Ivan Kusnjer | |
|---|---|
 Ivan Kusnjer as Hernán Cortés, in a scene from the opera La Conquista , 2005 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 10 November 1951 Rokycany |
| Genres | Opera |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Labels | Supraphon |
Ivan Kusnjer (born 10 November 1951) is a Czech baritone opera singer. [1] [2] His discography includes recordings of many of the main baritone roles of Czech opera and song.
Kusnjer was born in Rokycany in 1951. He graduated from the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, studying with Teodor Šrubař. [1] He performed as an opera singer on stages in Ostrava and Brno. In 1982 he started to work at the National Theatre in Prague. He also attended voice master classes at Accademia Sigiana in Siena and Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome.
He has performed on opera and concert stages around the world, including La Scala in Milan, Carnegie Hall in New York City, Opéra-Comique and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, Vienna's Staatsoper, La Monnaie in Brussels, and the Berlin State Opera. He has won acclaim at festivals in Cagliari, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Frankfurt and Göteborg. [3]
Ivan Kusnjer is a founder of the Fatum foundation, which supports families of musicians who died.
He has three Thalia Awards, for the roles of Tonio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (1994), King George in Peter Maxwell Davies's Eight Songs for a Mad King (1997) and Vok Vítkovic in Smetana's The Devil’s Wall (2001). He also received the Gustav Mahler Award in 2000. [3]
Václav Talich was a Czech violinist and later a musical pedagogue. He is remembered today as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, the object of countless reissues of his many recordings.
Rusalka, Op. 114, is a 1901 opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil (1868–1950) based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. A rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river. Rusalka was the ninth opera Dvořák composed. It is Dvořák's most successful opera and belongs to the repertoire of all world opera scenes.
Dalibor is a Czech opera in three acts by Bedřich Smetana. The libretto was written in German by Josef Wenzig, and translated into Czech by Ervin Špindler. It was first performed at the New Town Theatre in Prague on 16 May 1868. The opera received criticism at the time for being overly influenced by German opera, including that of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin.
Jan Panenka was a Czech pianist. He recorded many of Beethoven's works, and he played for many years with the Suk Trio.
Josef Suk was a Czech violinist, violist, chamber musician and conductor. In his home country he carried the title of National Artist.
Translated from the Czech version of wikipedia Vanda (opera).
King and Charcoal Burner, Op. 14, is a Czech comic opera in three acts, divided into 23 scenes, with music by Antonín Dvořák.
Zdeněk Košler was a Czechoslovak conductor, who played an important role in Czechoslovak musical life of the second half of 20th century, notably during the 1960s and 1980s. He was particularly well known as an opera conductor.
The Vlach Quartet is the name of two consecutive classical string quartet musical ensembles, based in Prague, both of which were founded by members of the Vlach family. The original Vlach Quartet was founded by Josef Vlach in 1950 and wound up in 1975. In 1982 the New Vlach Quartet was founded by his daughter Jana Vlachova, with guidance her father, and came to be known as the Vlach Quartet of Prague, and is still active as a musical ensemble.
Ivo Žídek was a Czech lyric tenor, known for his vivid portrayals of character roles in the operas of Smetana, Dvořák and Janáček.
Václav Zítek was a Czech opera singer. A lyric baritone with a beautiful timbre and a wide vocal range, he was one of the leading Czech singers of the postwar generation. He particularly excelled in portraying Janáček and Smetana heroes. His voice is preserved on numerous opera recordings made with the Supraphon record label.
Přemysl Kočí was a Czech operatic baritone, actor, music educator, stage director, theatre manager and official of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
Milada Šubrtová was a Czech operatic soprano who had a lengthy career at the National Theatre in Prague from 1948 through 1991. She was part of an instrumental group of the post-World War II Czech opera singers that was responsible for popularizing Czech opera internationally. She drew particular acclaim for her portrayals of the title heroines in Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa and Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka. Her voice is preserved on a few complete opera recordings made on the Supraphon label. In 1998 she was honored with a Thalia Award.
Jaroslav Souček was a Czech operatic baritone who had an active career in his native country from 1960 through 1997. He sang a broad repertoire that encompassed roles from Czech, English, French, German, Italian, and Russian operas from a variety of musical periods. He was also active as a concert singer and performed numerous times with the Czech Philharmonic. His voice is preserved on a number of Czech radio broadcasts and CD and DVD recordings made on the Supraphon label.
Karel Hruška was a Czechoslovak tenor, radio personality, and actor of the stage and film. He was an unusual singer for his day in that he recorded and performed both classical and popular music. Possessing a great comic talent, he specialized in creating character parts on the opera stage. He was a much loved Principál komediantů in Bedřich Smetana's The Bartered Bride, notably portraying the role a total of 855 times during his career.
Josef Richard Rozkošný was a Czech composer and pianist. He was born and died in Prague, where he studied music.
Bohumil Gregor was a Czech conductor.
Karlštejn (1916) is an opera by Czech composer Vítězslav Novák, a pupil of Dvořák. It was the composer's second opera and written with nationalist intentions during World War I. The plot is based on Jaroslav Vrchlický's drama of the same name. It was moderately successful and performed over 70 times in Prague.
The Death of Vlasta is a 1903 opera by Otakar Ostrčil. The story concerns Vlasta, leader of warriors in The Maidens' War legend and is connected to the subject matter of Smetana's Libuše and Fibich's Šárka.
Adolf Čech was a Czech conductor, who premiered a number of significant works by Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Zdeněk Fibich and other Czech composers. He also led the first performances outside Russia of two operas by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the Czech premieres of seven operettas by Jacques Offenbach. He was also a bass singer and a translator of opera librettos.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
 | This article about an opera singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This Czech biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
