Christmas Concert

Eduard Šístek (1992) studied cello at the Prague Conservatory with Jaroslav Kulhan, at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Mikael Ericsson and at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien with Reinhard Latzek. He plays solo, chamber and orchestral music. He is a permanent member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the Art Discussion Society, and he also performs contemporary compositions. He is a laureate of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition, the Leoš Janáček International Competition in Brno, the Beethoven’s Hradec International Performance Competition, etc. As a soloist he regularly collaborates with leading Czech music ensembles. At the opening concert of the second edition of the Jakub Jan Ryba Festival (2019) he performed the renewed premiere of Ryba’s Concerto in C major. He has appeared in recitals at the Prague Spring Festival and the Czech Chamber Music Society. He is currently making a number of recordings for Czech Radio.

Jaromír Meduna was born in 1953 in Prague. After graduating from DAMU, he worked for three seasons at the Petr Bezruč Theatre in Ostrava. Until 1986 he also played in the F.X. Šalda. Then he joined the MDP (Municipal Theatres of Prague). After the company broke up in the 1990s, he performed at the Komedie Theatre, where he stayed for two years. After two years he moved to the Rokoko Theatre. In 1998 he decided to work at the ABC Theatre, where he reaped much success thanks to a number of comedy and dramatic roles. Among the better known plays we can mention for example THE ORPHANS’ SESSION, THE BAD SUMMER or OUT OF THE PARADISE. From the new season he moved to the engagement at Divadlo Na Vinohradech. He appears at Studio Two and the poetic Viola wine bar, and can also be seen at the Palace Theatre.

He has taken on only a handful of film and television roles. Worth mentioning is a prominent role in the film BIZON, then he appeared in the films POSSEL DOBRÝCH ZPRÁV, PROČ PLÁČEŠ, BÍZO BÍLÁ and DEN FOR MY LOVE.

In the media sphere, however, he is active in radio and especially in dubbing. He has lent his unmistakable distinctive voice to dozens of well-known personalities such as Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman, John Malkovich, Ken Watanabe, Liam Neeson, Walter Matthau, and David Suchet.

She studied at the Prague Conservatory under Jiřina Marková Krystlíková and then at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Prof. Magdalena Hajoossiová. Since 2006 she has been a guest in many domestic theatres. She has performed at the Antonín Dvořák Theatre in Ostrava, J.K.Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, Silesian Theatre in Opava, theatre in České Budějovice, Košice and the National Theatre in Prague.

Barbora Perná is currently a guest of the National Theatre in Prague and since 2019 she has been a permanent member of the soloist ensemble of the Moravian Theatre Olomouc. Here she has performed the roles of Jenůfa from the opera of the same name by L. Janáček, Fiordiligi in W. A. Mozart’s Così fan tutte, for which she was nominated for the Thalia Award in the wider nomination, the role of Leonora (Fidelio) by L. van Beethoven, Rusalka, Vitellii-La clemenza di Tito, and Judith-Modrovous’s Castle-B. Bartók…For the role of Rusalka she was also nominated for the Thalia Award in the wider nomination for her performance of this role in the Moravian Theatre Olomouc.

She has a number of beautiful roles to her credit, for example Rusalka from the opera of the same name by A. Dvořák’s Rusalka, Leoš Janáček’s Liska Bystrouška, Marenka from The Bartered Bride by B. Smetana, Dvořák’s Terinka, Massenet’s Sophie, Weber’s Agatha, Mozart’s Fiordiligi, Countess, Pamina, Papagena, Zerlina, Luoncavallo’s Nedda, Wagner’s Lora, Rachmaninoff’s Zemfira and others… For her role of Rusalka, she won the Moravian-Silesian Region’s Jantar Award in 2018. Perná is also the winner of the Opava Thalia Award in the 2018-2019 season.

She is a laureate of many prestigious competitions, such as the Imrich Godin Competition in Vrábli, Slovakia, or the International Singing Competition A. Dvořák Competition. She has performed in Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Japan and China. She has actively participated in courses in Riva del Garda and also in the courses of the world-famous tenor Josè Cura.

Karla Bytnarová, a mezzo-soprano with a captivating velvet voice, studied singing first with Prof. Svatava Šubrtová and then in Munich at the Richard Strauss Conservatory under the direction of Prof. Andrej Kucharski. She gained further valuable impulses for her artistic growth at master classes with Maria Pochopová and Brigitte Fassbaender. She has won numerous prizes and awards from international singing competitions (e.g. the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition and the ARD International Music Competition).

Karla Bytnarová began her operatic career in 1996 at the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich under the direction of KS Astrid Varnay and Heinrich Bender. This was followed by engagements at the National Theatre in Prague and Bratislava, at the State Opera Prague, at the Provincial Theatre in Coburg, Germany, at the theatres in Ulm and Passau, at the State Theatre on Gärtnerplatz in Munich, at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, at the North Bohemian Theatre in Ústí nad Labem.

