Pilsen’s JK Tyla Theater is preparing two extraordinary evenings for the first half of May. First, on Thursday, domestic and foreign stars of the ballet world will perform at the Ballet Gala in the Velký theater. A week later, on May 9, the major choral works of Bedřich Smetana will be performed here at a spectacular concert performed by dozens of performers from all over the country.
Bianca Teixeira will be one of the stars of Thursday’s Ballet Gala at the Pilsen Theater.
| Photo: DJKT archive
Every year, the Pilsen Ballet Gala offers a showcase of solo and ensemble performances, the most demanding classical pas de deux and modern choreographies. “Compared to last year, when the program of the Ballet Gala was more focused on contemporary work, new circus and the merging of singing and dancing, this year we will offer more classical numbers and more foreign guests,” says the head of the ballet, Jiří Pokorný.
The Ballet Gala will feature, for example, Bavarian State Opera soloists Bianca Teixeira and Ariel Merkuri, who will dance a pas de deux from the Corsair ballet and a modern choreography called Morphology II, and Melissa Chapski, who will perform a pas de deux from the ballet Don Quixote with Pilsen Ballet soloist Gaëtan Pires . The guests will also include Europa Ballet Contest Brno 2023 laureates Hinata Doi and Chikara Araki, members of the junior troupe of the Bavarian State Ballet or Ostrava theater soloists Eleonora Ancona and Francesco Fasano with a pas de deux from the ballet Coppélia. But the audience can also look forward to local dancers. “Afroditi Vasilakopoulou and Justin Rimke will perform in a suite from Swan Lake, and Mami Mołoniewicz and Karel Audy will dance a pas de deux from Raymonda,” adds Pokorný.
An extraordinary concert by Smetana’s choirs in the Velké will then be performed by the Pilsen theater as part of the celebration of the Year of Czech Music and at the same time as a commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth and 140th anniversary of the death of Bedřich Smetana. The choir of the DJKT opera and Kajetán – the children’s choir of the DJKT opera will also be joined by male choirs from Bohemia and Moravia – the Láska opravdivá choir, the Moravian choir, the Bohuslav Martinů choir of the city of Poličky, the Pueri gaudentes and the Smetana choir, who will perform the essential choral works of this important Czech figure music.
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“The ensemble performance of Smetana’s choral compositions is a unique project that the listener will encounter only very rarely. I dare to say that since the beginning of our century, no one has so generously approached the presentation of Smetana’s choral work,” points out the head of the opera ensemble Jiří Petrdlík and continues: “I am proud that in Pilsen, as part of the Year of Czech Music celebrations, we will correct this debt and show our visitors the work of Bedřich Smetana from another perspective.” The highlight of the entire evening will be the famous cantata Czech Song in its original version with piano accompaniment. The concert will also include the Rolnická Choir, which was performed for the first time as part of the celebration of the laying of the foundation stone of the National Theatre, the Song on the Sea, which is the first choir written by Smetana after his deafness, the popular Three Women’s Choirs and the master’s last completed vocal composition Our Song.
