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Jana Sýkorová, Prague's Carmen
Czech contralto Jana Sýkorová, "Prague's Carmen",
has reprised this role in
six different productions. As a leading soloist
with the
Prague State Opera since 1999, her performances have included the title roles Carmen,
Orlando,
Elephant Man,
Phaedra,
Death as well as Ulrica, Maddalena, La Cieca, Olga, Ježibaba
(in Dvořák's Rusalka), Fenena,
Suzuki, Sesto and others.
Since 2002 Jana Sýkorová
has been a permanent guest soloist witht
the
Prague
National Theatre Opera
having been featured a.o. as
Carmen and in
less known Czech repertory as Kate in
Dvořák's
Kate and the Devil
or
Panna Roza in Smetana's The Secret.
Included among the many
roles Jana Sýkorová has performed with the Prague State Opera are title roles in
Prague world premieres of works by Czech
contemporary composer and renowned jazz pianist
Emil Viklicky, the opera Phaedra and the opera-oratorio The Ploughman and the Death,
and of the opera Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man by French
contemporary composer and renowned movie music maker Laurent Petitgirard.
Her performances in the follow-on French premiere of the Elephant Man with Nice Opera won acclaim of
international critics as well as did the
subsequently released DVD (Marco Polo label
- Gramophone Magazine's DVD of the Month, February 2005). See Jana Sýkorová's
reviews.
Jana Sýkorová's guest performances have included
a.o. Grimgerde ind Die Walküre at Wagner Festival
in Wels, Austria,
Death in Berlin, Elephant Man, and Maddalena in
Nice (with Mo Marco Guidarini). In 2007 Ms Sýkorová made her
successful debut with London
Royal Opera House Covent Garden as
Maddalena (a David McVicar
production, with Mo Renato Palumbo), where she returned to perform the
role of
Mercédès and to cover
Carmen in 2008 (a Francesca Zambello production, with Mo Daniel Oren).
Ms Sýkorová has performed in symphonic concerts in Denmark, Norway, France,
Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, Slovakia and in Japan. Her concert
repertoire includes great oratorios by Dvořák, Händel, Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert, Saint-Saëns, Verdi and Janáček, cantatas by Massenet, Debussy,
Prokofiev, Stravinsky, vocal symphonies by Beethoven, Mahler, Skryabin,
incidental Music by Falla, Grieg, lieder by Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, Berlioz, Falla,
Wagner, Brahms, Mahler. See Jana Sýkorová's
concert repertoire.
Particular mention should be made in regard to her
performances in Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with the Czech Philharmonic
Orchestra at Tokyo Suntory Hall and with Prague Symphony Orchestra in Rome, in
Dvořák’s Requiem at Trondheim Festival, Norway, in Martinu’s rarely
performed lieder Nipponari with Mo Mark Stringer in Glasgow, in Massenet’s cantata Marie-Magdeleine and in de Falla’s El Amor Brujo,
in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass in Japan. Her 2008 concerts have included
a.o. the song cycle Nuit Persane and Pallas Athène
in Saint-Saëns’ newly rediscovered opera Hélène
in
solemn concerts for 120th Anniversary of Prague State Opera (formerly New German
Theatre), Shostakovich’s Jewish Poetry in Brno, Beethoven’s
Missa
Solemnis in Spain, Dvořák's Requiem and Janáček’s
Glagolitic Mass in Japan.
Most recently she has performed Berio’s Folk Songs in Hradec Králové, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass and
Brahms' Alto
Rhapsody with Mo Bernhard Klee in Denmark, de Falla's
El Amor Brujo in Prague with Ma Joanna Carneiro, Dvořák's Moravian Duets
with soprano Simona Šaturová in Budapest and Dvořák’s cantata St. Ludmila
with Mo Gerd Albrecht in Holland.
Jana Sýkorová's upcoming
concerts will feature Dvořák's Requiem, Skryabin's Symphony No 1 with Mo
Eliahu Inbal, Prokofiev's cantata Alexander Nevski with Mo Gerd
Albrecht in Stuttgart and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with Sir Charles
Mackerras. Her 2010 plans include both Symphony No 2 and Symphony No 3
by Mahler. |
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In addition to an extensive concert career Ms
Sýkorová has recorded Dvořák's opera The Stubborn Lovers under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek for the Supraphon label
and has also recorded several oratorios as Dvořák's Stabat Mater, Ryba's Czech Christmas Mass,
cantatas as Massenet’s Marie-Magdeleine and several
lieder cycles of Czech contemporary composers (Eben, Lukáš, Neumann, Marek) for the Czech
Broadcasting Authority. See Jana Sýkorová's
list of recordings.
Ms
Jana Sýkorová was awarded many prizes:
- 1998
“Europäischer Förderpreis für junge Künstler”
- 1997 First Prize and Laureateship in Junior Category, Antonín Dvořák International Singing Contest,
Karlovy Vary
- 1997 Prize awarded by the Czech Broadcasting Authority for best realization of a 20th
Century Song Cycle, Antonín Dvořák International Singing Contest, Karlovy Vary
- 1997 Stanislaw Moniuszko Prize, Antonín Dvořák International Singing Contest,
Karlovy Vary
- 1996 Jarmila Novotná Prize, Antonín Dvořák International Singing Contest,
Karlovy Vary
- 1995 First Prize, International Contest of Conservatories of Music,
Pardubice
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