Bach. Caccini. Jacquet de la Guerre
The Professed House, a historic Baroque building in Prague's Lesser Town, was originally built for the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) between 1674 and 1691. It houses a beautiful Baroque refectory, now used for chamber concerts.
CZK 400 | 350 (senior citizens 65+) | CZK 100 (students and children up to age 15)
Family ticket CZK 100 per person
Donor’s ticket CZK 2 000
Individual tickets are available from June 14th, 2021.
About the soloists
Marie Fajtová — soprano
Soprano Marie Fajtová first studied piano (Prof. Jan Novotný) and later opera singing (Prof. Jiří Kotouč) at the Prague Conservatoire. She later honed her singing technique with the American soprano Nancy Henninger and KS Christa Ludwig.
In 2008, Marie won the Grand Prize at the Barbara Hendricks International Vocal Competition in Strasbourg. In 2004 she was a finalist in the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition, where she received the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK award. In 1996 she won the Bedřich Smetana International Piano Competition. She was nominated for a Thalia Award for her role as Norma.
Since the 2007/2008 season, Marie has been a soloist at the National Theatre Opera in Prague. She has performed the roles of Violetta (Verdi - Traviata), Norma (Bellini - Norma), Donna Anna (Mozart - Don Giovanni), the Countess (Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro), Pamina (Mozart – The Magic Flute), Fiordiligi (Mozart - Cosi fan tutte), Antonia (Offenbach – The Tales of Hoffmann ), Adina (Donizetti – L’elisir d’amore), Norina (Donizetti - Don Pasquale), Penelope (Britten - Gloriana), Musetta (Puccini – La bohème), Euridice (Gluck – Orfeo ed Euridice), Armida (Handel - Rinaldo), Karolina (Smetana - Two Widows), Barča (Smetana – The Kiss), Despinio (Martinů – The Greek Passion) and others.
Máří is a regular guest at the Estonian National Theatre (Violetta, Margaret, the Countess), the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki (Margaret, Violetta), the Teatro Verdi in Trieste (Donna Anna, Musetta, Countess Susanna in Wolf Ferrari opera), and she has also been a guest at the Royal Opera of Versailles, Theater de Caen, Opéra de Rennes, Grand Théatre de Luxembourg (Armida, Handel - Rinaldo) and Helikon Opera in Moscow (Margaret).
She has released a vocal CD Pensive Songs and has recorded for Bayerischer Rundfunk, Klassik Radio, MEZZO TV and Czech Radio. She participated in the recording of the internationally acclaimed Il Diamante Serenata ZVW 177 by J.D. Zelenka (Nibiru 2009). Among the many countries she has performed in are Spain, France, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Brunei, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Cambodia, Malaysia and Korea.
Among the noted conductors she has worked with are: Gianluigi Gelmetti, Risto Joost, Jiří Kout, Jiří Bělohlávek, Asher Fish, Michael Schwiercewski, Ondrej Lenárd, Enrico Dovico, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Tomáš Netopil and Václav Luks.
Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Judith: Cantata No. 6 for solo voice and basso continuo (Paris, 1708)
Adéla Štajnochrová – violin
Štajnochrová is a graduate of the Prague Conservatoire (Prof. Dana Vlachová), the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Prof. Petr Messiereur) and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. In addition to the modern violin (Prof. Krzysztof Smietana), at Guildhall she expanded her interest to the baroque violin (Prof. Rachel Podger).
Selected for the London Symphony Orchestra student programme, she was offered an opportunity to rehearse and perform with this renowned orchestra. She continues to play both instruments. As a member of the ArteMiss Piano Trio and the Škampa Quartet, she performs at home and abroad. Another area of interest for her is the historically informed interpretation of early music, in collaboration with ensembles such as Musica Florea and Collegium 1704 or as a soloist.
In her doctoral studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, she explored the changes in the interpretation of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto throughout history and completed her studies playing the concerto with the Musica Florea orchestra.
Stanislav Penk – baroque trombone
Born in 1974, Penk studied between 1988-1994 at the Conservatoire in Prague with Prof. Josef Šimek, and later at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the trombone classes of Profs. Miloslav Hejda and Zdeněk Pulec. Since 1996 he has been the Principal Trombone at the PKF — Prague Philharmonia and from 2007 a member of the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, with whom he was the soloist in the Don Quijote Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra by Juraj Filas.
On top of that he is also involved in other chamber ensembles, such as the Prague Brass Collegium, and Czech Brass – a seven-member ensemble of the most sought- after brass players who are frequently invited to give concerts and to prestigious festivals at home, and mostly abroad. He regularly collaborates with foremost world productions, for example by James Fitzpatrick, Carl Davis and Nick Rain, who specialise in recording film music. Historically informed performance is also one of his long-term interests.
He collaborates with leading Czech and international early music ensembles, including Collegium 1704, Musica Florea, Musica Eterna, Musica Regia and Ensemble Inégal. He is also a member of the Solistes Européens Luxembourg orchestra, which assembles soloists and top orchestra players from all over the world. Since 2020 he has been a pedagogue at the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Robert Hugo – harpsichord
Hugo graduated in physical chemistry at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague, as well as in music theory at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts and musicology at the Masaryk University in Brno. He also studied organ at the Prague Academy. His experience in the field of early music comes from his collaboration with early music ensembles in Germany, Poland, France and the United Kingdom, especially in projects with Holger Eichhorn and Marcin Bornus Szczycinsky.
Since 1990 he has been working as an organist at the Saint Salvator church in Prague's Klementinum. For a short time he was conductor with the Janáček Opera in Brno. He has given concerts in many European countries and in Canada. His interest as a soloist lies mainly in historical organs and keyboard instruments from the South German region.
He has dedicated his scientific and artistic work to the unique composer of the Benedictine Baroque, Gunther Jacob. With the ensemble Capella Regia Prague, which he founded in 1991, he focuses on Czech and Central European Baroque music. In recent years, he has realized a number of opera projects in Baroque theatres in Český Krumlov and Valtice. The result of his scientific and artistic activities is an extensive series of mostly premiere recordings from the field of Czech and other music.
He taught music theory at the College of Church Music in Görlitz, Germany, and is the Artistic Director of the Academy of Early Music (Theory and Practice of Early Music) at the Faculty of Arts at the Masaryk University.
