Homage to Santini in Žďár nad Sázavou
A music and literature series for the 300th anniversary of the death of Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel
Saturday, 2. 12. 2023 at 15:00
Church of St. John of Nepomuk
Žďár nad Sázavou (Czechia)
The Opus Organum Society, in cooperation with the Putování za Santinim (Pilgrimage for Santini) society, cordially invites you to a series of Advent concerts with commentary, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the death of the architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel. This extraordinary Baroque builder is associated with dozens of the most important monuments throughout the Czech Republic. In his memory, the majestic spaces of several churches, monasteries, and a castle complex will be opened to the public, filled with music and spoken word during afternoon and evening programmes. A programme of approximately one hour has been prepared for you. During the concert, you can look forward to organ and vocal works from the Czech Baroque period, performed by artists Kateřina Málková (organ) and Josef Kovačič (vocals). The events will be guided by the historian and publicist Jiří B. Sturz, who will acquaint the audience with the remarkable life of the Czech architect and reveal the unique characteristics and specifics of his work. You are cordially invited!
This project was realised with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture. We thank you!
Künstler
- 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.
- Historian and singer Jiří Bartoloměj Sturz studied musicology in Brno and Olomouc, and history at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague and the Technical University of Liberec, where he graduated with a thesis on the cultural history of the Czech Baroque. He has been a member of the opera company of the Šalda Theatre in Liberec since 2006, and since 2016 he has also worked as a lecturer in the opera’s dramaturgy department. He publishes both scholarly and popular works, mainly on the topics of music, early general history and early modern art. He is involved in literary, compositional and music-critical activities, and also teaches in these fields. He has a rich concert and lecture activity. As a singer, he is mainly devoted to the interpretation of music of earlier stylistic periods, especially the Baroque song. In opera, he enjoys portraying various genre characters and figures, often of a comical nature. He is a sought-after moderator and expert on the musical culture of the Czech Baroque.
- He is 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. In 2015, he made his professional opera debut in the role of Hermann (J. Offenbach, The Tales of Hoffmann) at the prestigious music festival in Bregenz, Austria. In the same year, he began to collaborate with Czech opera houses. He is a regular guest at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, the South Bohemian Theatre, and the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, where he was also a permanent member of the soloist ensemble for two seasons. Since 2020, he has also appeared in productions of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava. Roles he has performed to date include Sarastro (The Magic Flute), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Seneca (The Coronation of Poppaea), the Hermit (Der Freischütz), Kajetán (The Bride of Messina), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin), the Gaoler Beneš (Dalibor), Boniface (The Secret), Kecal (The Bartered Bride), and the Parson and the Badger (The Cunning Little Vixen). In 2022, he performed at the international opera festival in Wexford, Ireland, in a successful production of Dvořák’s Armida, where he portrayed the character of the knight Ubaldo. 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 Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic, and the NeoKlasik orchestra. In sacred music programmes, he regularly performs with the concert organist Kateřina Málková.
Entritt
Voluntary admission
Programme
Ort
The Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk on Zelená hora was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1994. The church was built in the Baroque Gothic style. The construction of the pilgrimage church took place between 1719 and 1722 at the expense of the abbot of the local Cistercian monastery, Václav Vejmluva. The main purpose of the building was to celebrate John of Nepomuk as a powerful patron and saint. At the time of its construction, it stood on a grassy hill, which Václav Vejmluva named Zelená hora (Green Hill) (formerly called Černý les or Strmá hora) after the hill near Nepomuk, from which John of Nepomuk and the first Žďár monks came. Until recently, the building was surrounded by a tall pine forest, which has since been removed so that the church can be seen from a great distance, as it was originally. It is the most original work of the Czech architect with Italian ancestors, Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel.
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