Advent Concert

Künstler

• Zuzana Černá (CZ) – soprano

  Soprano Zuzana Černá comes from Brno. From childhood, she played the violin, and began studying singing at the P. Křížkovský Gymnasium in Brno with an artistic focus (in the class of Irena Vašíčková). She studied Theory and Performance Practice of Early Music, Musicology, and Voice and Music Education (singing under the guidance of Vladimír Richter) at Masaryk University in Brno. She attended a number of singing courses focused on the interpretation of early music (Jiří Kotouč, Irena Troupová, Evelyn Tubb, Julie Hassler, Joel Frederiksen). She also studied singing privately with Natálie Romanová, Andrea Široká, and Nicki Kennedy in Great Britain. Currently, she continues her education under the guidance of the emeritus soloist of NDB Hana Málková. She collaborates primarily with ensembles specializing in early music (Czech Ensemble Baroque, Hofmusici, Capella Regia, and others). In addition to concert performances, she is involved in pedagogical activities and musicological research.

• Iva Kružíková (CZ) – mezzo-soprano

  Born in Brno. She received her first musical education by studying piano. She began to focus more on solo singing at the P. Křížkovský Gymnasium in Brno, under the guidance of Irena Vašíčková-Pollini. She continued her singing studies at the Brno Conservatory. In 2002, she was accepted to the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where she studied under the guidance of Prof. Rebecca Berg. During her studies, she also participated in a singing course with Margareet Honig. She has performed numerous concerts (in 2003, a tour with the Santa Cecilia Conservatory choir in Algeria; in 2004, the opening concert for the inauguration of the largest concert complex in Europe, "Parco della musica"). In 2006, she participated in the performance of Robert Schumann’s oratorio "Der Rose Pilgerfahrt" in the role of Martha and the Queen (Sala Baldini, Rome). In the same year, she was accepted for a one-year study internship at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where she studied under the guidance of Prof. Doc. Magdalena Hajóssyová. In 2007/2008, she worked as a piano teacher at ZUŠ C.S.M (Centro studi musicali) in Rome. In 2008, she completed a solo tour of Israel (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa) with organist Pavel Kohout. In the same year, she also became a member of the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno (until 2013). Currently, she is engaged in pedagogical and concert activities, occasionally collaborating with, for example, the Czech Ensemble Baroque music ensemble or organist Kateřina Málková. She also works as an Italian language lecturer.

• Pavel Valenta (CZ) – tenor

  He studied singing at the Church Conservatory in Opava under the guidance of Karel Smolka and Zdeněk Kapl. He continued his studies at JAMU in Brno with Zdeněk Šmukař, where, as part of the chamber opera, he performed the roles of Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Jeník in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. He attended master classes under the guidance of Petr Dvorský, Kateřina Beranová, and private lessons with Mgr. Eva Randová. As a soloist and member of vocal ensembles, he collaborates with Hof-Musici (J. A. Hasse: Tito Vespasiano, ovvero La Clemenza di Tito – main role – Titus, N. A. Porpora: Siface – main role Libanio), Collegium 1704, Musica Florea, Ensemble Inégal.

