample WC facilities are available.

Edita Gruberová, Slovak opera singer
2023-04-17 18:30 - 20:30 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
Edita Gruberová (1946-2021) was born and subsequently trained in Bratislava, Slovakia, then part of the former Czechoslovakia.
This illustrated talk by Ross Alley will trace her development as a singer from her Bratislava operatic debut as Rosina in The Barber of Seville and discuss the roles she undertook, ranging from the humorous to the dramatic and tragic, which were enhanced by her commanding stage presence and acting ability.
David Patrick Stearnes wrote in his obituary for Gramophone magazine “no modern lyric-coloratura soprano had so much high-quality vocal mileage as Edita Gruberová”.
Ross Alley was for many years a music lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has also given numerous guest lectures at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham and various music societies.
Free for BCSA and Dvořák Society members, non-members £10, full-time students £5. To register see Eventbrite link below.
This event is organised jointly with The Dvořák Society. Light refreshments will be served.

Last Days in Old Europe
2023-03-28 18:30 - 20:30 | Czech Embassy, 26-30 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
A talk by Richard Bassett former Times correspondent in Eastern Europe and author of the widely acclaimed Last Days in Old Europe reflects on more than 40 years of association with the Czech lands. First travelling to Prague as an architectural historian, he later spent nearly 10 years covering events in communist Czechoslovakia including the Velvet Revolution. An expert on Central Europe and the author of numerous books, he taught at many European universities and is a bye-fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge.
Tickets £15 including a glass of wine see booking link below
© Chosovi from Creative Commons Wikimedia

Gardens of the Czech Republic
2023-03-25 10:00 - 17:00 | Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL, United Kingdom
The Birkbeck Garden History Group, in association with the Friends of Czech Heritage, is holding a study day to explore the history and development of some of the Czech Republic’s distinctive gardens, from Baroque to modern.
Programme:
10.00 am. Registration and coffee
10.30 am. Speaker: Ina Truxová Baroque Gardens, with a focus on properties in Bohemia and Moravia
11.30 am. Short Break
11.45 pm. Speaker: Michael Symes From Formal to Landscape
12.45 pm. Lunch break
2.00 pm. Speaker: Kamila Krejčiříková Restoring the Gardens of Lednice-Valtice and Pernštejn Castle
3.00 pm. Tea
3.30 pm. Speaker: Caroline Cannon-Brookes Two Gardens Designed by Architects, Jože Plečnik in Prague and Mies van der Rohe in Brno
4.30 pm. Close. Chairman: Michael Symes, President of the Birkbeck Garden History Group.
Tickets: £56 for BGHG members and Friends of Czech Heritage, £59 for non-members.
The ticket includes lunch, coffee, tea and biscuits. All tickets must be booked in advance.
Book via Eventbrite link below

Image of the Libosad in Kroměříž used with the cooperation of Czech Tourism. Copyright Bobo and Chichi

Folklore in the postmodern world
2023-03-21 18:30 - 20:00 | Czech Embassy, 26-30 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
Tereza Bušková in discussion with Dr Nicola Baird followed by a video screening of Clipping the Church (2016), Hidden Mothers (2021) and Little Queens (2022).
Tereza Bušková is a Czech artist who lives in Birmingham. She celebrates and reinterprets long established customs, particularly ritual, tradition and craft, as carriers of identity and belonging. Tereza works in print, video, performance and public art projects, including staging large-scale participatory events with local communities.
Slavic rituals are often the starting point for her work but Tereza also researches and explores other European customs which she reinvents with her collaborators. ‘Clipping the Church’ (as in photo) sought to revive an ancient and almost forgotten English tradition. In times past families would flock to encircle local churches, holding hands with each other to literally surround the church with open arms. In June 2016, 200 people were present for its re-enactment at St Barnabas Church in Erdington, Birmingham.
Tereza completed her Fine Art Printmaking MA at the Royal College of Art in 2007. In 2019 she was awarded Arts Council individual artist funding to develop a public art project ‘Hidden Mothers’ and also in 2022 to develop a community art project ‘Little Queens’.
For more information see https://www.terezabuskova.com/
Free for BCSA subscription members, non-members £10, full-time students £5. To register see Eventbrite link below.
The talk follows the BCSA AGM which is open to BCSA subscription members only.

