Eight soloists and nine operatic and oratorio arias, including the most performed vocal-orchestral composition of the 19th century, Haydn’s biblical oratorio The Creation. The program will also include biblical songs by Antonín Dvořák, Její pastorkyně by Leoš Janáček or a soprano aria from Giuseppe Verdi’s Masquerade Ball.

Joseph Haydn
Aria Gabriela from the oratorio Creation Hob. XXI:2

Antonín Dvořák
Biblical Songs Op. 99, B 185 (selection)

Antonín Dvořák
Terinka aria from the opera Jacobin Op. 84, B 200

Leoš Janáček
Aria and Prayer of Jenůfa from the opera Jenůfa JW I/4

Giuseppe Verdi
Aria of Oscar from the opera Masquerade Ball

Gioacchino Rossini
La danza – Tarantella napoletana. 8th song from the collection Les soirées musicales S424/R236

Gaetano Donizetti
Aria Maria from the opera Daughter of the Regiment

Gaetano Donizetti
Aria of Adina from The Love Potion

Antonín Dvořák
Suite in A major “American” Op. 98b, B 190

Jana Margová – soprano
Theodor Šimáček – baritone
Zdeňka Kotková – soprano
Veronika Zaplatilová – soprano
Klára Hlúšková – soprano
Marie Kadlčáková – soprano
Nela Skarková – soprano
Kristýna Kůstková – soprano
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Adam Sedlický – conductor

A concert of operatic and oratorio arias and other song music opens with Haydn’s soprano aria of the Archangel Gabriel from the biblical oratorio Creation, one of the most performed vocal-orchestral compositions of the 19th century.

In Biblical Songs, Antonín Dvořák set Old Testament psalm texts to music. His opera Jacobin then follows a comic plot in a small Czech town during the Great French Revolution.

Leoš Janáček’s The Shepherdess ranks among the most performed Czech operas on the world stage. The tragic story of the ward Jenůfa and her illegitimate child leaves no one cold even after one hundred and twenty years since its premiere.

The plot of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi’s Masquerade Ball is filled with intrigue, passionate love and betrayal. The evening will feature the soprano aria of Oscar the pageboy from Act 3.

Gioacchino Rossini was not only a celebrated opera composer but also a celebrated chef. His famous song La danza revels in the rhythms of the tarantella, the folk dance of southern Italy.

Gaetano Donizetti’s operatic work is synonymous with Italian bel canto and makes extraordinary demands on vocal technique and refinement of expression. Listeners will see this in the arias from the operas The Drink of Love and Daughter of the Regiment.

The concert will close with Antonín Dvořák’s charming Orchestral Suite in A major, composed during the composer’s American residency.