Concert of Czech Sacred Music
Saturday, 30. 9. 2023 at 18:00
Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross
Liberec (Czechia)
Dear listeners,
allow us to invite you, with a brief introductory word, to listen to what we dare say is an unconventional concert in the beautiful premises of the Baroque Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross in Liberec. During the evening, we will offer you a combination of the sound of the human voice, the registers of the church organ, and the colourful tones of the cimbalom. The entire programme is composed exclusively of works by Czech composers, both well-known and perhaps lesser-known composers of the 20th century, supplemented by remarkable compositions by contemporary authors. In a way, it could be said that the concert foreshadows the second half of the 2023/2024 music season, or the approaching jubilee "Year of Czech Music".
Please allow us to take this opportunity to thank the Roman Catholic parish of the Archdeanery of Liberec for lending us the beautiful church premises. A huge thank you for all the help goes to our city, without which tonight’s evening could hardly have taken place. The concert is supported by the Culture and Tourism Fund of the Statutory City of Liberec. We thank you!
Dear audience, we also thank you for your favour! And now we wish you a pleasant and enriching artistic experience.
Künstler
- A graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under the expert guidance of Martin Bárta and the Prague Conservatory from the class of Jiří Kubík. He made his professional opera debut in 2015 in the role of Hermann (The Tales of Hoffmann) at the prestigious music festival in Bregenz, Austria. In the same season, he was also invited to collaborate with the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, where he has since performed many roles as a guest artist, including the Hermit (C. M. von Weber, Der Freischütz), the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father (A. Thomas, Hamlet), Kajetán (Z. Fibich, The Bride of Messina), Charon and Pluto (C. Monteverdi, Orfeo), Seneca (The Coronation of Poppaea), and Kecal (B. Smetana, The Bartered Bride). Since 2016, he has also been a regular guest at the Silesian Theatre in Opava, for example in the roles of the Vagabond (C. Orff, Die Kluge) and Pistola (G. Verdi, Falstaff). In 2018, he appeared at the North Bohemian Theatre in the role of Sarastro (W. A. Mozart, The Magic Flute), and a year later at the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice in the role of Beneš (B. Smetana, Dalibor). Since 2020, he has been a permanent soloist of the opera of the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, where he is currently appearing in productions of The Cunning Little Vixen (L. Janáček, the Parson and the Badger), Don Giovanni (W. A. Mozart, Masetto), and The Pearl Fishers (G. Bizet, Nourabad). In addition to the theatre, he is also active in concert work and collaborates with renowned musical ensembles such as Collegium 1704, the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, Musica Florea, the North Czech Philharmonic Teplice, and the Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic.
- She is the founder of the Opus Organum society, which strives to promote and restore organs, primarily from the Znojmo organ school. This activity is followed by the creation of the Silberbauer’s Musical Thaya Region festival, of which she is the director and programmer. The festival aims to musically connect the Czech and Austrian border regions. Thanks to this activity, the greatest contribution to the field will be the future restoration of valuable instruments by Josef Silberbauer. Kateřina Málková is a promoter of mainly Baroque works, but also of contemporary composers. She always tries to find new places with lesser-known instruments and is committed to their promotion to the general public. She organises a number of concerts in both South Moravia and Lower Austria. In addition to her solo concert work, she is also involved in teaching. She has performed at festivals in Austria, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and other countries. She collaborates with orchestras such as the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the North Czech Philharmonic, the Atlantis Orchestra, the Collegium Magistrorum, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, the Sedunum String Orchestra and others. She studied organ at the Brno Conservatory in the class of Petr Kolař, then continued her master’s studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Jaroslav Tůma. During her studies, she completed a one-year internship in Lübeck, Germany, with Arvid Gast.
- A native of Hodonín. In his youth, he was intensively involved in folk music and collaborated with various cimbalom bands and folk ensembles. In 2013, he graduated from the Janáček Conservatory and Grammar School in Ostrava in the class of Daniel Skála. In 2019, he completed his master’s degree at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno in music management. He is currently studying jazz interpretation, also at JAMU. In 2009 and 2011, he won top prizes and special jury prizes for the performance of a contemporary composition at the International Cimbalom Competition in Valašské Meziříčí. He has performed in concert with, for example, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, the Symfonica de Castellón (ESP), the Moravian Chamber Orchestra, the Radost Ensemble, the Police Symphony Orchestra, the State Opera Orchestra, Opera Diversa, the Brno Contemporary Orchestra, the Oran Etkin Jazz Band, and others. He is a member of the concert trio ConTRIOlogy and is also involved in his own original projects and various concert and recording collaborations. His musical activities are primarily focused on the fields of contemporary music, free improvisation, and jazz.
- He studied at the Prague Conservatory (viola and composition) and the Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU) (composition), where he studied in the class of Marek Kopelent. He is a founding member of the Chamber Ensemble and the Konvergence society of composers. Since 2010, he has been a teacher at the Jan Deyl Conservatory in Prague.
- He is one of the leading figures of the current generation of young composers. From 1998, he studied guitar with Prof. Vilma Manová and composition with Prof. Jiří Churáček at the Conservatory in České Budějovice. In 2003, he studied for one year at the Prague Conservatory with Professor Věroslav Neumann. In 2009, he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts, where he studied composition with Professor Ivan Kurz.
- He studied composition at the Brno Conservatory with Pavel Zemek-Novák and at the Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU) in Prague in the class of Marek Kopelent and in the doctoral programme with Milan Slavický. He is a co-founder, member, and chairman of the Konvergence composers’ society. He currently works as a freelance composer and as a therapist in the spa town of Bad Reichenhall.
Entritt
Voluntary admission
Programme
(1929–2007)
’"At night, after hours"’
(1929–2007)
I. O, Light, Holy Trinity
VI. The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
X. I am joyful in this
(1915–2004)
’V. The Wooden Christ
VI. I proclaim grace to him who weeps for it’
(*1975)
premiere
(*1984)
premiere
(*1928)
(*1978)
premiere
(1854–1928)
Good night
(1908–1979)
(1929–2007)
’"In the evening, when the bell tolls for peace"’
Ort
<p>The Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross is the only Baroque building of its kind in Liberec and rightly belongs among the valuable monuments of the Via Sacra pilgrimage route, which connects unique sacred works throughout the Tri-border Region. The church in its present form was completed in 1756. At that time, it was a necessary extension of the original cemetery church, which was built on this site in 1698. Especially because of the cedar statue of the Mother of God sitting under the cross, which adorned one of the churches in London before the creation of the Anglican Church, the Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross became an important place of pilgrimage and its capacity soon became insufficient. We can still admire the statue on the main altar today. From the same period, the beginning of the 18th century, also dates the Marian column standing in the church garden (originally, however, erected on Sokolovské Square next to the Church of St. Anthony the Great), which commemorates the plague epidemic of 1680, which at that time affected a significant part of the Liberec population. In the church’s Baroque garden, we can also find the Stations of the Cross set in 14 sandstone chapels, or the recently restored Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre.</p> <p>Among other points of interest, it is certainly worth mentioning that above the sacristy of the church there is a space that once served as the oldest public library in Liberec. It is named "Kopsch’s Library" after the former dean of Liberec, who was responsible for the reconstruction of the church to its present form and the subsequent furnishing and opening of the library to the public.</p>
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