• Jiří Miroslav Procházka (CZ) – baritone

  He gained his first singing experience in the Kantiléna children’s choir at the Brno Philharmonic. In 2004, he enrolled at the Brno Conservatory, where he studied with Mgr. Petr Julíček, then classical singing at the Bratislava Academy of Performing Arts under the pedagogical guidance of prof. Hana Bandová-Štolfová, ArtD. In 2013, he completed his studies at HAMU in Prague with MgA. Martin Bárta. Since 2013, he has been a regular guest of the Janáček Opera Brno, and has also collaborated with the National Theatre in Prague, the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, Opera Diversa, and the Chamber Opera of JAMU. He is a laureate of many domestic and international singing competitions. Since 2011, he has completed several years of baroque interpretation courses in Holešov under the guidance of Polish countertenor Jakub Burzyński, and in 2013 also with Adam Plachetka. Since 2016, he has been teaching at these courses himself. In 2016, he performed with Adam Plachetka at the Znojmo Music Festival in the opera Don Giovanni in the role of Masetto. In the same year and two years later, he participated alongside Vojtěch Dyk as a soloist and member of the street choir in the performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. He has also performed at concerts and prestigious music festivals both at home and abroad (Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Germany, Italy, and France). Since 2010, he has been a permanent member and soloist of the Czech Ensemble Baroque, with whom he has recorded several CDs. He is primarily dedicated to the interpretation of early and contemporary music and is a grateful and sought-after interpreter of it. He also engages in compositional activities. He gained the basics of composition from Jarmila Mazourová and further deepens his compositional craft by self-studying the compositions of masters of past decades and centuries. In the past, he organized many original programs such as Black Earth, Prayer for Tomorrow, Our Daily Bread, Home is Far, Far Away, Dualities, (G)iant Skácel, and others. In 2013, he composed a mini-opera for the festive conclusion of Coffee Week in Brno, and in 2014, he presented a part of the mini-opera The Game of Genius at the Vocal Fest festival. He mainly focuses on writing chamber works. His musical-dramatic ballad The Lost was performed at a concert commemorating the ninetieth birthday of writer Milan Kundera as part of the International Festival of Slavic Music in Ostrava. This year, he became a founding member of the ArTakt z.s. association.

• Kateřina Málková (CZ) – organ

  In 2004, she completed her studies at the conservatory with a final concert at Besední dům. In the same year, she was accepted to the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the class of Doc. Jaroslav Tůma. She successfully completed her bachelor’s degree with him and in the following year, 2008, she went on a one-year foreign internship to Germany at the Musikhochschule in Lübeck, where she studied with Prof. Arvid Gast. Here she performed in several concerts, e.g., in St. Jakobikirche, in the Cathedral, etc. In 2010, she completed her master’s studies at HAMU as part of the concert series "The Best" with the North Bohemian Philharmonic Teplice with F. Poulenc’s organ concerto. Within the school, she performed, e.g., at the Kabeláč and Messiaen Minifestival, at contemporary music concerts of the composition department, etc. During her studies, she participated in a number of master classes with prominent organists, such as Marie Claire Alain, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Andreas Schröder, Jon Laukvik, Martin Sander, Martin Schmeding, Slawomir Kaminski, Matthias Maierhoffer, Pier Damiano Peretti, and Gustav Leonhardt. Currently, she dedicates herself to solo performance, having appeared at festivals such as the Eduard Nápravník International Music Festival, Podblanický podzim, Štětí Organ Autumn, Suk’s Musical Štiřín, etc. In Slovakia, she played on the occasion of the European Organ Festival in Kremnica. Kateřina Málková has given concerts in Germany, Latvia, and Lithuania. She collaborates with various Czech orchestras, including the CNSO Czech National Symphony Orchestra, North Bohemian Philharmonic, Atlantis Orchestra, Collegium Magistrorum Mikulov, and Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic. She is very actively involved in the musical education of children, teaching piano and organ. With the Russian violinist Alexey Aslamas, she developed musical lectures for primary and art schools, focusing on classical and modern contemporary music. She always strives to promote organ music, which is why she organized a series of concerts in the castle chapel in Lednice, Moravia, in the summers of 2016 and 2017, and is the author of the project of Christmas concerts with a choir and orchestra, which has been successfully running for the fourth year. She focuses on the interpretation of contemporary compositions, chamber music, and lectures for music schools. In 2019, she performed with an orchestra at concerts in Switzerland, and in 2020, she plans to organize an international music festival in South Moravia and Lower Austria.

• Sébastien Bagnoud (CH) – conductor

  He comes from Switzerland. In 2015, he obtained a master’s degree at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne under the guidance of Prof. A. Azan-Zielinski and P. Beran in conducting, and in the same year, a DAS diploma at the academy in Bern in D. Roggen’s class. In 2018, he completed his master’s studies in conducting at HAMU in Prague with Doc. Koutník, N. Baxa, and Doc. Svárovský. In the summer of 2017, he received the Yuri Simonov Award at an international conducting competition in Radom, Poland. As part of the award, he completed a week-long internship in Moscow in September with the Moscow Philharmonic, under the guidance of conductor Yuri Simonov. In 2012, he founded the Sedunum String Orchestra in Switzerland, with which he regularly organizes and conducts concerts with leading soloists. He is a co-author of the project and founder of the Opera Studio Prague association. He debuted in opera literature in 2014 in Lausanne, when, as assistant to A. Zielinski, he conducted Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. in December 2015, he conducted a concert as part of the Beirut Chants festival in Lebanon. In 2015, he was approached by Opéra du Rhône to prepare and conduct Rossini’s William Tell in the Martigny amphitheater. In December 2017, he prepared Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld with Opéra Agaune at the Martolet theatre in Saint-Maurice, Switzerland. Next year, they will present Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. From 2015 to 2017, he was assistant conductor to N. Baxa and conductor in productions of Weber’s Der Freischütz and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen. In the summer of 2018, he became assistant conductor to J. Fiore in the Grand Théâtre de Genève’s new production of the opera Carmen. In 2020, he will debut at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava and with the North Bohemian Philharmonic Teplice.

