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The Best Opera Arias

Jana Sibera, soloist of the National Theatre Opera in Prague, will perform music by A.Dvořák, B.Smetana, L.Janáček, V.Bellini, G.Verdi, Ch.Gounod and L.Bernstein in collaboration with pianist Katelyn Bouska.

Jana Sibera is a graduate of the Prague Conservatory (2000) and the Academy of Music (2005). She first appeared as a guest at the National Theatre in 1995 and in 2000 began performing at the State Opera Prague. Since January 2012, she has been a soloist of the National Theatre Opera.

In State Opera and National Theatre productions she has portrayed Mozart’s Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Papagena and the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) and Despina (Così fan tutte), Donizetti’s Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Verdi’s Violetta (La traviata), Gilda (Rigoletto) and Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Puccini’s Musetta (La bohéme), Strauss’s Adele (Die Fledermaus), Thomas’s Philine (Mignon), Bizet’s Frasquita (Carmen), and performed the roles of the Turnspit and the First Wood Nymph (Dvořák: Rusalka), Clarisse (Weber – Mahler: Die drei Pintos), Cunegonde (Bernstein: Candide), the triple role of the Young Waiter/Child Prodigy/Student in Janáček’s The Excursions of Mr. Brouček (conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras), Karolina (Smetana: The Two Widows), Bystrouška (Janáček: The Cunning little Vixen), Terinka (Dvořák: The Jacobin), Gretel (Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel), etc. Her repertoire also includes the roles of Norina (Donizetti: Don Pasquale), Blonde (Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Fiorilla (Rossini: Il Turco in Italia) and Blaženka (Smetana: The Secret), which she has sung at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň. Jana Sibera appeared in more than 40 performances of Don Giovanni within the Opera Mozart summer stagione at the Estates Theatre. As a guest of the Moravia-Silesia National Theatre in Ostrava she has portrayed Verdi’s Violetta, Eurydice (OffenbachOrphée aux enfers) and Annina (Strauss: Eine Nacht in Venedig). In June 2008 she advanced to the final of the Barbara Hendricks International Vocal Competition in Strasburg, in 2011 and 2012 she appeared as Violetta in Gdansk. She has toured Japan and South Korea with the National Theatre Opera. Jana Sibera collaborated with the tenor Jonas Kaufmann on his acclaimed profile CD released on Decca. The conductors she has worked with include Marco Armiliato, Sir Charles Mackerras, Jiří Bělohlávek, Jan Latham-Koenig, Guillaume Tourniaire, and Enrico Dovico.

Katelyn Bouska

With interpretations described as “full of life, flexibility, gripping rhythms and a richness of dynamic shadings” (Milan Bátor, Czech Radio) and a skill at engaging audiences in the musical dialogue, Katelyn Bouska is a frequent solo and collaborative musician. Her unique programming combining rarely-heard Czech and American music with compositions written specifically for her by rising composers has found an audience throughout America and on the international concert stage.

In addition to her DMA from Temple University where her research centered on 20th-Century Brno composer Miloslav Ištvan, she also holds graduate degrees in historical keyboard performance, pedagogy and collaborative piano. Katelyn’s research, performing and teaching activities are engaged by advocating for music covered by the passage of time or censored by political regimes. She is most inspired by finding ways to re-contextualize our rich classical canon.

Katelyn is currently based in Philadelphia where she serves on the Music Studies Faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music. Her passion for informed and personal musical expression extends beyond her piano studio into graduate seminars on performance practice, continuo and period repertoire, and classes exploring theory and harmony as a tool to unlock the grammar of music.  With her unique combination of performance practice expertise, long-term study of the Alexander Technique, and international study and performance, she is in demand as a teacher at the private and university level.

Cost: Free

Details

Date:
April 23, 2023
Time:
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Event Category:

Venue

National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
1400 Inspiration Pl SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 United States
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Phone
319-362-8500