The opera season will culminate at the Janáček Theatre with the world première of Here I Am, Orlando based on the novel by Virginia Woolf. For this adaptation, the artistic director of the Janáček Opera and director Jiří Heřman reached out to the prominent Slovak composer Ľubica Čekovská. The future chief conductor of the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno (NdB), Robert Kružík, will take on the musical direction, while the choral part will be staged by Martin Buchta.
The Janáček Opera NdB is dedicating the entire 2023/2024 season to the Year of Czech Music, which includes continued support for and the initiation of new works designed specifically for the Brno ensemble. This means the highlight of the season will be the world première of Here I Am, Orlando by a Czech-Slovak author and production team led by the internationally acclaimed Slovak composer Ľubica Čekovská. A truly international team will join forces to create the production, with mezzo-soprano Markéta Cukrová playing the title role of Orlando/Orlanda together with Israeli countertenor Maayan Licht. Slovak actress Magdaléna Vášáryová will be a special guest in the role of Queen Elizabeth. Lubica Čekovská's composition makes the most of the strengths of the Janáček Opera’s artistic ensemble, including the extensive choral part. The première will take place at 7:00 p.m on 14 June 2024 at the Janáček Theatre.
Librettist Viktoria Knotková drew her inspiration from the novel Orlando by English writer Virginia Woolf, a work that was a very personal confession for the author. Orlando's themes - the search for one's own identity and place in society and the prejudices people have to face - are still relevant today.
“I was fascinated by the journey through time. Orlando's sleep between life and death, coming for the first time after the great painful end of that first love. I enjoy the way Virginia Woolf approached the subject of male and female identity; it's funny, fragile and painful. And that wonderful ending that infuses the sap of life into our veins, let us live life here and now. These are beautiful themes," adds director Jiří Heřman.
The artistic director of the Janáček Opera and director Jiří Heřman approached the prominent Slovak composer Ľubica Čekovská. She has previously won great acclaim with her operas Dorian Gray and Impresario Dotcom, which premièred at the Bregenzer Festspiele. "It was the strong story that appealed to me, and opera needs that. It occurred to me that this musical space would give me the opportunity to "touch" early music... Renaissance and early Baroque... but "in my own way". This is a big challenge for the composer. I love the large shape of the opera house, it's like a living, breathing multi-storey functional house. There are so many things that go to make up the production as a whole, and it's a success when none of them draws too much attention to itself. It's a collaborative effort. But the tectonic outline of the opera is first set by the libretto, which must have a very clear structure for the composer, and the composer must be at home in it "in his pyjamas, as it were", says composer Ľubica Čekovská.
After successful performances of contemporary operas by world-famous composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Thomas Ade, Marko Ivanović and Michal Nejtek, the NdB Janáček Opera orchestra is one of the leading interpreters of new operas. "As a performer, whether as a conductor or as a cellist, I’ve always enjoyed presenting works in their very first performance. It's something you don't come across that often and the interaction with the composer is always interesting and beneficial. As a performer, I don't have to argue with myself about what the composer might have thought several hundred years ago," added conductor Robert Kružík.
Ľubica Čekovská
Here I Am, Orlando
Libretto by Viktoria Knotková
Musical arrangement by Robert Kružík
Direction and lighting design by Jiří Heřman
Sets by Dragan Stojcevski
Costumes by Alexandra Grusková
Dramaturgy by Patricia Částková
Choirmaster Martin Buchta
Video art by Dominik Žižka
Choreography by Jan Kodet
Cast:
Orlanda Markéta Cukrová J. H.
Orlando Maayan Licht J. H.
Judge David Nykl
Court Recorder Daniela Straková-Šedrlová
Captain Richard Šveda J. H.
Archduke Harry Tadeáš Hoza
Greene, critic Ondřej Koplík
Poet I Vít Nosek
Poet II Josef Škarka J. H.
Shelmerdine Lukáš Bařák J. H.
Rosina Pepita Jana Hrochová
Sasha Monika Jägerová J. H.
Queen Elizabeth Magdaléna Vášáryová J. H.
Choir and Orchestra of the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno
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