St. Wenceslas Concert

Lucie Silkenová is a sought-after soprano for opera and concert occasions, a regular guest of the National Theatre in Prague, performing with major conductors, orchestras and ensembles throughout Europe, and has also found her audience in Japan, South America and Africa.

After studying with Prof. I. Kusnier at HAMU, she developed her art at a number of masterclasses abroad (England, Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain), won 1st prize at the international competition in Lyon (2008), 2nd prize at the international singing competition A. Dvořák International Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary (2009) and was a semifinalist in the Hans Gabor Belveder International Singing Competition (2013).

She has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London (Jiří Bělohlávek), toured Europe with the Budapest Festival Orchestra (Iván Fischer), toured the USA with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (Jiří Bělohlávek), and toured Brazil with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (Osmo Vänskä).

She has appeared in many operatic roles, e.g. Cleopatra (Handel: Julius Caesar), Pamina (Mozart: The Magic Flute), Corilla (Donizetti: The Tempest at the Opera), Rosina (Rossini: The Nutcracker of Seville), Gilda (Verdi: Rigoletto), Vixen Bystrouška (Janáček: Vixen Bystrouška) and Lisa (Lehár: The Land of Smiles). She was nominated for the Thalia Award in 2023 for the role of Jitka in the production Dalibor (J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen).

Lucie began her theatre career on the boards of SeMaFor, where she played and sang alongside Jiří Suchý and Jitka Molavcová for a total of 7 years. Another departure from the classics was the role of soprano Corilla in the musical The Phantom of the Opera by A. L. Webber, in which she performed from 2014-2016.

She participated in the recording of the opera B. She has also made solo recordings for Supraphon, Czech Radio, Navona Records and Arco Diva.

Lucie is a soloist of the Central Music of the Army of the Czech Republic. She is a patron of the Sun for All Foundation, which cares for people with disabilities from birth to old age.

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.

She made her mark on the hearts of the audience with her unmistakable portrayals of Adalgisa, Amneris, Brangäne, Carmen, Charlotte, Prince Orlofsky, Donna Elvira, Herodias and Cornelia.

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.

Daniel Matoušek comes from Ústí nad Labem. In the beginning he worked on his singing technique with Jan Vacík, Antonio Carangelo, Eva Randová and Jarmila Chaloupková. Currently he is under the guidance of Kateřina Kněžíková and Adam Plachetka.

In 2014 he made his first appearance at the National Theatre Prague in The Cunning Little Vixen and from the 2022/23 season he is a permanent member of the Opera. At the National Theatre and on all three stages: National Theatre, State Opera and Estates Theatre, he makes his debut in the 23/34 season as Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Jan Kučera’s newly written opera Don Buoso (directed by David Radok), Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos (directed by Sláva Daubnerová), Tamino in Die Zauberflöte (directed by Vladimír Morávek), The Italian singer in The Pink Cavalier (directed by Andreas Homoki) or Malcolm in Verdi’s Macbeth, and has appeared in important roles of the tenor repertoire, such as Beppe in The Comedians (directed by Ondřej Havelka), or Mustafa Bey in the jazz operetta Ball at the Savoy Hotel (directed by Martin Čičvák), among others.

In the course of his professional activity he has been a guest at all Czech opera houses (National Theatre Brno, National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, Moravian Theatre Olomouc/nomination for the Thalia Award 2019/, DJKT Plzeň, F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, South Bohemian Theatre, North Bohemian Theatre Ústí nad Labem).

In addition to the Czech opera scene, he has been a guest at the Opernhaus Magdeburg as Tamino and has appeared at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava (Maria Stuarda, Persian Nights) and the National Theatre Košice (Magic Flute).

He participated in the iSING Festival in China, where he was selected from 2500 singers from all over the world and prepared 2 performances, 6 concerts and 2 TV recordings with world-class conductors and accompanists. In the 2021/22 season he participated in the Hollywood production of the upcoming 2023 film The Crow, directed by Rupert Sanders (the film is being prepared for release at Cannes 2024).

He has performed under the baton of conductors such as Robert Jindra, Christopher Ward, Kamal Khan, Andrij Jurkevyč, Vincenzo Milletari, Jiří Rožeň, Leoš Svárovský, Ondrej Lenárd, Jan Kučera, Adi Bara, Marko Ivanović, Miriam Němcová, Ondrej Olos, David Švec, Marek Šedivý and others. He has collaborated with leading orchestral ensembles such as the Prague Philharmonic, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Brno Philharmonic, the North Bohemian Philharmonic Teplice, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, the RTVS Symphony Orchestra, and the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Opera Orchestra, Wiesbaden Festival Orchestra and has performed at music festivals such as Festival Český Krumlov, Smetanova Litomyšl, Janáček Festival Brno, Špilberk Festival, Wiesbaden Opera Europa Festival (DE), Cornuda Belcanto Festival (IT) and others.

During his professional career he has collaborated with directors such as Ondřej Havelka, Václav Morávek, Andreas Homoki, Robert Carsen, David Radok, Miroslav Krobot, Barbora Horáková Joly, Jetske Mijnssen and others.

He has performed with distinguished singing colleagues such as Dagmar Pecková, Kateřina Kněžíková, Adam Plachetka, Hao Jiang Tian, Damiano Salerno, José Luis Maldonado, Luis Cansino, Atalan Aya, Konu Kim and others.

He studied singing privately with Prof. Jevdokimova in Havlíčkův Brod and later with Prof. Tucek in Prague. In 1995 he was accepted to the opera of the F. X. Šalda in Liberec. Since then, he has staged over eighty opera roles of the Czech and world repertoire at home and abroad. The roles he has created include, for example, from Czech operas, the Count in Jacobin, Boniface in The Secret, the Tattler in The Bartered Bride, the Waterboy in Rusalka, the Revírník in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Marbuel in Dvořák’s opera The Devil and Kate, etc. From the world repertoire are Zachariah in Nabucco, Escamillo in Carmen, Mephisto in Faust and Margaret, Pimen in Boris Godunov, Dulcamara in The Love Potion, Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, etc.
He regularly performs abroad – in Germany, France, Spain, Italy at opera houses
and concert stages. For several years he has been working closely with one of our best contemporary composers of sacred music, organist and conductor Milos Bok, on whose recordings he regularly appears. He has also performed in the Prague production of the musical Cats, and is the recipient of the Thalia Award for 2009.He is a regular guest on the stage of the National Theatre in Prague, Ostrava, Ústí nad Labem and Pilsen.

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 at the invitation of the Embassy of the Czech Republic to the Holy See in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice Square in Rome. 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.

Michal Mikulenka was born in Mariánské Lázně, where he began his musical journey. After his primary education he studied at the conservatory in Pilsen, then at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno (JAMU) and at the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU), where he specialized in playing the French horn. During his studies he participated in several performance competitions in Brno and Ostrava.

In addition to his formal education, he also attended a number of music courses under the guidance of renowned teachers such as Hermann Baumann, André Cazalet, Peter Damm, Bedřich Tylšar and Jindřich Petráš.

His professional career began in 2006 when he became horn player of the DJKT Pilsen musical orchestra. From 2007 to 2010 he was the first hornist of the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra (KSO). Since 2010 he has been the first hornist of the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra (ZSO) in Mariánské Lázně. From 2014 to 2018 he was a member of the DJKT Pilsen Opera Orchestra.

In 2020 he started teaching at the Elementary School in Teplá, where he passes on his experience to young musicians. In 2023, he started cooperation with the orchestra of the F.X. Šalda in Liberec. Michal Mikulenka is recognized not only for his musical abilities, but also for his contribution to music education and culture.

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.