Wranitzky Kapelle is led by Czech conductor Marek Štilec. It is composed of top musicians with an interest in an informed interpretation of Viennese classicism. Štilec also collaborates with the boys' choir Boni Pueri, and so the idea of performing Mozart's Requiem in a boys' and men's ensemble, i.e. "in the original version", was born.

Mozart – Requiem

Church of Saints Simon and Jude

And if we were to name the places at which Mozart in person premiered an opera of his and which still function as theatres, the one and only candidate in the world would be the Estates Theatre in Prague. The National Theatre Opera has proudly cherished this unique tradition for decades.

Don Giovanni

The Estates Theatre

Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata, to the libretto based on Alexandre Dumas’s novel La Dame aux camélias, about Marie Duplessis, the famous courtesan and idol of Parisian society in the 1840s, is actually the very first major opera treating a contemporary social theme. The work’s premiere in 1863 in Venice was a flop: the audience was appalled that the lead role had been assigned to a courtesan who, what’s more, was portrayed in a positive light. Yet Verdi’s opera soon started garnering plaudits and is now one of the most popular repertoire titles the world over.

La traviata

State Opera

The opera Nabucco, depicting the dramatic story of the subjugation of the Israelites by the King of Babylon, ranks among Guiseppe Verdi’s most celebrated works. Phenomenal chorus scenes, extremely impassioned virtuoso arias, as well as the perennially topical themes of expansive war, lust for power, betrayal, life and death, are the reasons why it has always been a staple of opera houses’ repertoire.

Nabucco

Carmen is actually one of the first verismo operas that preceded the “manifesto” of the Italian artistic movement. Its style, and the death of the title heroine, which were at variance with the established opéra comique conventions, seem to have been the reason why the work did not give rise to much public enthusiasm at and in the wake of the world premiere in Paris in 1875. Yet Carmen soon triumphed in other European cities.

Carmen

National Theatre Prague

For over two centuries, Gioachino Rossini has been one of the most celebrated opera composers, and it might even have been the case if he had written nothing but Il barbiere di Siviglia. Both its genesis and premiere were connected with all kinds of twists and turns, which accompany many a play and opera. The piece had to be completed hastily, rehearsed and staged even more hastily; it was a setting of a literary work that had been used several times; the premiere was poorly received and affected by scandal, etc. In hindsight and knowing the fates of other creations, such circumstances would seem to be the best prerequisite for future success. Four years after the opera’s world premiere, in 1816 at the Teatro Argentino in Rome, Il barbiere di Siviglia was first presented, in German translation, at the Estates Theatre in Prague, which in 1825 staged the piece in Czech, owing mainly to the composer and conductor František Škroup (known primarily for creating the melody of the Czech national anthem), who would later on also give Czech premieres of operas by Wagner and others. The Provisional Theatre included Il barbiere di Siviglia in its repertoire during its very first season. Later on the opera was also undertaken by the National Theatre, which to date has adapted it in more than ten productions.

Il barbiere di Siviglia

Composed by one of the major figures of 20th-century musical theatre – the creator of 16 musicals and hundreds of songs, who launched his career writing the lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story – it is an iconic work of its genre. SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a riveting synthesis of dark humour, horror and melodrama, imbued with brilliant musical irony.

SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The Secret is Bedřich Smetana’s seventh, and penultimate, opera. It is also the second fruit of the composer’s collaboration with the librettist Eliška Krásnohorská. Completed in May1878, the piece received its premiere the on 18 September at the New Czech Theatre in Prague. The National Theatre first staged the opera on 12 May 1885, on the first anniversary of Smetana’s death. Yet it only attained wide popularity after the post of the opera company’s director had been assumed by the conductor Karel Kovařovic, who was fully aware of the qualities of the mature Smetana work. Krásnohorská furnished Smetana with an exquisite libretto, whose themes may bring to mind William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet or the Czech author Ladislav Stroupežnický’s play Our Uppish and Defiant Fellows, dating from a later time.

The Secret

Traditional concerts of Christmas music at the National Theatre.

