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KALABIS & LIGETI 100 – Complete Songs
SIBERA & HOLUB & JANÁL & ŠEMBERA & DUŠEK & STEHLÍK
This year marks the centenary of the birth of two composers – the Czech composer Viktor Kalabis and one of the most important composers of the 20th century, György Ligeti.
It is said that a listener can only get to know the work and thinking of a composer thoroughly if he knows his entire oeuvre. And since the chamber song works of these composers are rarely performed in concert, we will give listeners the opportunity to hear them in their entirety in one evening.
Moreover, it will be performed by the best Czech singers and pianists. Their songs will be performed by soprano Jana Sibera, last year’s winner of the Thalia Award, young tenor Ondřej Holub, baritones Roman Janál and Vojtěch Šembera and pianists Bohumír Stehlík and Jan Dušek.
25 / 6 / 2023 at 19:30
Novoměstská radnice, Praha
Great Hall
Programme:
Performers:
Jana Sibera – soprano
Jana Sibera, soloist of The National Theatre Opera, is one of the most sought-after interpreters of the lyric coloratura roles in the Czech Republic. She graduated from the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
She regularly appears in the roles of Violetta, Queen of the Night, Susanna, Gilda, Lucia di Lammermoor, Julliette, Ophelie, The Cunning Little Vixen, Terinka, Blaženka, Mařenka and many others.
She is a permanent guest of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava. In 2017, she was nominated for the Thalia Award for the role of Ophelie, the role she successfully sang in Gothenburg opera house. She collaborates with all major orchestras in the Czech Republic and has toured with the National Theatre in Japan several times. Jana Sibera was invited to sing as the only guest with J. Kaufmann on his profile CD for Decca.
Ondřej Holub – tenor
In his early youth Ondřej Holub went through Kühn’s children’s choir and the Pueri gaudentes boys’ choir, thanks to which he became a child soloist of the Prague State Opera in a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. He studied classical singing privately with Prof. Lenka Pištěcká, while studying at the Prague Conservatory with Prof. Valentin Prolat and later developed his singing skills with Prof. Jiří Kotouč.
Since 2019 he has been collaborating with the internationally renowned Collegium 1704, where he performs as a soloist as a soloist and ensemble singer, he also regularly collaborates with Ensemble Damian, a historically informed interpretation of Baroque opera. As a soloist he regularly collaborates with a number of ensembles and orchestras (Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, Hradec Králové Philharmonic, South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, etc. He is also an ensemble singer with most of the leading domestic early music ensembles – Schola Gregoriana Pragensis, Collegium Marianum, Cappella Mariana, Ensemble Inégal, Czech Ensemble Baroque, Victoria Ensemble, Musica Florea, with whom he regularly participates in prestigious domestic and international festivals.
From 2013-2019 he was a member of the vocal ensemble Martinů Voices, which ranks among the elite performers of 20th and 21st century music. In 2007, he founded the male vocal quintet Rudolfvoice with former members of the Pueri Gaudentes choir, with whom he performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He also occasionally collaborates with the Prague Philharmonic Choir, with whom he performed Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at New York’s Carnegie Hall on the centenary of the founding of Czechoslovakia.
