Restless Central European Viktor Ullmann

The eminent Czech soprano Irena Troupová gained international renown through the historically-based interpretation of early music, which she devoted herself to already during her musicology studies at Charles University in Prague. She studied singing under Terezie Blumová in Prague, later under M. Corelli in Berlin. She collaborated with the ensemble Musica Antiqua Praha led by Pavel Klikar, creating a string of recordings and exceptionally successful concerts both at home and abroad. At that time she also found an interest in contemporary music and has worked with the likes of Petr Eben, Svatopluk Havelka and others. After her studies she performed mainly in Germany, but the demand for her talent also grew rapidly in other countries (England, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Poland). She worked with many different ensembles (e.g. Orpheon Consort, Johann-Rosenmüller-Ensemble, Schütz-Akademie, Capella Sagittariana, Dresdener Barockorchester, Lautten-Compagney, Kievskaya Kamerata) and conductors (Howard Arman, Joshua Rifkin, Frieder Bernius, Thomas Hengelbrock, Florian Heyerick, Vojtěch Spurný and others). This cooperation brought about a number of recordings. Irena Troupová was a regular participant in the concert programmes of the State Opera in Berlin and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Among the most interesting opera productions that she took part in during her German period, a mention should be made of Monteverdi’s Orfeo headed by Joshua Rifkin in Basel, Freiburg and Mulhouse (the roles of Musica and Proserpine), of the modern premiere of H.I.F. Biber’s opera Arminius in Salzburg (later released on CD), but also of Le malade imaginaire of M.-A. Charpentier and J.-B. Lully in Berlin.

Irena Troupová is a frequent guest singer at international music festivals, including Tage der alten Musik Herne, Pražské jaro (Prague Spring), Festival de musique baroque Caen, Holland-festival oudemuziek Utrecht, Bach-Festival Sumy and Concenturs Moraviae, to name a few.

Irena’s early music projects over recent years include programmes in cooperation with the Comic Opera (Berlin), German radio NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) and Belgian conductor Florian Heyerik (Salto vocale – fragments from the operas of G. Ph. Telemann), with Musica Florea (operatic projects – Ch. W. Gluck: La Danza, G. F. Händel: Terpsicore), Ensemble Tourbillon, Barbara M. Willi, Jaroslav Tůma, Monika Knoblochová, Petra Matějová and others. More recently, she has been working closely with the international ensemble Orpheon; they have toured Spain, Austria and France together and have also recorded an album, Marin Marais and his friends. She has collaborated with members of the Staatskapelle Berlin, joining in a fascinating project connecting the musicality of the Baroque with that of the Modern: Musik im Dialog – Claudio Monteverdi und Luciano Berio, a concert cycle in the State Opera in Berlin which was followed by a programme from the works of J. S. Bach, Bach – reloaded.

Irena Troupová has gradually extended her scope to include Romantic and Modern lyrical and operatic works. She has performed songs from German and French Romanticism a number of times at the concerts of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic (the early songs of Gustav Mahler). She has also given voice to Jan Dušek’s orchestral songs Chalomet yehudi’im together with Orchestra BERG for the EBU and the songs of Miloš Štědroň for Czech Radio.

Lately, she has focused her attention on the music of the 20th and 21st century; she recorded Bohuslav Martinů’s opera Le jour de bonté (The Day of Charity) for Arco Diva. She has performed the works of Marek Kopelent (the Singspiel Musica, the cantata Agnus Dei at Prague Spring 2012) – she joined the Prague Philharmonia conducted by Jakub Hrůša to render the premiere of Kopelent’s Pozdní sběr (Late Harvest). She is also actively interested in the music of interwar authors – Viktor Ullmann, Erwin Schulhoff, Norbert von Hannenheim, Philip Herschkowitz – performing their works to international audiences and recording a number of their compositions for Czech Radio and Deutschlandfunk. Irena Troupová is also greatly valued as a tutor of early music, teaching at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts and Masaryk University in Brno, and in courses both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

She is a co-founder of the Lieder Company Prague.

www.troupova.com

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 Ullmann with soprano Irena Troupova. In 2021, they released complete songs by Hans Winterberg. 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.

www.jan-dusek.com