Advent concerts

Almost three centuries have passed since the English painter, satirist and “forefather of the cartoon” William Hogarth created a series of eight paintings (and later on engravings), tellingly titled A Rake’s Progress – the path, development, simply the life of a libertine. They capture the story of a young man who inherits an immense fortune and proceeds to squander it on luxurious living, gambling and prostitutes. It is not a trait exclusive to the 18th century that people indulging in such a lifestyle end up at a psychiatric hospital, called during Hogarth’s time (and until recently) an “asylum”.

The Rake’s Progress

Although many in his homeland still consider Leoš Janáček a difficult modernist, all over the world he has long been esteemed as a truly singular classical genius. His opera Katya Kabanova, based on A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama The Storm, deeply impresses every perceptive viewer due to its immense emotionality, attesting to Janáček’s extraordinary empathy. The title heroine, with her dreamy, amorous and heart-wrenching states of mind, is placed in stark contrast with the savage behaviour of those around her. The desperate Katya ultimately finds the solution to her inner conflict between desire and social obligation in the water of the river Volga. The National Theatre in Prague first performed Janáček’s opera a year after its world premiere in Brno in November 1921.

Katya Kabanova

With its subject, taken over from the German collection of ghost stories Gespensterbuch (Book of Spectres), and its dramatic music, Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz  (The Marksman) is a quintessentially Romantic piece, deemed one of the first, and most renowned, Romantic operas.

Der Freischütz (The Marksman)

Today Václav Trojan (1907–1983) is known primarily as a composer of outstanding scores for a number of 20th-century Czech films. The most noteworthy are the soundtracks to Jiří Trnka’s world-renowned animated movies Bayaya, Old Czech Legends, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Good Soldier Schweik; Bořivoj Zeman’s fairy tale Once Upon a Time There Was a King ..., featuring Jan Werich in the lead role; and Otakar Vávra’s August Sunday. Moreover, Trojan created the ballets Prince Bayaya and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which were performed to acclaim at the National Theatre in Prague, and the stage poem Golden Gate, to folk motives. He wrote one opera, Kolotoč (Carousel), for children young and old, as the secondary title indicates. The owner of a merry-go-round invites children to climb aboard: “If you want to see Indians, a kangaroo and gorillas, take a seat on the carousel!” And indeed: in the scenes that follow children are taken on dreamy trips to an African rainforest, the Australian Outback, an Indian jungle, as well as to the world of American film. Characterised by bounteous instrumentation and exquisite melody, Trojan’s music co-creates a colourful fantasy story.

Carousel

The German composer Richard Strauss based Salome, one of his most celebrated operas, on Oscar Wilde’s eponymous tragedy. The first to portray the title role in the play was the famed French actress Sarah Bernhardt (her company gave four performances at the National Theatre in Prague), whose art also contributed to the popularity of other dramas  (Tosca and Madame Sans-Gêne), subsequently adapted as operas.

Miloš Horák

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 28 - Nov 27, 2026

Don Giovanni · Národní divadlo

Aug 29, 2026 - Jan 24, 2027

La traviata · Národní divadlo

Aug 30 - Dec 15, 2026

Nabucco · Národní divadlo

Sep 4, 2026 - May 5, 2027

Carmen · Národní divadlo

Sep 13 - Dec 31, 2026

Il barbiere di Siviglia · Národní divadlo

Past events

4 - 5 May, 2026

Mozart – Requiem · Prague Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Marquis d'Obigny in La traviata by Verdi

Národní divadlo

Singer in Requiem by Mozart

Prague Symphony Orchestra

Fifth Jew in Salome by Strauss

Národní divadlo

Zuniga in Carmen by Bizet

Národní divadlo

Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd by Sondheim

Národní divadlo

Kuno in Der Freischütz by Weber

Národní divadlo

Kuligin in Káťa Kabanová by Janáček

Národní divadlo

Leporello in Don Giovanni by Mozart

Národní divadlo

High Priest of Baal in Nabucco by Verdi

Národní divadlo

Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini

Národní divadlo

Father Trulove in The Rake’s Progress by Stravinsky

Národní divadlo

Ghost of Friar Barnabáš in The Secret by Smetana

Národní divadlo

Moon in Carousel by Trojan

Národní divadlo

About

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