BCSA 2023 Annual General Meeting
2023-03-21 18:00 - 20:30 | Czech Embassy, 26-30 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
The formal AGM is open to all BCSA subscription members. Entertainment, open to everyone, will be provided following its conclusion.

The AGM will elect the three Honorary Officers of the Association – the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Honorary Secretary. These posts are held for one year and are subject to election at every AGM. The current Chairman, Ladislav Hornan, as well as the remaining Honorary Officers, namely Ruzena Holub and Blanka Shrimpton respectively, are willing to stand for re-election. Douglas Gibb, serving as the BCSA Treasurer, is standing down from his post on the committee.

The committee members due to retire by rotation and eligible for re-election this year, namely Edward Peacock and Angela Spindler-Brown, are ready to stand for re-election for a further term of three years. Jana Buresova, Jana Nahodilova and Jozef Polom are ready to be elected as new committee members for a term of two years.

Any subscription member of the BCSA can be nominated for the post of an Honorary Officer and/or a committee member. Nomination forms can be obtained from the Hon. Secretary, Blanka Shrimpton, e-mail: bcsa@bcsa.co.uk and returned to her by 14th March 2023.

Please register your attendance at the AGM, or apologies for absence, to bcsa@bcsa.co.uk

The Chambermaid (Slúžka)
2023-03-20 18:00 - 2023-03-21 14:30 | BFI, Belvedere Road, South Bank, London, SE1 8XT, United Kingdom
Anke is 15, Slovakian and poor. As the First World War rages, she is sent off to Prague to work as a maid for a wealthy Austrian family. There, she finds herself in the service of the similarly aged Theresa, who goes by the name Res. On her first encounter with Anke, the confident Res appears cruel. And yet, the chemistry between the two girls becomes too strong to ignore. Fast-paced, sexy and witty, The Chambermaid invests itself in the lives of all the women who occupy this world, from the gossiping maids to the grand Austrian matriarchs.
Slovakian filmmaker Mariana Čengel Solčanská and her outstanding cast rivetingly recreate this milieu, taking us on a journey through the chaos of this house, at a time when Czechoslovakia was emerging as a newly established nation.
[Rhianna Ilube]
Czech, German, Slovak and Hungarian with English subtitles
Two screenings as part of the BFI Flare Festival
Monday 20 March @18.00
Tuesday 21 March @14.50

Smetana trio
2023-03-19 11:30 - 12:30 | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP, United Kingdom
The ensemble is a legendary one that can trace its history back to its foundation in 1934. Over the decades it has won numerous awards for its recordings, especially of the Czech repertoire, including a BBC Music Magazine Chamber Music Award in 2017; both works in today’s programme appear in the Smetana’s substantial discography.
Programme
Antonín Dvořák Piano Trio in F minor Op. 65

Dmitry Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor Op. 8

Jan Talich violin
Jan Páleníček cello
Jitka Čechová piano

For tickets see link below
This concert is part of the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust ticket scheme, offering free tickets to those aged 8-25

