Some operas carry the weight of national myth—and that weight can obstruct a purely musical experience. Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” is very much one of them. When it was first performed in Prague ...

A festival of performances, talks and installations by Afrodiasporic composers, past and present, curated by vocalist and composer Elaine Mitchener. Be the first to see new work, emerging talent and ...

The motivation behind Smetana's creation of the symphonic poem cycle 'Má vlast' (My Homeland) lay in the pride of the Czech people and a strong desire for independence. In the latter half of the 19th ...

Dr. Nicole Kenley-Miller is known for her colorful and embodied productions of opera and music theatre, both on stage and film. Her work has premiered off-Broadway in New York and has been featured on ...

Starting out in the 1970s as a rare woman in a field dominated by men, she directed the premieres of a pair of politically charged modern classics. By Adam Nossiter Rhoda Levine, one of the rare ...

Irish National Opera‘s (INO) recent tour of Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” took in a number of small venues across Ireland that rarely, if ever, get featured in its normal schedule. Included were ...

In the last academic year, Jan Smaczny gave a guest seminar in the Music Department of the University of Southampton. The subject of his presentation was a new way of looking at the Prague Provisional ...

The Czechiest features of The Bartered Bride – cornerstone of Czech opera and the first to go international after premiering in 1866 – are in the music rather than the story or setting. No accident: ...

At a media event earlier this month in Sandton, Johannesburg, Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) introduced their new international ambassador, South African-born global opera talent Pumeza ...

Bizet’s opera Carmen is a powerful presence in our cultural landscape, with melodies such as that of the habanera “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” etched into the public’s consciousness. The gritty ...

The Irish National Opera (INO) has unveiled its ambitious 2025–26 season, with work spanning the heavens and the earth, the mythic and the rustic, featuring both celebrated masterpieces and ...