PROGRAMME

The Makropulos affair

Leoš Janáček
today
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Opera

7. 4. 2024 16:00–18:05
The Grand Theatre

Leoš Janáček

The Makropulos affair

Leoš Janáček belongs to the most respected composers of the previous century. His works are presented by leading opera houses worldwide.

Janáček shocked his contemporaries by the themes he selected for his operas, including the Makropulos Affair, a 1922 text by Karel Čapek.

He was surely attracted by the character of the mysterious Elina Makropulos, a daughter of court physician to Rudolph II. The emperor feared death and ordered his physician to prepare an elixir of eternal youth and immortality. Once the potion was ready the emperor ordered the physician to test it on his daughter Elina who then lived over three hundred years long. In the opera we see Elina at the end of her existence, exhausted by the excessive length of her life and wishing for death that she fears at the same time. The philosophical message of the theme – “you fools, you are so happy to be dying soon” – is still valid today. In Plzeň it will be the first time that the Macropulos Affair will be staged as opera.

scene The Grand Theatre
opening night 16. 10. 2021
length of performance 125 min
recommended age no age limit

Creators

Musical arrangement:
Norbert Baxa
Conductors:
Norbert Baxa / Jiří Štrunc
Directed by:
Martin Otava
Stage Design:
Daniel Dvořák
Costume:
Dana Haklová
Light Design:
Antonín Pfleger
Video projection:
Petr Hloušek
Script Editor:
Zbyněk Brabec
Choirmaster:
Jakub Zicha
Assistant director:
Michal Lieberzeit
Musical preparation:
Maxim Averkiev, Martin Marek
Prompter:
Matěj Vaňkát
Stage manager:
Petra Kuldová Tolašová

Prersons and actors

Emilia Marty:
Ivana Veberová
Albert Gregor:
Richard Samek
Vítek, solicitátor:
Petr Horák / Tomáš Kořínek
Krista, jeho dcera:
Magdaléna Heboussová / Zuzana Koś Kopřivová
Jaroslav Prus:
Jiří Kubík / Svatopluk Sem
Janek, jeho syn:
Jan Maria Hájek / Amir Khan
Doktor Kolenatý, advokát:
Jevhen Šokalo / František Zahradníček
Strojník:
Jan Hnyk / Dalibor Tolaš
Poklízečka:
Radka Sehnoutková / Ivana Šaková
Hauk - Šendorf:
Petr Horák / Jan Ježek
Komorná:
Jana Foff / Jana Piorecká
Lékař:
Viktor Bezkorovainyi / Roman Dušek
Orchestr opery DJKT
  • The length of the production is given including 1 intermission.

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