Bruckner Requiem

Künstler

• Lenka Cafourková – soprano
  She studied singing at the Brno Conservatory with Mgr. Petr Julíček and subsequently at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) with Natálie Romanová-Achaladze. She has participated in masterclasses with Peter Dvorský, Gabriela Beňačková, and Regina Renzowa Jürgens. She is a laureate of the Bohuslav Martinů Song Competition in Prague. During her studies, she performed in operas by Martinů, Puccini, and Smetana, and also made guest appearances at the National Theatre in Brno. She made her debut at the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc as Mařenka in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride (2013) and later as Vendulka in The Kiss (2015). For her portrayal of La Folie in Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera Platée at the Znojmo Music Festival (2014), she was nominated for a Thalia Award. Two years later, at the same festival, she shone alongside Adam Plachetka and Kateřina Kněžíková as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. She is also significantly involved in concert activities, having collaborated with the Brno Philharmonic, Teplice Philharmonic, Olomouc Philharmonic, Hradec Králové Philharmonic, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK), among others. She is a sought-after interpreter of early music, collaborating with ensembles such as Ensemble Inégal and the Czech Ensemble Baroque, as well as with Collegium 1704, with whom she performs both in the Czech Republic and abroad and has recorded several CDs. Her artistic achievements also include a concert tour in China and a solo debut at the Prague Spring Festival (2017). Since 2019, she has been teaching solo singing at the Brno Conservatory.
• Iva Kružíková – mezzo-soprano
  Born in Brno. She received her initial musical education by studying the piano. She began to focus on solo singing at the P. Křížkovský Grammar School of Arts under the guidance of Irena Vašíčková – Pollini. She continued her studies at the Brno Conservatory. She completed her university studies at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome. As part of a one-year study internship at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, she studied under the guidance of Magdaléna Hajóssyová. She was a member of the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno and has collaborated with the Czech Ensemble Baroque, the Moravian Chamber Orchestra, the Tišnov Chamber Orchestra, and the Brno Radio Orchestra of Folk Instruments. She teaches at the Brno Conservatory, where she instructs singing in the music and drama department and also teaches Italian in the singing department.
• Filip Šťovíček – tenor
  Filip Šťovíček began his musical journey at the Primary Art School in Hořice, where, under the guidance of his singing teacher Zdenka Vaškovová, he won numerous awards in various singing competitions. He is currently studying singing with doc. Martin Bárta at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU). In the HAMU Opera Studio, he performed the roles of Curzio and Basilio in the 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. In the same year, he portrayed the role of Giovanni in the opera Una Cosa rara by Vincente Martín y Soler as part of the Chamber Music Festival in Český Krumlov. In 2024, he played the character of Jíra the Shepherd in the opera The Devil and Kate within the Opera Studio Prague. Since 2024, he has held the position of organist and choirmaster at the Royal Collegiate Chapter in Vyšehrad, Prague.
• Josef Kovačič – bass
  A graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under the expert guidance of Martin Bárta, and of the Prague Conservatory from the class of Jiří Kubík. In 2015, he made his professional operatic 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 establish collaborations with Czech opera houses. He is a regular guest at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, where he has portrayed roles such as Kajetán (Z. Fibich, The Bride of Messina), Seneca (C. Monteverdi, The Coronation of Poppea), Kecal (B. Smetana, The Bartered Bride), and the Apostle Peter (S. Bodorová, Quo Vadis). At the Silesian Theatre in Opava, he has appeared in roles such as the Eremit (C. M. von Weber, Der Freischütz) and Pistola (G. Verdi, Falstaff). At the North Bohemian Theatre, he performed as Sarastro (W. A. Mozart, The Magic Flute), and at the South Bohemian Theatre, he has taken on roles including the Gaoler Beneš (B. Smetana, Dalibor) and Prince Gremin (P. I. Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin). For two seasons, he was also a permanent member of the opera ensemble at the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, where he portrayed roles such as the Parson and the Badger (L. Janáček, The Cunning Little Vixen), Masetto (W. A. Mozart, Don Giovanni), and Lodovico (G. Verdi, Otello). Since 2020, he has also been a guest at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava as Matouš (B. Smetana, The Kiss) and the underworld god Pluto (C. Monteverdi, Il ballo delle ingrate). In 2022, he performed at the international opera festival in Wexford, Ireland, portraying the character of the knight Ubaldo in a successful production of Dvořák’s Armida. In addition to theatre, he is also involved in concert activities and collaborates with renowned musical bodies 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.