photo Milan Binder

Special visit to the Maria Bartuszová exhibition
2023-03-10 09:00 - 10:00 | Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG, United Kingdom
The British Czech and Slovak Association in cooperation with Tate Modern is offering a unique out of hours tour of this exhibition.
Bringing together many works rarely exhibited before in the UK, this survey exhibition highlights the abstract sculptures of Slovak artist Maria Bartuszová.
Bartuszová worked in relative isolation over three decades in Košice, the second-largest city in Slovakia. Her artistic life was constrained by the limitations of socialist Czechoslovakia, as well as financial concerns and the demands of family life. Even so, she made some 500 sculptures, from small tactile organic forms and reliefs, to commissions for public spaces and ephemeral works in the landscape. Her signature material was white plaster, which lends the perfectly formed sculptures a tentative and fragile quality.
The exhibition starts in the 1960s, when Bartuszová created her own experimental method of casting plaster by hand. Inspired by playing with her young daughter, she found she could create pure abstract forms by pouring plaster into rubber balloons. She would shape the sculpture by pushing or pulling, or submerging it into water, creating uniquely compelling organic shapes. Some are reminiscent of rain-drops, seeds or eggs. Some suggest the human body, with maternal or erotic associations. In later works she allowed the balloons to burst, creating fragile, ephemeral works akin to cocoons or nests.
In the 1980s, Bartuszová frequently photographed her works outdoors to underline their close affinity to nature. The exhibition also includes a selection of these evocative images alongside her drawings, many of which will be exhibited for the first time.
Free for BCSA members, non-members £10, full-time students £5. (Tickets for the exhibition are normally £16)
To register use the Eventbrite link below

Jan Masaryk in London
2023-03-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
To commemorate 75 years since the tragic death of Jan Masaryk, former Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs and the country’s longest serving Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
A panel debate with
Dr Jakub Beneš
Associate Professor, University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies
Dr Thomas Lorman
Lecturer, University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies
and
Film screening
‘A Prominent Patient’
Acclaimed drama by director Julius Ševčík about the life of Jan Masaryk in London on the eve of WWII.
The film will be screened in Czech with English subtitles.
Admission to the event is free, registration at events.london@embassy.mzv.cz .

LSE Central European Conference
2023-03-04 09:00 - 17:00 | New Academic Building, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom
The theme of the sixth CEC conference is Pathways: Building (Y)our Future. It will focus on the prospective sectors for a career in the region, look at the future of its markets, and discuss contemporary issues, threats, and opportunities that Central Europe presents.
Participate in a multi layered debate through panels, workshops, and ‘success story talks’. There will be speakers from industries and academia and young successful Czechs and Slovaks who pursued unconventional career paths after their studies abroad.
WELCOME ADDRESS
Peter Fiala, Czech Prime Minister
Having first entered politics as the Minister of Education, Professor Fiala is also an internationally recognised political scientist and during his academic career, he focused on topics such as European integration, political extremism, and religion.
PANEL: From Assembly to Innovation: Pathways to Economic Prosperity
Ivan Mikloš
President of the MESA10 think tank. Slovak Deputy Prime Minister (1998-2006) & Minister of Finance (2002-6, 2010-12)
Michaela Kršková
The first-ever Chief Innovation Officer of the Slovak government leading the newly established Research and Innovation Authority.
Peter Krutil
CEO of Slovenská sporitel’na since 2018.
PANEL : Missing the Green Chance? Our Pathway to Sustainability
Marián Hlavačka
CEO of CORWIN, an award-winning real estate developer known for its sustainable architecture.
SUCCESS STORY TALKS
Stanislav Fořt
Artificial intelligence researcher and scientist working on developing safe general artificial intelligence (AGI) at a Silicon Valley start up.
Barbara Havelková
Associate professor of law at the University of Oxford.
Nina Formánek Jaganjacová
Founder of a health education NGO sifty.eu. An LSE alumni.
Ivana Kottasová
Senior digital news producer at CNN International where she covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Michaela Pobudová
Founder and Director of Mareena, a non-profit organisation that focuses on the integration of refugees and migrants in Slovakia.
Martin Smatana
Healthcare policy advisor to the IMF & Slovak government. Oxford & Imperial College alumnus.
Filip Stollár
Co-founder of Deepnote, a data science notebook for teams.
Michal Tykač
Researcher at the Czech Academy of Sciences University of Cambridge alumnus.

To book tickets see link below

The event is organised by student societies at LSE, UCL, KCL and Imperial.

