Якобинец by Dvořák, С (2023/2024), Режиссер Martin Glaser, Дирижёр Robert Kružík, Jakub Klecker, Janáčkovo divadlo, Брно, Чехия

We are from Bohemia and you ask if we can sing? An unknown couple arrives in a small Czech village from abroad and most of the locals watch them with suspicion. Only the old teacher Benda, a lover of music, opens his door to them, only to find that the strangers are closer to them than one might think. Music in the leading role, that is one way to sum up Dvořák’s opera The Jacobin, for it is music that can change the fate of all the characters in the opera. At the same time, Dvořák has created a charming picture of a Czech town from the Enlightenment era populated with the peculiar figures of the music-loving teacher Benda, his stubborn daughter Terinka who is in love with the young teacher Jiřík or the conceited burgrave Filip. Perhaps it was the fond recollection of the circumstances of his own youth that brought so many charming, rich melodies, both exuberant and melancholic, into Dvořák’s music, whether it be the famous school cantata scene, the duet “We Have Wandered in Foreign Lands” or Juliet’s Lullaby. What better way to start the season of the Year of Czech Music than with The Jacobin, Dvořák’s tribute to Czech music and the people who love it above all else.