Praise to the Songs

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. During his studies he was already offered a guest appearance at the Sofia State Opera by the then artistic director (he made his debut as Prince Tarquinius in Britten’s The Disgrace of Lucretia, followed by the title roles in Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin). It is also important to mention his performances at international festivals.

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 1994 he accepted guest appearances at the Pilsen Opera (The Queen of Spades – Tomsky, Faust and Margaret – Valentin, Don Giovanni – Don Giovanni, Fidelio – Don Pizarro, Enrico Asthon – Lucia di Lammermoor). In 1995, after his successful debut at the Prague State Opera as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, 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 of the domestic and international repertoire. To name but a few: Don Giovanni – Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin – Eugene Onegin, Gérmont – La Traviata, Escamillo – Carmen, Count Almaviva – The Marriage of Figaro, Bohus-Jacobin, Michonet – Adriana Lecouvreur, Orfeo – Orfeo ed Euridice, Kalina – The Secret, Sharpless – Madame Butterfly, Gérard – Andrea Chénier, Don Hrabal. With the National Theatre and the Prague State Opera he has made numerous tours abroad (Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Canary Islands). On the tour of the National Theatre Opera to Spain (Madrid – Teatro Real) he performed in Janáček’s opera “Fate” (the role of Verva) in Robert Wilson’s staging and in Ravenna, Italy as Don Giovanni.

He first collaborated with the Janáček Opera Brno in 2004 on a production of Smetana’s Brandenburg in Bohemia. This was followed by Carmen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Cunning Little Vixen, Fate, Cinderella, The Excursions of Mr. In addition to the Brno opera stage, he was also a guest on other stages outside Prague (Pilsen, Liberec, Ostrava, Opava). Since 2001 he has been a regular guest on the original stage of the Ypsilon Theatre, where he has performed several theatre roles.

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 successfully performs at domestic and international festivals, including Prague Spring, Prague Autumn, Smetana Litomyšl, International Music Festival in Český Krumlov, Janáček May Festival, Znojmo Music Festival, St.Wenceslas Music Festival, Pontes Festival, Czech-Saxon Festival, Bratislava Music Festival, Days of B. Martinů in London with Jiří Bělohlávek and the BBC Orchestra, Europalia Brussels, Festival B. Martinů Festival in Amsterdam and Utrecht under the direction of Ch. Hogwood, Concertus Moraviae (IMF), Year of Czech Music – “Czech Dreams” (Spain and Czech Republic). He regularly performs with domestic and foreign ensembles – FOK, Czech Philharmonic, SOČR, PKF, etc. Under the direction of Jiří Bělohlávek he has performed with the PKF in Japan, France, Spain, Switzerland and Austria. He has also collaborated with ensembles such as Virtuosi di Praga, Orchestr Berg, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Prague Chamber Choir, Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, Prague Philharmonic Choir, Kühn Mixed Choir and Kühn Children’s Choir.

He is also an important interpreter of baroque repertoire, on which he has collaborated with the best domestic ensembles such as: Collegium 1704, Musica Florea, Collegium Marianum and Barocco sempre giovane.

His further advancement in the operatic repertoire developed through his collaboration with the world’s leading opera conductors such as Caspar Richter, John Fiore, Hilllary Griffiths, Jan Latham Koenig and Christopher Hogwood.

Since 1984, this outstanding artist has regularly collaborated with Czech Radio, where he has recorded numerous compact discs of opera arias and song cycles, not only of the classical world repertoire, but also of contemporary Czech composers (J. Teml, J. Krček, O. Kukal, Z. Lukáš, P. Eben, K. Pexidr, J. Klusák, Z. Šesták, L. Hurník, J. Pavlica, L. Sluka, J. Hanuš, Z. Zahradník, J. Filas).

He has also released CDs on Deutsche grammophon, Naxos, Orfeo, Multisonic, Radioservis, Supraphon, Arcodiva. “Opera Arias” (SOČR, dir. Ondřej Kukal/Radioservis), “Gypsy Melodies” (piano – Karel Košárek /Supraphon), “Winterreise” (piano – Norbert Heller /Radioservis), “Mr. Brouček’s Excursions” with Jiří Bělohlávek (Deutsche Grammophone) and other Supraphon CDs with works by Bohuslav Martinů (“Tears of the Knife”, “Voice of the Forest”) and an opera set by Antonín Dvořák (“Hard Sticks”) have received well-deserved attention from the music public and the press.

Roman Janál’s cooperation with Czech Television (since 1997) has given rise to film versions of Josef Berg’s operas “Odysseus’ Return to His Homeland” and “European Tourism”. He also collaborated with this institution on the film versions of Bohuslav Martinů’s “Tears of the Knife” and “The Voice of the Forest”.

In November 1995 he became the absolute winner of the International Antonín Dvořák Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary. Later he was invited to this competition as a member of the jury and also became an honorary member of the International Singing Centre of the aforementioned competition. For many years he has been the chairman of the jury of the Dusek Singing Competition. He has also been a successful lecturer in a number of performance singing seminars in the Czech Republic and, after ten years of teaching at the Prague Conservatory, continued as a teacher at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and the International Conservatory in Prague.

Roman Janál is the recipient of the prestigious 1999 Thalia Award 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”.