Roman Janál – baritone
After graduation from the Pilsen Conservatory in violin playing, Janál studied singing at the Music Academy in Sophia, Bulgaria. During the course of his studies he was guest singer at the State Opera House of Sophia (Don Giovanni, Eugen Onegin, Prince Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia) and appeared at local chamber music festivals. He first worked in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) after graduating in 1990, he then left for the Prague Chamber Opera (later Mozart Opera). In 1994 he became guest singer of the Pilsen Opera House (Lady of Spades – Tomskij, Faust and Marguerite, – Valentin, Don Giovanni – Don Giovanni, Fidelio – Don Pizarro). After a successful debut in the State Opera of Prague as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte and Figaro in Barber of Seville, he was a soloist for the State Opera of Prague in 1995. In November 1995 he became over-all winner of the Antonín Dvořák International Singers‘ Competition in Karlovy Vary. Since 1997 he has been the soloist of the National Theatre of Prague where he has performed a number of national and international repertoire parts, such as Grégorio in Romeo and Juliet, Figaro in Barber of Seville, Escamillio in Carmen, Pollux in the Baroque lyric tragedy Castor et Pollux, the title part in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The list of his opera repertoire also includes the parts of Onegin in Yevgeny Onegin, Marcel in La Boheme, Silvio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Conte Almaviva in Figaro’s Wedding, Germont in La Traviata, roles in operas by Martinů, Smetana, Janáček and Dvořák, etc. He has often participated in a number of foreign tours with the Prague National Theatre, such as in Japan, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Netherlands, Korea. Roman Janál has successfully appeared in local and international music festivals such as the Prague Spring, the Smetana Litomyšl, the International Music Festival of Český Krumlov, The Pontes Festival, The Days of Bohuslav Martinů in London, the Europalia Brussels and The B. Martinů Festival in Amsterdam. He regularly collaborates with acclaimed conductors (Jiří Bělohlávek, Christopher Hogwood, Jiří Kout, Serge Baudo, John Fiore, Tomáš Hanus) and with local and international orchestras, including the Prague Philharmonia, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. In February 2007 he participated in the recording of Janacek´s opera The Excursions of Mr. Broucek (the roles of Sacristan, Lunobor and Domsik) with Jiri Bělohlávek and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, for the BBC and Deutsche Grammophon (released in January 2008). Since 1984, he has recorded extensively for Czech Radio, performing a range of repertoire from opera arias to contemporary Czech song-cycles. These recordings were released on CD and have resulted in the issue of a profile operatic album, including arias from operas by W. A. Mozart, L. van Beethoven, G. Verdi, B. Smetana and others. Roman Janál won the prestigious Thalia Prize in 1999 for the part of Pollux in Rameau’s „Castor and Pollux“ at the National Theatre of Prague.
Vojtěch Šembera – baritone
Baritone and composer Vojtěch Šembera studied singing at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno with Jaromír Novotný and Irena Troupová, composition with Ivo Medek and Martin Smolka. He also studied briefly at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, the Netherlands, where he attended composition classes with Cornelis de Bondt, Calliope Tsoupaki and Jan van de Putte, and further improved his singing skills under Noa Frenkel. He has participated in selected interpretation courses abroad (eg VENI Academy, vocal masterclass EMA) and singing masterclasses with Antonio Carangel and Kateřina Kněžíková. In his singing practice, he focuses mainly on the interpretation of contemporary music and the song repertoire. His composing activities are mostly aimed at vocal work and graphic scores.
In 2013 and 2014, he was awarded an honourable mention at the GENERATION International Composition Competition, and in 2015 he was awarded 2nd place at the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition in the Opera Hope category. In 2017, he received 2nd place at the Dušek Singing Competition, The President of the EMA prize and 3rd place at the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition in the Junior and Song categories.
During his studies at JAMU, he performed in several productions of the JAMU Chamber Opera (M. Hába: The Little Prince – The King, The Snake; W. A. Mozart: The Magic Flute – Papageno;C. Orff: Die Kluge – The Mule Man). He made his professional opera debut at the Silesian Theatre in Opava (A. Dvořák: Rusalka – Hunter) and also performed at the Jan Kajetán Tyl Theatre in Pilsen (A. Thomas: Hamlet – Horatio). In his concert activities he has performed with the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra (C. Orff: Carmina Burana; J. S. Bach: John’s Passions; A. Dvořák: Biblical Songs), with the National Theatre Orchestra (D. Matej: KyAriAe), North Bohemian Philharmonic Teplice (W. A. Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro – Count Almaviva) and others. In collaboration with Ensemble 18+, he portrayed one of the main roles in the renewed premiere of Joseph Barta’s singspiel Dobrá rada dobrá. He performed his own composition for baritone and orchestra Filoktétés with the Brno Philharmonic and the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Mariánské Lázně. Together with Leoš Svárovský and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, he made a recording of Antonín Dvořák’s Biblical Songs. In the field of contemporary music, he has performed with the ensembles VENI ensemble, Mirror ensemble, at the festival Days of New Opera Ostrava (A. Hába: Thy Kingdom Come –Christ, Lay Preacher; Songbooks – Solo Voice), or with Orchestr BERG (L. Lim: Tongue of the Invisible). During his one-year study stay in the Netherlands, he collaborated with the Orkest de Ereprijs on the Young Composers Meeting project and performed at the Dag in de Branding festival (M. Artaç: Zizos). He regularly collaborates with the Meeting of New Music Plus festival. With his own project Voice Drowned in the Ocean of Silence, which has so far been attended by composers from more than 10 countries, he contributes to expanding the repertoire for solo voice.