• Dan Kalousek (CZ) – choirmaster

  After graduating from grammar school, he studied composition and conducting at the conservatory in Brno. He then completed orchestral conducting at the Faculty of Music at JAMU Brno. From 2006 to 2008, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig and Weimar, and during masterclasses he met conductors such as Kurt Masur, Fabio Luisi, and Zsolt Nagy. As choirmaster of Ars Brunensis, he has conducted numerous concerts both in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has worked on projects with Jiří Pavlica, the group Jablkoň, and many others. He has also collaborated with ensembles such as Jenaer Madrigalkreis, Bohemiachor, the Summer School of Baroque Music Choir, the Brno Academic Choir, and a number of chamber orchestras and choirs. He also regularly works with composer Vladimír Franz, especially on recordings of his stage music for leading Czech theatre stages, radio, and television. He has made numerous recordings, mainly of works by contemporary composers, for publishers such as Naxos, Vienna Modern Masters, Supraphon, Capstone Records, Querstand, and others. Since 2003, as a guest conductor at the Brno City Theatre, he has rehearsed and conducted a number of productions. He is currently the music director of the Brno City Theatre. He also teaches at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno.

• Ars Brunensis (CZ) – mixed choir

  Ars Brunensis performs regularly both in the Czech Republic and abroad, is invited to music festivals, and collaborates with prominent ensembles and artists, theatres, and cultural institutions in the Czech Republic and internationally. In recent years, Ars Brunensis has also appeared in opera and musical theatre productions. The choir has participated in more than twenty CD recordings, and many of its performances have been broadcast on radio or television. The ensemble records stage music for leading theatre stages and works with a number of contemporary composers, especially over the long term with Vladimír Franz. The collaboration between Ars Brunensis and Vladimír Franz dates back to 1997, when the choir recorded his stage music for the production of Faust for the National Theatre Brno. To this day, the choir has recorded Franz’s music for a number of other productions for the National Theatres in Prague and Brno, the Brno City Theatre, and many other stages, as well as for Czech Radio and Television. For their jointly realised stage music for the productions Bloudění (1998), Markéta Lazarová (2002), Znamení kříže (2005), and Smrt Pavla I. (2007), Vladimír Franz received the Alfréd Radok Award. In April 2009, Ars Brunensis premiered Franz’s opera The Valley of Dry Bones as part of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of its founding, a work created at the initiative of conductor Dan Kalousek for this occasion. Ars Brunensis organises public cultural events with original programming and professional organisation, collaborates with various institutions active in the field of culture, promotes musical art, and supports emerging professional artists. From 2012 to 2014, Ars Brunensis was the coordinator of the international Grundtvig project entitled "More than Music".

• Collegium magistrorum (CZ) – chamber orchestra

  The chamber orchestra was founded in 2002 at the Primary Art School in Mikulov by teachers of the school and musicians from Mikulov, as a direct successor to a similar ensemble led in the 1960s and 1970s by the then director of the local music school, Dr. Josef Košulič. Its activities continued the rich tradition of musical life in Mikulov, dating back to the Baroque period, when, under the rule of Cardinal František Dietrichstein, musical ensembles operated at the Piarist grammar school and the distinguished collegiate chapter of St. Wenceslas. Over time, the orchestra was gradually supplemented by advanced students of the art school, and was eventually transformed into the Student Chamber Orchestra of the Primary Art School, which continues to work systematically at the school to this day. The Collegium magistrorum orchestra now operates as an occasional ensemble at various cultural and social events.

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