Jakub Hrůša and the Czech Philharmonic Youth Orchestra not only see “eye to eye” but hear “ear to ear” as well. After their first collaboration last season, they set out together this time for Arabia of the Middle Ages in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. In the second half of the programme, the Czech Philharmonic and its Principal Guest Conductor join forces with three vocal soloists and the Prague Philharmonic Choir for Josef Suk’s Epilogue, the finale of his symphonic tetralogy.

EPSG:4326

Czech Philharmonic • Jakub Hrůša

Rudolfinum

Smetana and the librettist Karel Sabina masterfully mocked all those who expected the “national opera” to be an idyllic picture of the Czech countryside, with its inhabitants being virtuous and governed by high morals. The Bartered Bride is thus far more humorous than “national”. Nonetheless, its humour is precisely of the type Czechs so love, and hence Smetana’s opera, abounding in irony, scathing, occasionally even cynical, wit, as well as tenderness and simple joie de vivre, has ultimately become “national” in the best sense of the word ...

The Bartered Bride

National Theatre

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

The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich set Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk to a libretto he wrote together with Alexander Preis after the eponymous novella by Nikolai Leskov. He himself referred to the opera as a satirical tragedy. The main character, Katerina, is a murderess haunted by qualms of conscience. Yet, with a touch of bitter humour, Shostakovich also focuses on the moral decay of the inhabitants of a Russian village, revealing the omnipresent torpidity and recklessness. Life without hope and love is the very reason for the heroine’s downfall.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

State Opera

Bedřich Smetana’s last completed opera, The Devil’s Wall, the fruit of collaboration with Eliška Krásnohorská, who penned the librettos for his previous operas The Kiss and The Secret, bears both its originally intended comic nature and, more significantly, a final lyrical tone. The composer evidently identified with the character of the ageing nobleman Vok, projecting his own feelings, perhaps ever more so than before. This remarkable work can thus be interpreted as, among other things, a reflection on Smetana's life, one fraught with emotional upheavals.

Alžběta Poláčková

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 27, 2026 - Jun 27, 2027

The Bartered Bride · Národní divadlo

Sep 4, 2026 - May 5, 2027

Carmen · Národní divadlo

4 - 23 Oct, 2026

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk · Národní divadlo

Apr 1 - Jun 23, 2027

The Devil’s Wall · Národní divadlo

Past events

Apr 30 - May 2, 2025

Czech Philharmonic • Jakub Hrůša · Czech Philharmonic

Future and recently performed repertoire

Mařenka in The Bartered Bride by Smetana

Národní divadlo

Katerina Lvovna Izmailova in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich

Národní divadlo

Micaëla in Carmen by Bizet

Národní divadlo

Singer in Epilogue by Suk

Czech Philharmonic

Hedvika in The Devil's Wall by Smetana

Národní divadlo

About

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