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A bigger stage for Baroque

Prague's finest summer festival expands its scope and venues
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By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 16th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Juan Carlos Rivera, center, and members of the Armoniosi Concerti ensemble bring a taste of Spanish Baroque.
Summer Festivities of Early Music


When: July 17-Aug. 17
Where: Historic venues in and around Prague
Tickets: 250-500 Kč, available through Ticketpro and at the venues
For individual events, see the Calendar listings; for a complete schedule, check
www.letnislavnosti.cz

One of summer’s sweetest pleasures arrives this week in the form of the Festivities of Early Music, Collegium Marianum’s annual showcase of Europe’s finest Baroque ensembles performing in a variety of colorful historic venues. The music is always first-rate, and the settings add resonance and atmosphere unmatched by any other festival in Prague.
This will be the ninth edition of the festival, which gets better every year. The organizers have topped themselves once again this summer, adding new sites such as the Loreto and Strahov Monastery, and expanding into larger spaces like Obecní dům and the State Opera. Collegium Marianum has also struck gold in its collaboration with Jean-Denis Monory, one of the Continent’s foremost experts in Baroque theater, which his ensembles re-create with grace, precision and humor that transcends language and cultural barriers.
Monory will be in town for two programs. The first, Travel Journals of a Dancing Master (Trója Chateau, July 23), is a compendium of Baroque dance styles assembled by Monory and Gudrun Skamletz, a renowned Baroque dancer and choreographer. Music will be provided by Prague’s excellent Collegium Marianum ensemble, led by star flutist Jana Semerádová.
Moliere’s Les Fourberies de Scapin packed the house at Divadlo ABC last year, and this year Monory is mounting an even more ambitious Moliere project, Le Médecin Malgré Lui (The Doctor in Spite of Himself, State Opera, Aug. 6). Monory will direct members of the French La Fabrique theater company, who will perform by candlelight in period costumes and makeup, with music, gestures and language straight out of the 17th century.
Collegium Marianum’s other running French collaboration, with the Festival de Sable, has yielded a real treasure this year — a concert performance by famed countertenor Philippe Jaroussky (Obecní dům, Aug. 17). For the festival finale, Jaroussky will perform works by Czech composer J. D. Zelenka, a contemporary and friend of Georg Philipp Telemann, accompanied by Musica Florea, an award-winning Czech Baroque orchestra.
Literally every other concert on the schedule has something special to offer, with the overall program offering a mosaic of Baroque styles from around Europe.
Cantates francaises, which opens the festival (Trója Chateau, July 17), is another French confection, with American tenor Jeffrey Thompson singing cantatas and sonatas by 17th- and 18th-century French composers, accompanied by the French Baroque ensemble Stradivaria. Zarambeques serves up a taste of Spanish Baroque (Letohrádek Chateau in Prague 6, July 31) courtesy of the famed Baroque guitar player Juan Carlos Rivera and Spanish ensemble Armoniosi Concerti. And if you dig deep enough, you can also find practitioners of Baroque music in the low countries (Flemish Zephyr, St. Havel’s church in Old Town, July 27), Hungary (Musica Hungarica, the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Vyšehrad, Aug. 13) and Poland (Alla Polacca, Strahov Monastery, Aug. 8).
If you like your Baroque straight-up — that is, from the likes of Mozart and Haydn —  then Between Amphion and Aeolus (Dobříš Chateau, July 20) will offer a lively tour of 18th-century styles, using the development of the horn in period ensembles as a framework. Music will be provided by an interesting young Austrian group, moderntimes_1800, which approaches Baroque from the viewpoint that at the time it was composed, it was not early music at all, but considered “modern.”
Two concerts offer a special focus on instruments. Triumph of the Clarinet (Břevnov Monastery, July 28) is just what the title suggests, featuring historical clarinet expert Christian Leitherer playing with Germany’s Crescendo Barock Ensemble. And for a real treat, see what Dutch bell-ringer and organist Boudewijn Zwart can do at two of Prague’s richest sacred sites (Carillon, Loreto and Strahov Monastery, July 21).
That would be a lot for any festival, much less one put together by a two-person staff working out of a small office adjoining the Collegium Marianum Baroque library hall in Old Town. The caliber of the performers reflects the collegial ties Prague’s premier Baroque ensemble has been able to forge with similar groups throughout Europe, in particular the early music specialists from France. And this year’s program reflects a big sponsor, Modrá pyramida, coming on board for the first time. In this era of diminishing public arts funding, commercial sponsorship has become critically important.
These concerts usually play to capacity crowds. So get your tickets ahead of time, go early and enjoy Prague’s best combination of enchanting music, engaging settings and world-class talent.

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


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