Prague – Vienna: The Two Homelands
2023-03-03 19:30 - 21:30 | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP, United Kingdom
Adam Plachetka was born in Prague and since 2010 a member of the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera (where Strauss was once director), the bass-baritone selects songs by major composers who worked in these two highly musical cities.
Accompanied by Gary Matthewman, piano.
Programme
Antonín Dvořák
Biblical Songs Op. 99

Gypsy Songs Op. 55
Franz Schubert
Ständchen D889

Die Forelle D550
Im Abendrot D799
Gruppe aus dem Tartarus D583
Erlkönig D328
Richard Strauss

Heimliche Aufforderung Op. 27 No. 3
Die Nacht Op. 10 No. 3
Nachtgang Op. 29 No. 3
Du meines Herzens Krönelein Op. 21 No. 2
Traum durch die Dämmerung Op. 29 No. 1
Zueignung Op. 10 No. 1

For tickets see link below

photo Iona Sochorova

Wihan Quartet
2023-02-28 19:30 - 21:30 | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP, United Kingdom
The Wihan Quartet’s focus is appropriately on their Czech repertoire, though the group begins with one of Beethoven’s most stirring middle-period works for the medium.
An ensemble founded and renewed over a period of nearly 40 years has won numerous prizes and accolades for its performances and recordings of wide swathes of the repertoire.
Programme
Beethoven String quartet no. 11 in F minor Op.95 ‘Serioso’
Martinů String quartet no. 2
Smetana String quartet no.1 in E minor ‘From my life’

For tickets see link below (general bookings open on 1 November 2022).

photo Petra Hajská

Rusalka Revealed: Dvořák’s operatic masterpiece
2023-02-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
To celebrate a new edition of Antonín Dvořák’s beloved opera Rusalka and a new staging by the Royal Opera House, the editors Robert Simon and Jonáš Hájek discuss Dvořák‘s lyrical fairy tale, and their work on the score and Jaroslav Kvapil’s libretto with musicologist Nigel Simeone.
Anna Blackmur, principal 2nd violin of the ROH orchestra, will share her personal experience of playing Dvořák’s music highlighting the challenges his seemingly easy music presents to players.
Robert Simon is an American librarian and musicologist specializing in Czech music.
Jonáš Hájek is the publishing supervisor of the new edition of Rusalka and the editor of its libretto.
Nigel Simeone is a writer and musician with special interests in Czech music and twentieth-century opera.

Admission £5 with complimentary drinks see booking link below

In collaboration with The Dvořák Society and the Bärenreiter Music Publishing House.
Cover photo: Růžena Maturová as Rusalka, National Theatre in Prague, 1901, © National Museum – Czech Museum of Music

Rusalka
2023-02-21 18:15 - 2023-03-07 18:45 | Royal Opera House
Rusalka, a water spirit, lives with her family in the pure waters of the forest lake. When she falls in love with a Prince, she sacrifices her voice and leaves her home in the hope of finding true love in a new world – a world that does not love her back.
Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee create a poetic, contemporary new staging of Dvořák’s lyric fairy tale, revealing our uneasy relationship with the natural world and humanity’s attempts to own and tame it. Semyon Bychkov conducts an all-star cast featuring Asmik Grigorian in the title role.
Sung in Czech with English surtitles.

