Jakobín

We are from Bohemia and you ask if we can sing? An unknown couple from abroad arrives in a small Czech village and most of the locals watch them with distrust. Only the old teacher Benda, a music lover, opens his door to them, only to discover that the foreigners are closer to them than one might think. Music in the main role, this is how Dvořák's opera Jacobin could be summarized, because it is precisely music that can change the fate of all the characters in the opera. At the same time, Dvořák created a charming picture of a Czech town from the Enlightenment period populated by the peculiar figures of the music-loving teacher Benda, his stubborn daughter Terinka in love with the teacher's young man Jiřík, or the pompous burgrave Filip. Perhaps it was a fond memory of the circumstances of his own youth that brought so many charming, rich melodies, both playful and melancholic, to Dvořák's music, whether it be the famous scene of the school cantata, the duet "We Wandered Abroad" or Juliet's Lullaby. What better opera to start the season of the Year of Czech Music than Jacobin, Dvořák's tribute to Czech music and the people who love it above all else?