British Czech and Slovak Association

Folklore in the postmodern world
2023-03-21 18:30 - 20:00 (Europe/London) | 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

The race for Prague Castle: who will be the next Czech president?
2023-01-10 18:00 - 20:00 | UCL SSEES, 16 Taviton St, London, WC1H 0BW, United Kingdom
A panel discussion co-organised by the British Czech and Slovak Association and UCL SSEES Centre for the Study of Central Europe.

On Friday 13 and Saturday 14 January 2023 voters go to the polls to elect the Czech Republic’s second directly elected president. Key contenders include the billionaire populist Andrej Babiš, retired general Petr Pavel and economist Danuše Nerudová, who may have the realistic prospect of becoming Czechia’s first ever female head of state.
This event, co-organised by the British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA) and UCL-SSEES Centre for the Study of Central Europe brings together academic specialists on the Czech Republic for a roundtable discussion of the presidential candidates and the presidential election campaign; what they tell us about the political direction of the Czech Republic; and how the role of the head of state may change when a new president takes office in increasingly turbulent economic and politics times.
This free event will also be livestreamed online. Registration (see Eventbrite link below) is necessary either to attend in person or to receive the joining link.
SPEAKERS
Tim Haughton is Professor of Comparative and European Politics at the University of Birmingham. He a political scientist with a particular interest in electoral and party politics, electoral campaigning, and the politics of Central and Eastern Europe, especially Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. He is the co-author of The New Party Challenge (Oxford University Press, 2021) and was the joint editor of the Journal of Common Market Studies’ Annual Review of the European Union for nine years (2008-16).
Barbara Havelková is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law and a Tutorial Fellow at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. Her research and teaching interests include gender legal studies and feminist jurisprudence, equality and anti-discrimination law, constitutional law, EU law and law in post-socialist transitions. Her book, Gender Equality in Law: Uncovering the Legacies of Czech State Socialism’ (Hart/Bloomsbury, 2017) and received an honourable mention from the judges of the BASEES Women’s Forum Prize for 2019. Between 2014 and 2017, she acted as an Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on issues of gender and law.
Jiří Přibáň is Professor of Law at Cardiff University. He has published extensively on social theory and the sociology of law, legal philosophy, constitutional and European comparative law, and theory of human rights. His monograph Sovereignty in Post-Sovereign Society (Routledge, 2015) was awarded the SLSA Socio-Legal Theory and History Book Prize. He is the founding director of the Centre of Law and Society and an editor of the Journal of Law and Society. He regularly contributes to the Czech and international media.
Chaired by Dr Seán Hanley (UCL SSEES)

Image credit: Radek Kozák on Unsplash

Who Tells Whom About What: David Böhm & Jiří Franta
2022-12-01 10:00 - 2022-12-31 17:00 | Czech Centre, 30 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY, United Kingdom
Indoor & outdoor exhibition, Czech Centre & Czech Embassy, London
Using imaginary city models with staged micro stories, leading Czech artists David Böhm & Jiří Franta draw on current social and political issues to explore the city not only as a place of neighbourhood and coexistence but also as a crowded and fragmented world, in which it is necessary to reconsider some of the basic ideas.
Does the concept of nations still make sense? Wouldn’t it be possible to organise the planet better? Who sustains whom? And can we find a way to stop living at the expense of future generations?
Inspired by the exquisitely staged narrative paintings, familiar from the work of artists such as Pieter Brueghel, the artists’ own tableaux will be displayed as a large scale photo series in an outdoor exhibition on the fence of the Czech Embassy in London on busy Bayswater Road, while the models themselves will be exhibited in the gallery inside.
Exploring the ‘fence’ motif Böhm & Franta link the outdoor exhibition with the indoor one while referring to relations with our neighbours and borders beyond which we are not welcome, raising the question of who the ‘outsider’ really is.
Vitrínka Gallery, Czech Centre London, Tue – Fri, 10 am – 5 pm
Outdoor exhibition on the fence of the Czech Embassy, Free access 24/7

Pavel Haas Quartet
2022-11-24 19:30 - 21:30 | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP, United Kingdom
The second of Haas’s quartets was composed in 1925. Its unusual title is a joking reference to the Moravian Highlands; each movement describes experiences summer holidaymakers might encounter there. The group’s recording of the piece won it its first Gramophone Award in 2006, when it was also chosen as Disc of the Year by the Daily Telegraph.
Programme
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) String Quartet in G Op. 76 No. 1
Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953) String Quartet No. 2 in F Op. 92
Pavel Haas (1899-1944) String Quartet No. 2 Op. 7 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’

Wigmore Hall Artist in Residence
Veronika Jarůšková violin
Marek Zwiebel violin
Jiří Kabát viola
Peter Jarůšek cello

