Songs For And With Children

Soprano Jana Sibera graduated from the Prague Conservatory (2000) and the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (2005). Since 1995, she has been a guest at the National Theatre and since 2000 at the State Opera Prague, where she accepted an engagement in 2002. Since 1st January 2012 she has been a soloist of the National Theatre Opera.

She has appeared in productions of the State Opera Prague and the National Theatre as Mozart’s Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Papagena and the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) and Despina (Così fan tutte); Lucia (Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor), Verdi’s Violetta (La traviata), Gilda (Rigoletto) and Oscar (Masquerade Ball), as well as Musetta (Puccini: La bohème), Adéla (Strauss: Die Fledermaus), Philine (Thomas: Mignon), Frasquita and Micaela (Bizet: Carmen), The Cook and the First Maid (Dvořák: Rusalka), Clarisse (Weber – Mahler: The Three Pints), Cunegonde (Bernstein: Candide), in the triple role of the Waiter – the Miracle Child – the Pupil in Janáček’s opera The Excursions of Mr.Brouček under the baton of Charles Mackerras, also as Karolina (Smetana: The Two Widows), Bystrouska (Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen), Terinka (Dvořák: Jakobín), Mařenka (Humperdinck: Jeníček a Mařenka), etc. Her repertoire also includes the roles of Norina (Donizetti: Don Pasquale), Blonda (Mozart: The Abduction from the Seraglio), Fiorilla (Rossini: The Turk in Italy) and Blaženka (Smetana: The Secret), which she staged for the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen.

She performed in more than 40 performances of Don Giovanni in the summer stagion of Opera Mozart at the Estates Theatre. At the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre she guest-starred as Verdi’s Violetta (La traviata), Eurydice (Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld) and Annina (Strauss: A Night in Venice). In 2022 she performed the role of Manon in Jules Massenet’s opera of the same name, for which she also won the Thalia Award.

In June 2008 she was a finalist in the Barbara Hendricks International Singing Competition in Strasbourg. In 2011 and 2012, she guest starred as Violetta in Gdansk, and in 2016 as Ophelia in Opera Gothenburg. She has also participated in several tours of the National Theatre Opera in Japan and Korea. Among her great successes is the collaboration with tenor Jonas Kaufmann on his profile CD for Decca. She has worked with conductors such as M. Armiliato, Sir Ch. Mackerras, J. Bělohlávek, J. Latham-Koenig, G. Tourniaire and E. Dovico.

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.

• Hrubešová, Madlen
• Hřivňáková, Michaela
• Jakubíčková, Anna
• Jirák, Martin
• Luňáková, Berenika
• Mráz, Filip
• Rozumek, Bohdan Luis
• Štěpánová, Tereza
• Wertzová, Emma

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.

www.jan-dusek.com

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).

www.bohumirstehlik.com