• Ars Brunensis Mixed Choir
  Ars Brunensis is a mixed choir based in Brno, founded in 1979. Since 2002, it has been artistically led by choirmaster Dan Kalousek. The ensemble is known for its versatility, dedicating itself to the interpretation of music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods to contemporary Czech works, as well as jazz, musicals, and other genres. The choir has a long-standing collaboration with prominent Czech composers, such as Vladimír Franz, whose scenic oratorio Judith and opera-oratorio The Valley of Dry Bones it premiered. In 2018, it presented the Czech premiere of Stabat Mater by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins. Ars Brunensis regularly performs both at home and abroad, participates in music festivals, and has numerous recordings for both Czech and foreign labels to its credit. Its members are united not only by a high level of interpretive skill but also by a shared enthusiasm for musical discovery.
• Thayatal Chamber Orchestra
  This is a professional ensemble whose members primarily collaborate with orchestras in Brno. It was established in 2020 as part of the Silberbauer Music Festival Thayatal. The orchestra also performs in other projects organised by the festival’s director, Kateřina Málková. The chief conductor of the orchestra is the Swiss conductor Sébastien Thomas Bagnoud.
• Sébastien Thomas Bagnoud – conductor
  Sébastien Bagnoud has been conducting orchestras in Switzerland and the Czech Republic for over a decade. He is one of the founders of a professional ensemble in Sion (CH) in 2012, the Sedunum String Orchestra (SSO), and the Opera Studio Prague (CZ) association in 2016, which has recently staged two critically acclaimed productions, including the comic opera “Časoplet” by the young Czech composer Lukáš Sommer, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Czech Republic. In 2014, he organised and conducted the resident orchestra at the international festival Les Sommets du Classique in Crans-Montana (CH). Sébastien Bagnoud made his debut in Lausanne in 2014 in an opera production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. In 2015, he accepted a last-minute offer to stand in for the musical director of the Opéra du Rhône in Valais (CH) in a production of Rossini’s William Tell in Martigny. Soon after, he was appointed conductor and, in 2017, he conducted Orpheus in the Underworld; in March 2020, he will collaborate on The Barber of Seville. From 2015 to 2017, he was also appointed musical assistant at the opera of the J. K. Tyl Theatre (CZ) in Pilsen. He regularly conducted Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin and Weber’s opera Der Freischütz. In August 2018, he was also assistant to Maestro John Fiore in a production of Carmen at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva. In the 2019-2020 season, he will make his debut with the Teplice Philharmonic (CZ), and in the 2020-2021 season, with the National Theatre Ostrava (CZ). Sébastien Bagnoud has had the opportunity to collaborate with the following orchestras: the Brno Philharmonic, the Prague Philharmonia (PKF), the Academic Chamber Soloists (AKS) Prague, the Orchestra of the Opéra du Rhône, the Collegium Magistrorum Mikulov, the Orchestra of the Opera of the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, the Olomouc Philharmonic, the VOC Valais Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne. He has participated in many festivals, such as the Beirut Chants Festival in Lebanon, the Sion Festival (CH), the Crans-Montana Classics Festival (CH), the Bohuslav Martinů Days (CZ), the Ludwig van Beethoven Music Festival in Teplice (CZ), and others. Sébastien Bagnoud obtained a professional certificate in wind ensemble conducting from the Fribourg Conservatory, a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne (HEMU), a DAS (Diploma of Advanced Studies) in orchestral conducting from the Haute École de Musique in Bern (HKB), and in 2018, he completed a second master’s degree in orchestral and opera conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU). He recently received the Yuri Simonov Prize in the finals of the Audite International Conducting Competition in Radom, Poland.

Entritt

Adults 15 EUR

Children, seniors 9 EUR

Programme