Her unmistakable portrayals of Adalgisa, Amneris, Brangäne, Carmen, Charlotte, Prince Orlofsky, Donna Elvira, Herodias and Cornelia have made their mark on the hearts of the audience.

Karla Bytnarová is also one of the most sought-after concert singers. She regularly performs with the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Brno Philharmonic, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, and the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchester Linz, the German Philharmonic Bremen, the Gürzenich Orchester Cologne, the WDR Radio Orchestra, the Brittany Symphony Orchestra and the Aichi Central Symphony Orchestra Nagoya.

Her broad repertoire includes, among others, all the great oratorios. She had the honour of singing the viola part in Dvořák’s Stabar Mater under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek in Paris, Brussels, Met and Luxembourg. Her interpretation of Verdi’s Requiem delighted audiences and music critics in Vienna, Budapest and Prague.

Recordings for Czech Radio and Czech Television document the versatility of Karla Bytnarová. Concert tours have taken the artist to France, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Turkey and Switzerland.

Tenor Martin Šrejma graduated from the Prague Conservatory in the class of Prof. J. Kotouč. During his studies, he won the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary (2002 and 2004), and in 2004 he was also awarded the National Theatre Prize in Prague. In 2004 he studied in Parma, Italy, at the Arrigo Boito Conservatory with L. Bizzi and E. Furlotti; he participated in master classes in Italy, in the summer of 2009 with M. Freni and in 2011 with T. Krause. In 2005 he became a soloist of the Prague State Opera, since 2012 he has been a soloist of the National Theatre Opera in Prague. He has performed many roles on Prague stages, such as Mozart’s Tamino (The Magic Flute), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), etc. He has also guest-starred at the National Theatre in Brno, the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava as Lindoro (Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers) and Count d’Albafiorita (Martinů’s Mirandolina), at the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec as Nemorino (Donizetti: The Drink of Love), at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen and at the Revolving Auditorium in Český Krumlov as the Duke (Rigoletto). In the 2003/2004 season he toured Germany and Switzerland with the Swiss Opera Company as Alfred in Strauss’s operetta The Bat and in spring 2005 toured Canada with the Toronto Philharmonic under the direction of K. Stratton. In 2006 he appeared in Spain as Pollione (Bellini: Norma). In 2009 he appeared as Hansel (The Bartered Bride) in the Netherlands, and in 2011 he performed the role of Michelis (Martinů: Greek Passion) at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. During a tour of the Prague State Opera and the National Theatre in Japan he appeared as Alfredo (2007) and Spoletta (2011), Tamino and Basilio (2013). He is frequently invited to perform in cantatas, oratorios and operas (Handel: Samson and Messiah; Bononcini: Astarto; Mozart: Requiem and Davide penitente; Haydn: Die Schöpfung, Bach: Christmas Oratorio, Mendelssohn: Lobgesang in the framework of the Prague Spring Festival 2012, etc.).

After graduating from the Pilsen Conservatoire in violin, he was accepted in 1985 to the singing department of the Music Academy in Sofia, in the class of Professor Chavdar Khadzhiev, where he received his master’s degree. After graduation, he accepted his first engagement in Banská Bystrica, from where, after six months, he moved to the Chamber Opera (later Opera Mozart) in Prague. In 1995, after a successful debut at the Prague State Opera, he was engaged as a soloist.

Another successful debut followed, this time at the National Theatre, where he secured a soloist position with the role of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Since 1997, the National Theatre has become his home stage, and to date he has staged dozens of roles from the domestic and international repertoire. The domain of this singer is not only the operatic world, but also chamber music. In 1993 and 1994 he attended performance courses with the world-famous singer Petr Schreier in Piešt’any. Especially the songs of German Romantic composers such as F. Schubert, R. Schumann, J. Brahms, H. Wolf and “Biblical Songs” by Antonín Dvořák became his heart’s affair.

Roman Janál performs successfully at national and international festivals: Prague Spring, Prague Autumn, Smetana Litomyšl, International Music Festival Český Krumlov, Janáček May Festival, Znojmo Music Festival, St.Wenceslas Music Festival, Pontes Festival, Czech-Saxon Festival, Bratislava Music Festival, Bohuslav Martinů Days in London with Jiří Bělohlávek and BBC Orchestra, Europalia Brussels, Bohuslav Martinů Festival in Amsterdam and Utrecht under the direction of Ch. Hogwood.

He regularly collaborates with domestic and foreign orchestras. His further advancement in the operatic repertoire has been developed through his collaboration with leading opera conductors such as Caspar Richter, John Fiore, Hilllary Griffiths, Jan Latham Koenig and Christopher Hogwood. He has released many CDs on Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Orfeo, Multisonic, Radioservis, Supraphon, ArcoDiva.

He is a sought-after teacher and adjudicator of many major singing competitions. Roman Janál is the recipient of the prestigious Thalia Award for 1999, for the role of Pollux in the National Theatre’s production of Rameau’s opera “Castor and Pollux”, and in 2019 he received an extraordinary Thalia Award in a wider nomination for his performance of the title role in Miloš Štědron’s opera “Don Hrabal”.

The mixed choir Čerchovan has been continuously active in Domažlice since its foundation in 1901. At present it consists of over forty singers. Marek Vorlicek has been its leader since 1997. Čerchovan deals mainly with sacred music, but does not shy away from stylized medieval music, spirituals or opera. The repertoire includes, of course, choral arrangements of folk songs. When performing vocal-instrumental works, the choir cooperates with various orchestras and professional soloists. The choir has also performed several times with the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra and in recent years has been regularly invited to collaborate with the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Mariánské Lázně. In 2010 the choir performed Ryba’s Czech Christmas Mass in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice Square in Rome at the invitation of the Embassy of the Czech Republic to the Holy See. In 2001, the choir recorded a CD with Stabat Mater by Jakub Jan Ryba and Requiem in C minor by Georg Lickel. Both works were recorded in world premieres. In 2005 a second CD was released with sacred compositions by Jakub Jan Ryba and Magnificat by Simon Brixi. In the last two decades, the choir’s repertoire has expanded to include a number of vocal-instrumental works, such as Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Charpentier’s, Rejch’s and Dvořák’s Te Deum, the same author’s Stabat Mater, Fauré’s Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Haydn’s Creation and Handel’s Messiah.

Radek Baborák, chief conductor of the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, is one of the most prominent personalities on the world music scene. In more than 35 years of international performances as a solo horn player and conductor, he has earned an exceptional reputation with the most important orchestras and festivals. With his extensive experience as a horn player, Baborák brings a unique perspective and expertise to his conducting career. His conducting style is known for its precision, musicality and deep understanding of the pieces he performs. He is able to interpret and convey the emotions and nuances of the music, creating captivating and memorable concert experiences that are appreciated by critics and music-loving audiences alike. His repertoire ranges from works by the masters of Baroque, Classical, Romantic and 20th century music to works by living composers whose works he has premiered.

As a soloist he has appeared with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics and many other top orchestras under conductors such as James Lewine, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Jiří Bělohlávek, Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Barenboim and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

In 2011 he expanded his musical career to include conducting. His mentor is Maestro Seiji Ozawa, whom he assists with the Mito Chamber Orchestra, which he regularly conducts.
He founded and artistically directs the Czech Sinfonietta Orchestra, which performs at renowned festivals in the Czech Republic such as Prague Spring, Dvořák’s Prague, Smetana Litomyšl and others. He has achieved extraordinary success at these festivals, accompanying soloists such as Marta Argerich, Jefim Bronfmann, Sergej Nakarjakov, Ricardo Galliano and Guy Braunstein.
As a conductor he has worked with the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Thuringian Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the New Japan Symphony Orchestra, the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, the SOČR, the FOK, the Prague Philharmonic and others.

Since 2016 he has been the artistic director of the Prague Chamber Soloists. He is intensively involved in chamber music, especially with the Baborak Ensemble, which is regularly invited to Mozartwoche Salzburg, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and on tour in Europe and Japan. For his ensemble he creates unique versions of works by composers such as J.S. Bach and Astor Piazzolla.

His musical partners in the more than 100 music festivals he has participated in include legends such as Daniel Barenboim, Marta Argerich, Heinrich Schif, Janine Jansen, Francoise Leleux, Emanuel Pahud, Ian Bostridge, Julian Rachlin and others.
As a solo horn player he has performed with the Czech Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. He is a laureate of the most prestigious competitions in Geneva, Markneukirchen and ARD Munich. He has dozens of award-winning recordings for EMI, Sony Classic, Suprafon, Octavia Records, Animal Music and Hänsler Classic.

As an associate professor he has taught at the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Bologna, Escuela Reina Sophia in Madrid, Hamu Prague and TOHO University in Tokyo. He is currently a visiting professor at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin and a mentor at the MenArt Education Academy. During the pandemic he initiated fundraisers for independent artists and subsequently supported Ukrainian musicians. Hundreds of colleagues supported these activities.

Radek Baborák is a guest conductor of the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, a permanent soloist of the Brandenburg State Orchestra and in 2024 will make his conducting debut with the Slovak Philharmonic Bratislava, the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra in London and the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Lviv.