Betrothal in a Dream by Krása, Van (2022/2022), Geregisseerd door Jiří Nekvasil, Dirigent Marek Šedivý, Adam Sedlický, Antonín Dvořák Theatre, Ostrava, Tsjechische Republiek

"Mr. Fyodor Dostoyevsky was with me today. They sent him to me, they say he writes novels and wants to write a story about Zina. Why not, the story was very interesting." The audience of our theater may remember the name of Hans Krása from the production of the children's opera Brundibár . The opera Dream Engagement was written by this composer, whose work, like the work of many other artists of Jewish origin, ended up in the Terezín ghetto much earlier. The plot, inspired by the novella Uncle's Dreamby FM Dostoyevsky, a classic of Russian literature, brings us to the environment of a small Russian town in the middle of the 19th century. In a satirical story, characters are presented to us in comic exaggeration. The plot takes place in the house of Marya Alexandrovna, who is trying to marry her daughter Zina well. The old Prince, who returns to the city after years, fits perfectly into this plan. However, Zina is loved by his relative, the young diplomat Pavel, and she in turn wants to marry the poor, sick teacher Feďa. The plot, in which a dream plays an important role, has a surprising point... The opera had its world premiere at the New German Theater in 1933. It did not return to the building of today's State Opera until 1994, when it was staged by director Karel Drgáč in a co-production with the National Theater in Mannheim. We present it for the first time at NDM. We will open the Terezín Composers' Oper cycle , in which we will present the works of two other composers who were interned in Terezín during the war and later murdered in Auschwitz.