Jan Dušek – piano
Jan Dušek studied at the Conservatory in Teplice (piano, composition). In 2004-2012, he studied composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Hanus Barton), where he finished his doctoral studies in the same field in 2012. Since then, Jan Dušek has taught at the composition department of the Academy. As a pianist he participated in several master courses (Cyprien Katsaris, Irina Ossipova, Angela Hewitt, Lilit Grygorian, Maria João Pires), in 2013/14 he studied piano privately with Robert Lehrbaumer in Vienna, in 2015 with Xiao-Mei Zhu in Paris, and since 2016 with Gordon Fergus-Thompson in London. He has won awards and honourable mentions in competitions (Concertino Praga, the International Piano Competition B. Smetana Competition of Conservatories, Zdenek Fibich International Competition in the interpretation of melodrama). He periodically records contemporary Czech music for Czech Radio, e.g. in 2019, he completed a recording of complete piano works by Rudolf Karel. In 2015 he released a CD of complete songs for soprano and piano by Viktor Ullman with soprano Irena Troupova. He regularly performs at international music festivals (Prague Spring, Věčná naděje, Junge Kunstler Beyreuth etc.).
In 2006 he was awarded the first prize at the Composers Competition “Generation“ for the piece “… in seven days I will send rain on the Earth …”, and in 2007 at the same competition he again won first prize for the composition “Gradation for organ.” In 2008 he received the ‘Audience’s Prize’ for the composition “Chalomot jehudi’im”, a year later receiving the Prize of Gideon Klein for the same composition. In 2010, his melodrama “Prague Walker” was awarded 2nd prize in the Competition for Young Artists, announced by the City District Prague 1. For his music to accompany the silent film “The Child of the Ghetto”, Jan received the ‘Audience’s Prize’ in the 2011 NuBerg competition. His compositions have been commissioned by festivals and competitions (such as the International Festival of Concert Melodrama, Viktor Ullmann festival Český Těšín, Prague Spring Competition etc.), and performed by leading Czech soloists (such as clarinettist Irvin Venyš and the percussionist Markéta Mazourová) as well as chamber ensembles and orchestras (e.g., Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Epoque quartet; BERG Orchestra; Prague Philharmonia; Prague Philharmonic Choir). In 2021, Jan co-established the Lieder Company association which aims to promote art song recitals and repertoire.
Bohumír Stehlík – piano
Bohumír Stehlík is one of the foremost Czech pianists of the younger generation. He has distinguished himself both as a soloist and chamber music player, having developed a sensitive instrumental skill and great musical expressive power.
Bohumír’s music education started at an early age at the Music Gymnasium in Prague under Irina Kondratěnko and later on at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under František Malý. From 2011 to 2016 he studied under well-know Swedish pianist Mats Widlund at Edsberg Music Institute, part of the Royal Academy in Stockholm and one of the most prestigious music academies of Northern Europe. He has been awarded various prizes in many international solo competitions (e.g. Ljunggrenska tävlingen – 1st prize, Stockholm International Music Competition – 2nd price, Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte – 1st prize, Concertino Praga – 1st prize etc.). Bohumir also obtained the Yamaha Scholarship Award and the prestigious KMA Swedish National Scholarship for both solo piano, chamber music and accompaniment (maximal sum reached in 2015). A member of Duo du Rêve, Bohumír and flautist Jana Jarkovská won prizes in various competitions of music ensembles (Chieri International Music Competition “Citta di Chieri” – 1st prize, Val Tidone International Chamber Music Competition – 1st prize, Salieri-Zinneti Chamber Music Competition – 3rd prize, winner of ProMusicis International Award in France, winner of ISA Challenge and Open Awards in Austria etc.). He also recorded several CDs with Jana Jarkovska. Outside Duo du Rêve, he collaborates with violinist Markéta Janoušková and is also a member of D’Accord chamber music ensemble.
In addition to his concert activities, he collaborates with Czech Radio. Bohumír also works in productions for the Povaleč Music Festival (CZ) and the „D’Accord, Das Klassikfestival“ in (D), where he also leads the masterclass. He worked as a teacher at the Ingesund Academy of Music at Karlstad University in Sweden and since October 2016 has also been teaching at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. Bohumír works as a regenschori in the Church of the Name of the Virgin Mary in Křtiny (CZ).
Venue:
