Gala concert at the Colonnade – Czech Opera and Operetta

She began studying opera singing at the age of thirteen with Professor Ludmila Bendlová, a soloist at the National Theatre in Prague and a professor at the Prague Conservatory. At the same time, she began studying piano, music history, music theory and world languages. Her first public award came in 1996 when she took part in the Emma Destinn International Singing Competition. She also performed at the gala concert celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the birth of this great Czech singer. After a two-year engagement at the Prague State Opera, she is engaged in concert activities at home and abroad. In 2000 she released her first solo album with a selection of the most beautiful songs and opera arias entitled “What is in my heart of love”. In 2002 she released her second CD “Opera gala” with a selection of the most famous opera arias accompanied by the Janáček Opera Orchestra of the National Theatre Brno. At the turn of 2016 and 2017 she released a CD of Czech musical impressionism “Zdání”. Here you will find music by Vítězslav Novák, Josef Suk and their teacher Antonín Dvořák. All this with masterful piano accompaniment by Zora Křičková.

Tenor Milan Vlček was born in Kroměříž. He studied singing in Brno privately with Gaetano Bardini. After graduation he became a soloist of the opera of the Municipal Theatre in Ústí nad Labem, where he performed his first role of Jeník in Bedřich Smetana’s opera The Bartered Bride. He then took up a permanent engagement at the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre in Brno, where, in addition to opera roles in the Czech and international repertoire, he also sang operetta roles. At the State Opera in Prague, he first appeared as Tamino in The Magic Flute and has since appeared in other productions. He has also appeared as a guest at the National Theatre in Prague, as well as in Bratislava, Olomouc, Pilsen and other Czech theatres. He has also performed on foreign stages in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Holland, Switzerland and even in Japan and South Korea. In addition to theatre performances, he also performs concerts both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Martin Peschík studied piano and conducting at the Conservatory in České Budějovice. He graduated in conducting from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno in the class of Prof. Jan Zbavitel. As a conductor he has collaborated with the National Theatre in Brno, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra in Olomouc, the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Mariánské Lázně and others. Since 2002 he has worked at the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice as choirmaster and conductor and since January 2008 as chief conductor. He has staged many operas, operettas and ballets there (Rigoletto, Faust, The Love Potion, The Mouthpiece, Martha, Rusalka, Jacobin, The Gypsy Baron, The Bat, The Princess of Chardonnay, etc.). He has conducted in many European countries (Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark) and at major music festivals (Janáček Brno 2004, Opera 2003 and 2005, Festival of Chamber Music Český Krumlov, etc.). In October 2011 Martin Peschík was appointed to the position of chief conductor of the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Mariánské Lázně. From 2011 to 2016 he also held the position of the orchestra’s director.