A Sensitive Person book launch
2023-02-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
Celebrating the UK release of his sweeping new “picaresque romp of black humour and fantasy” (TLS), Czech writer Jáchym Topol and translator Alex Zucker read from and discuss an award-winning novel A Sensitive Person with critic and scholar Dr. Kathryn Murphy, followed by an audience Q+A and a book signing.
A Sensitive Person (Yale University Press 2023, published in Czech as Citlivý člověk in 2017) is a brutally funny, carnivalesque novel about love, death, and survival. Tab, an itinerant Czech actor, travels Europe on the theatre circuit with his partner, Soňa, and their two young sons, attending festivals and performing plays. Confronted with growing resentment toward foreigners, Tab decides to return home to the banks of the Sázava River, southeast of Prague. As soon as they arrive, Tab finds himself falsely accused of a terrible crime and forced to go on the run with his sons. Over the course of their journey, dodging authorities by car, foot, and raft, they encounter a motley cast of allies and enemies. The effects of Tab’s sudden reappearance and just-as-sudden disappearance ripple through the community, catalysing a chaotic chain of events that reaches a final, raucous crescendo.
Admission £5 see booking link below
Jáchym Topol (b. 1962), poet, lyricist, journalist, and novelist, is the leading figure in Czech postmodern fiction since the Velvet Revolution in 1989. His debut novel, City Sister Silver, was featured in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and was the only work from after 1989 to be named among the best 100 Czech Books of the 20th century. He currently works as programme director at the Václav Havel Library, in Prague, featuring politically engaged authors and artists (Czech and non-Czech alike). Topol’s other works available in English are A Trip to the Train Station, City Sister Silver, Angel Station, Nightwork, Gargling With Tar, and The Devil’s Workshop. His work has been translated into over 25 languages. jachymtopol.cz
Alex Zucker has translated novels by Jáchym Topol, Bianca Bellová, Petra Hůlová, J. R. Pick, Magdaléna Platzová, Tomáš Zmeškal, Josef Jedlička, Heda Margolius Kovály, Patrik Ouředník, and Miloslava Holubová. alexjzucker.com
Kathryn Murphy studied Czech and English literature at the University of Glasgow, and is now Fellow in English at Oriel College, University of Oxford, where she teaches and writes about Renaissance literature and the literary essay. She is also reviews Czech literature for the TLS.
Part of the season celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Czech Centre London that highlights the most successful past projects.
The Czech Centre London launched Jáchym Topol’s seminal work City Sister Silver in Alex Zucker ‘s translation on a literary tour that took place between 30 Apr and 2 May 2001 in London, Glasgow and Oxford.

Czech modernism
2023-02-07 18:30 - 20:30 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
An introduction by Ivan Margolius to avant-garde design in architecture, engineering, furniture and interiors, its international influence and how it affected the development of modern architecture in Britain.
Ivan Margolius is an architect and award-winning writer. His latest book, ‘Jan Kaplický: For the Future and for Beauty’ (Edition Axel Menges, 2022) received the 2021 Miroslav Ivanov Prize for Non-fiction Literature and is available from bookshops and Amazon.
£15 including a glass of wine.
See booking link below (postponed from November 2022)

Pavel Haas Quartet
2023-02-01 19:30 - 21:30 | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP, United Kingdom
The programme performed by this Czech quartet opens with the attractive final quartet by the prolific Bohuslav Martinů, written in New York in 1947, followed by the fourth of Bartók’s six masterpieces for the medium (1928); next they are joined by a leading pianist for one of the most immediate and melodious works in the entire chamber music repertoire.
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959) String Quartet No. 7 ‘Concerto da camera
Béla Bartók (1881-1945) String Quartet No. 4 BB95
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Op. 81

Veronika Jarůšková violin
Marek Zwiebel violin
Dana Zemtsov viola
Peter Jarůšek cello
Boris Giltburg piano

see booking link below
This event is part of the CAVATINA 25 Scheme. A limited number of free tickets are available to those aged 8-25 in rows T to V.

Ear – the book behind a Czech film legend
2023-01-17 18:30 - 20:30 | Czech Embassy cinema, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY
To mark the publication by Karolinum Press of the first English translation by Mark Corner of Jan Procházka’s masterpiece, David Vaughan and Peter Hames discuss both, the book and the film at 6.30pm, followed by a screening of the 1970 classic at 7pm.

The Ear – Ucho in Czech – is one of the greatest of all Czech films. It was the culmination of ten years of fruitful cooperation between the director Karel Kachyňa and screenwriter Jan Procházka. The film was completed in 1970, but in the oppressive atmosphere after the 1968 Soviet invasion it was banned immediately and was not seen by audiences in Czechoslovakia until twenty years later. It is not hard to see why. It is set in the period of the Stalinist purges in 1950s Czechoslovakia. A senior government official Ludvík and his wife Anna come back from a drunken party at the ministry to find that their house has been bugged. A gripping psychological drama follows, as they await a knock on the door.

