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November 22nd, 2008
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Return of an old flame

Zurich-based soprano Martina Janková comes home
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January 3rd, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
A long way from Ostrava. Martina Janková is an ambassador for Czech music.
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Martina Janková

When: Monday, Jan. 7, at 7:30
Where: Dvořák Hall, Rudolfinum
Tickets: 220–600 Kč

By Patrick Sisson
For the Post
Located near the shores of Zürichsee, the picturesque and stately Opernhaus Zürich is often buffeted by summer breezes from the lake. But the true breath of fresh air for the institution has been the sweet sounds of Czech-born lyric soprano Martina Janková, who has been a celebrated addition since joining the company in 1998. While the cosmopolitan Janková loves living in the natural splendor of nearby Bern, where she currently resides, she never loses sight of her homeland. That’s why the program she’ll be performing Jan. 7 when she returns to the Rudolfinum, a selection of romantic airs from the likes of Schumann and Mendelssohn, makes for a fitting homecoming.
“I’m very glad when I come back,” Janková said. “I love showing this audience all that I have learned, at home and abroad.” Janková has been making her mark in the international opera world for years, especially since joining the Zurich Opera and making it her music home base, performing in Germany, Italy and even Japan. Her voice, which she considers light, is very suitable to the work of the German masters, and their music has been a bedrock of her continually expanding repertoire. She is overjoyed with the opportunities a united Europe presents her, fully taking advantage of that fact.
Her roots, however, are firmly set in Czech music, especially the folk melodies of her native Moravia. Her parents were both amateur musicians, and she remembers singing from the age of 3. She has fond memories of spending idyllic summers with her grandmother in the town of Frydlant, performing ad hoc outdoor concerts with local musicians and reveling in the sounds of the cimbalom, violin and contrabass. That early passion led her to study music at a conservatory, and, while she said she enjoyed jazz, folk and opera music are truly her real languages of expression. In fact, the singer really fell in love with opera for the first time when she heard the melodies of the Czech composer Leoš Janáček, who infuses his lyrical songs with fragments of Moravian and Slovak folk songs.
“He was the key to opera for me,” she said. “I fell so deeply in love with his music, which led me to buy a lot of records and begin studying and learning Mozart and other composers at home.”
Janková eventually studied opera in Ostrava, and, while she feels singing is her true strength, the musician took to the dramatic side of stage performance. “It’s something that’s been with me since the beginning,” she said. “I didn’t need to learn it. I sing better when I can play and perform. I can be an actress and I forget myself, losing myself in the role.”
She’s received high marks for her dramatic interpretations, especially for a recent Zurich Opera House performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni released on DVD, where she performed the role of the peasant girl Zerlina with English baritone Simon Keenlyside in the title role. “I’m still very happy on stage,” she said.  “It’s really my life. I feel truly at home.”
This is far from Janková’s first performance in Prague, as she makes it a priority to balance performance at home and abroad. She recalls when, during the communist era, many were denied the opportunity to travel and experience different cultures firsthand. During her university studies, she had the opportunity to sing the part of Destina in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte at the National Theater in 1991, her first steps on a professional stage. She’s done numerous concerts with the Czech Philharmonic, has done Mahler and Mozart recitals here, and has plans to return often in the future, including a Hayden recital in 2009. They are all opportunities for the diva to embrace the cultural exchange that has fueled her expansive career.
Patrick Sisson can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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