Josef Jelínek

Josef Jelínek is a graduate of the College of Performing Arts in Bratislava. After working for the Municipal Theatre in Zlín, since 1983 he has designed costumes on a regular basis for the National Theatre and the Prague State Opera. In the dance department of Prague’s Academy of Music he lectures on costumes and set design. He holds various awards from Czechoslovakia and abroad, including the Young Set Designer’s Award, the Prize of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, and gold medals from the Triennial in Nový Sad and the PQ in 1983. He has to his credit costume designs for more than five hundred productions in Prague, Bratislava, Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň, Berlin, and elsewhere, and has also shared as costume designer in Petr Weigl’s musical films. Occasionally he also designs sets, especially for ballet. During the existence of the Prague State Opera he has created costume designs for many productions, including most notably Rienzi, Otello, Salome, Un ballo in maschera, Nabucco, Aida, Boris Godunov, Il Trovatore, Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová and, in two productions, Jenůfa.