Jan Procházka was one of the most popular and prolific Czech writers of the 1960s, closely identified with the reforms and growing artistic freedoms of the time, and the novella Ear is perhaps his greatest work. It combines the economy of Hemingway with the tension of Hitchcock, set in a stifling totalitarian environment.

Admission £7 see booking link below

David Vaughan is a writer, broadcaster, journalist and university lecturer. He wrote the afterword to the English translation. His debut novel Slyšte můj hlas (2014) won the Czech Book Prize readers’ award in 2015. The book has been published in English by Jantar Publishing as Hear My Voice (2019). He is also author of Battle for the Airwaves (2008), a study of the role of the media in the run-up to WWII. For eight years he was editor-in-chief of Radio Prague, having previously been the BBC’s Prague correspondent.
Peter Hames is visiting professor in film studies at Staffordshire University. His books include The Czechoslovak New Wave(2005), Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition (2010), The Best of Slovak Cinema(2018) and, as editor, The Cinema of Central Europe (2004), The Cinema of Jan Švankmajer (2008), and Cinemas in Transition in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 (with Catherine Portuges, 2013). He recently edited two special issues of Studies in Eastern European Cinema on Věra Chytilová (2018-19) and has contributed to a forthcoming book on the Barrandov studios.
Part of the season celebrating the 30thanniversary of the Czech Centre London that highlights the most successful past projects.
The film was screened as part of The Eye of the Camera: A Profile of Karel Kachyňa, a retrospective organised by the Czech Centre in March 2003 in Riverside Studios in London.

Trio Bohémo
2023-01-15 15:00 - 16:00 | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP, United Kingdom
The Czech group returns with one of the most popular classics written for its medium. Composed in 1891, Dvořák’s ‘Dumky’ Trio is named after the originally poetic ballad form that alternates cheerful with sad elements. Heard in the composer’s own arrangement, Liszt’s Carnival in Pest (1847) makes use of folk material from various countries – not just Hungary.
Programme
Antonín Dvořák Piano Trio in E minor Op. 90 ‘Dumky’

Franz Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 9 in E flat S379 ‘Le carnaval de Pesth’

Matouš Pěruška violin
Kristina Vocetková cello
Jan Vojtek piano

For tickets see link below

This concert is part of the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust ticket scheme, offering free tickets to those aged 8-25

Trio Bohémo masterclass
2023-01-13 11:00 - 12:00 | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP, United Kingdom
This Czech ensemble, almost from its inception, began to win prizes internationally. These include the ISA Festival and the International Johannes Brahms Competition, both in Austria, plus the Parkhouse Award in London. It was also selected for the 2021 Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme.

Matouš Pěruška violin
Kristina Vocetková cello
Jan Vojtek piano

For tickets see link below

Káťa Kabanová
2023-01-11 19:00 - 2023-01-13 21:30 | Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS, United Kingdom
Leoš Janáček’s opera of loneliness, love, and the price of passion, in a dramatic concert performance from Sir Simon Rattle and a hand-picked cast sung in Czech.
Káťa is young, sensitive and desperate for love. But trapped in a remote country village with a bored husband and his snobbish family, she has no way out, until a summer thunderstorm changes everything. Uncompromisingly honest, and pulsing with intensely human emotion, Káťa Kabanová is opera for grown-ups, written in music that cuts straight to the chase. The LSO’s concert stagings of classic operas always make headlines: this will be one to remember.
Tonight’s cast includes the superb Kiwi tenor Simon O’Neill and living legend Sir John Tomlinson. Káťa is one of Amanda Majewski’s signature roles – she won’t hold back tonight.
‘Majeski gives such heartfelt commitment to the role of Káťa that one worries how she can come back down from the emotional peaks and precipices that she scales.’ – Opera Today
Performers

London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Katarina Dalayman Marfa
Andrew Staples Tichon
Amanda Majeski Káťa
Sir John Tomlinson Dikoj
Simon O’Neill Boris
Ladislav Elgr Kudrjas
Magdalena Kožená Varvara
London Symphony Chorus