BCSA & CBCC annual dinner
2022-11-23 18:30 - 23:00 | The May Fair Hotel, Stratton Street, London, W1J 8LT, United Kingdom
Join us for our traditional annual dinner held with the Czech British Chamber of Commerce at the May Fair Hotel, Stratton Street, London (nearest underground Green Park).
This highlight in the BCSA calendar is a wonderful opportunity for Slovaks, Czechs and Britons to mingle in a convivial atmosphere, to meet old friends and make new ones.
Members and non-members alike will be made welcome at a drinks reception, enjoy a three-course dinner with wine and hear the results of our annual writing competition. There will also be a raffle with a chance to win a long weekend for two (including flights) in the High Tatras, Slovakia at either the Hotel Hills or the Horizont Resort donated by Jan Telensky. Or perhaps three nights half board at Nové Lázně in Mariánské Lázně, CR and closer to home two nights bed & breakfast in the Buxton Crescent Hotel both kindly donated by Ensana.
If you are a newcomer to the BCSA or to London, we would like to extend a special invitation and welcome you into our friendly community. Kindly note that you may request seating at a table with your friends.
Keynote speaker: Lord Dubs
In 1939 Alfred Dubs, aged six, left his native Czechoslovakia for England by train arranged by Sir Nicholas Winton. In 2021 with the restoration of his Czech citizenship, he became the first Czech-British member of the House of Lords.
Over the years he has lobbied tirelessly on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers. In 2020 he proposed an amendment to the Immigration Bill which would give safe passage and sanctuary to 3,000 unaccompanied children in Europe to come to the UK to join a family member already seeking refugee status. It was supported by the House of Lords but defeated in the House of Commons.
Guest of honour: H.E. Robert Ondrejcsák, Ambassador of Slovakia to the United Kingdom.
Tickets: BCSA members £ 75.00, non-members £87.50, full-time students £55.00 via Eventbrite link below.
dress code lounge suit
For more information contact us via bcsa@bcsa.co.uk

Bird Atlas
2022-11-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, London, WC2H 7BY, United Kingdom
In this Czech answer to the smash hit series Succession, leading Czech actor Miroslav Donutil excels in the central role of Ivo Rona, the ageing CEO of a technology company who refuses to let go of the family business to the growing despair of his three children, successors in waiting. When a huge embezzlement in his company is discovered, Rona is determined to find the culprit despite his failing heart. And then his long-serving, long-suffering secretary Marie, one of his most trusted employees, goes missing. Revenge, corporate sabotage, or a well-played internet fraud? An absorbingly twisty, delightful wry black comedy featuring philosophical birds offering wise words and sound advice.
This screening will feature an introduction and Q&A with actor Miroslav Donutil
Directed by Olmo Omerzu
Starring Miroslav Donutil, Alena Mihulová, Martin Pechlát, Eliška Krenková, Vojtech Kotek
Made in Prague Festival SPECIAL GALA
2021, 93mins Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia
Tickets £14 (non-members) £11 members see booking link below

Somewhere Over the Chemtrails
2022-11-10 18:30 - 20:00 | The Gate Picturehouse, 87 Notting Hill Gate, London, W11 3JZ, United Kingdom
The friendship of two volunteer firefighters who more often quench their thirst than put out fires, is put to the test when, during Easter celebrations, a van crashes into the village fountain and the driver is nowhere to be found.
Convinced of a terrorist attack, lonely widower Brona grabs the opportunity to prove his worth and protect his community. Turning the fire brigade into a militia he is hell bent on capturing the terrorist refusing the voice of reason provided by his friend Standa and his pregnant wife.
Full of irony but also empathy and understanding the director gently mocks the fear of the unknown and conspiracy theories, such as the clandestine dispersal of chemical substances which can only be eliminated by vinegar, while providing an affectionate and humorous look at human weaknesses. A brilliantly acted, compelling comedy that pays homage to Forman’s The Firemen’s Ball.
For tickets see booking link below.
Part of the 26th Made in Prague Festival, 1 Nov – 4 Dec 2022

Smetana Vltava & Dvořák Symphony no 7
2022-11-09 19:30 - 21:30 | Hull City Hall, Queen Victoria Square, Hull, HU1 3RQ, United Kingdom
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performs ‘Vltava’ from Smetana’s Má Vlast – an evocative orchestral picture of the river that flows through Prague, filled with ebbing and flowing woodwind and strings.
Dvořák’s Symphony No.7. infused with Dvořák’s Czech heritage, this Romantic symphony combines soaring string themes, roaring brass, atmospheric percussion and dancing woodwind. It was first performed on 22 April 1885 at St James’s Hall in London.

Smetana Má Vlast: ‘Vltava’ (The Moldau)
Bruch Violin Concerto No.1
Dvořák Symphony No.7

Chloé van Soeterstède Conductor
Jennifer Pike Violin
see booking link below

Smetana Vltava & Dvořák Symphony no 7
2022-11-08 19:30 - 21:30 | The Hexagon, Queen Walk, Reading, RG1 7UA, United Kingdom
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performs ‘Vltava’ from Smetana’s Má Vlast – an evocative orchestral picture of the river that flows through Prague, filled with ebbing and flowing woodwind and strings.
Dvořák’s Symphony No.7. infused with Dvořák’s Czech heritage, this Romantic symphony combines soaring string themes, roaring brass, atmospheric percussion and dancing woodwind. It was first performed on 22 April 1885 at St James’s Hall in London.

