Prague State Opera Gala Concert for its supporters and friends

The artists of the Prague State Opera have prepared for Monday, June 6, 2011, at 7:00 p.m., a gala concert intended as a token of gratitude to all the company’s friends and faithful members of audience for their encouragement and support all through the 2010/2011 season.

The PSO ballet ensemble’s invitation to appear in the gala programme has been received by a formidable roster of renowned dancers currently active abroad, including Anna Nikulina, soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow; Jan Váňa, soloist of the National Opera of Ukraine; and Bára Kohoutková, former soloist of John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet, the Bavarian State Opera’s ballet company, and the Finnish National Ballet, and the present Ballet Mistress of the National Theatre in Prague.

The company’s opera ensemble will be represented in the gala programme by some of the PSO’s foremost soloists: Christina Vasileva, Veronika Hajnová, Jana Sýkorová, and Svatopluk Sem. They will be backed by the PSO chorus and orchestra, conducted in the dance numbers by Pavel Šnajdr, and by the prominent British Maestro, Jan Latham-Koenig.

The programme will feature an array of best-loved arias, duets, choruses and overtures from operas by Verdi, Saint-Saëns and Boito, the celebrated pas de deux from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Adam’s Giselle, the waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, and an unorthodox reading of the finale of Minkus’ ballet Don Quijote. The show will be spruced up by an extra sparkle in a performance by young students of Olga Kyndlová’s PSO ballet school, with the polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin.

Premiere: Jun 6, 2011

Featured artists

• Jan Váňa, soloist of the National Opera of Ukraine ballet company
• Anna Nikulina, soloist of the ballet company of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow
• Bára Kohoutková, Ballet Mistress of the National Theatre in Prague
• Michal Krčmář, soloist of the Prague State Opera ballet ensemble
• Prague State Opera ballet ensemble

• Christina Vasileva, soprano
• Svatopluk Sem, baritone
• Veronika Hajnová, Jana Sýkorová, mezzo-soprano

• Jan Latham-Koenig, conductor
• Lubor Cukr, stage director

Prague State Opera orchestra and chorus

Programme

Giuseppe Verdi: Nabucco

• Overture

Ruggiero Leoncavallo: I pagliacci

• Prologue
• Svatopluk Sem

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The sleeping beauty

• Waltz
• PSO orchestra and corps de ballet

Camille Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila

• Mon coueur s’ouvre
• Dalila´s aria from Act 2
• Jana Sýkorová

Giuseppe Verdi: Otello

• Ave Maria
• Desdemona´s aria from Act 4
• Christina Vasileva

Charles Adolphe Adam: Giselle

• Pas de deux from Act 2
• Bára Kohoutková & Michal Krčmář
• PSO orchestra and corps de ballet

Giuseppe Verdi: Aida

• Triumphal march from Act 2

Intermission

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

• Polonaise
• Olga Kyndlová´s PSO ballet school

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Swan lake

• Pas de deux from Act 3
• Jan Váňa & Anna Nikulina
• PSO orchestra

Giuseppe Verdi: Il trovatore

• Vedi! le fosche notturne spoglie
• Chorus of gypsies from Act 2

• Stride la vampa
• Azucena´s aria from Act 2
• Veronika Hajnová

• Tutto e deserto... Il balen del suo sorriso...
• Luna´s cavatina from Act 2
• Svatopluk Sem

• Udiste... Mira, d´acerbe lagrime... Vivra, contende il giubilo
• Leonora´s and Luna´s duet from Act 4
• Christina Vasileva & Svatopluk Sem

Arrigo Boito: Mefistofele

• Salve Regina
• Chorus, finale of Prologue

Ludwig Minkus: Don Quijote

• Finale
• Soloists of the ballet