Smetana Má Vlast: ‘Vltava’ (The Moldau)
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Dvořák Symphony No.7

Chloé van Soeterstède Conductor
Jennifer Pike Violin

Book your tickets before FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER and get 10% off ALL TICKETS see booking link below
Pre-concert talk – 6.30pm
Presented by Chris de Souza
The Hexagon Auditorium – FREE

The Makropulos Affair
2022-11-08 19:15 - 2022-12-27 21:30
The Welsh National Opera is on a UK tour with its new production of Janáček’s opera conducted by their Czech music director, Tomáš Hanus.
The enigmatic diva Emilia Marty looks younger than her years. The secret of her youth, a magical elixir of life taken centuries ago. For over 300 years she has lived many lives – moving across Europe, changing her name and breaking hearts along the way – as she chases a desire to be the greatest singer of all times. But as the elixir starts to wear off will she become desperate to find the recipe for her eternal youth?
Birmingham Hippodrome, 8 November, 7.15pm
Welsh National Opera – The Makropulos Affair – Birmingham Hippodrome
PRE-PERFORMANCE TALK | 6.15PM
Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, 25 November, 7.15pm
WNO Makropulos Affair | Mayflower Theatre | Southampton
PRE-PERFORMANCE TALK | 6PM
New Theatre Oxford, Oxford, 2 December,7.15pm
Welsh National Opera – Makropulos Tickets | New Theatre Oxford in Oxford | ATG Tickets
PRE-PERFORMANCE TALK | 6PM

Occupation
2022-11-06 17:00 - 19:00 | The Gate Picturehouse, 87 Notting Hill Gate, London, W11 3JZ, United Kingdom
Voted the Best Czech Film 2021 by the critics, this black comedy thriller fuelled by vodka, cigarettes, and cowardice hilariously investigates Czech-Soviet relations.
After a premiere, the theatre group is celebrating in a bar when an uninvited guest crashes the party. A drunken Russian officer has come to sell a can of petrol, but soon the business transaction turns into a vodka drinking race. The Russian, interested in beautiful Milada and entertained by the comedic cowardice of the men, simply won’t leave…
Spinning out of control, the game becomes a trap, heroes become cowards and cowards become heroes. Influenced by Milos Forman’s The Firemen’s Ball with a touch of Tarantino and The Good Soldier Schwejk, this allegorical, pitch-black comedy delivers a highly original contribution to the topic of the invasion and is extremely relevant in today´s climate.
Followed by Q&A with director Michal Nohejl.
For tickets see booking link below.
Part of the 26th Made in Prague Festival, 1 Nov – 4 Dec 2022

The Cunning Little Vixen
2022-11-04 19:30 - 2022-11-13 19:30 | Jacksons Lane Theatre, 269A Archway Rd, London, N6 5AA, United Kingdom
HGO, North London’s leading opera company, presents a fully staged production, with orchestra and fabulous young opera singers and children, of Janáček’s timeless and enchanting opera.
Captured when young by the forester, and brought up by him as a pet, sharp-ears escapes back to the wild – but her life continues to interplay with that of the forester and his friends the pastor, the schoolmaster and the poacher – and a handsome young fox.
Sung in the original Czech with English surtitles. Conducted by Lada Valešová.
November 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12 at 7.30pm: November 6 & 13 at 4.00 pm (see booking link below)
Tickets are £38 / £25 tickets are available for children aged 5-15 for £10 across all performances. (Children must be accompanied by a full-ticket paying adult – Maximum 2 children per accompanying adult)
Student tickets are available for £15 for performances on the 6th, 9th, 10th and 11th November.
Illustration from an original in pastels by BCSA member Mary Booth.
Part of the 26th Made in Prague Festival, 1 Nov – 4 Dec 2022

Bethlehem Light
2022-11-04 18:30 - 20:30 | The Gate Picturehouse, 87 Notting Hill Gate, London, W11 3JZ, United Kingdom
Karel Šejnoha (Zdeněk Svěrák’s alter ego), a well-known, aging writer, faces a writer‘s block. He has a head full of unfinished stories whose fictional characters start to appear in real life lobbying for their stories to be finally completed. Each and every one of them demands something.
The photographer Matěj wants the beautiful but unapproachable pharmacist Vendula, the car mechanic Bakalář, would like to be a healer, Bohumil asks for a miracle for his son. And there is also Šejnoha’s wife who feels neglected and wants her husband to devote himself to her instead of to writing.
The intertwined stories pass freely from reality to fiction and back exploring love, marriage, faith and miracles.
This is a bitter-sweet comedy with a stellar cast from the Oscar winner Jan Svěrák (Kolya) full of humour, irony, clever dialogues.
For tickets see booking link below.
Part of the 26th Made in Prague Festival, 1 Nov – 4 Dec 2022
