Photo: Lukáš Kimlička
The gala concert “Tenor Petr Nekoranec in Recital” is the opening event of the Year of Czech Music abroad. The concert will feature songs by Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček and Bohuslav Martinů. The program offers a special performance of Janáček's extraordinary cycle “The Diary of One Who Disappeared.” Introductory remarks by Michael Beckerman, Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor of Music at New York University.
Tenor Petr Nekoranec (Czech National Theater, Prague) is one of the most outstanding vocal talents of the young Czech generation. From the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Program to leading roles with major opera companies around the world, Nekoranec dazzles with his performances of opera and song. The evening will also feature pianist Valeria Polunina.
Program
Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884)
He Who Can Play the Golden Strings / Kdo v zlaté struny hrát zná /
from the cycle Evening Songs / z cyklu Večerní písně |
Leoš Janáček (1854–1928)
Mementos / Památky
from the cycle Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs / z cyklu Moravská lidová poezie v písních
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Forsaken Love / Opuštěný milý
Longing / Touha
The High Steeple / Vysoká veža
The Unhappy Lover / Smutný milý
from the cycle The New Chap-Book / z cyklu Nový špalíček
Bohuslav Martinů
Dew / Rosička
Unlocked by a Word / Otevření slovečkem
from the cycle Songs on One Page / z cyklu Písničky na jednu stránku
Leoš Janáček
Lover’s Likeness / Obrázek milého
Steadiness / Stálost
from the cycle Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs / z cyklu Moravská lidová poezie v písních
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
My only dear one, my dear love / Ó duše drahá jedinká
from the cycle Love Songs / z cyklu Milostné písně
Hey! How my triangle rings so sweetly / Aj, kterak trojhranec můj
The woods are silent all around / A les je tichý kolem kol
from the cycle Gypsy Melodies / z cyklu Cigánské melodie
Bohuslav Martinů
The Inquisitive Girl / Zvědavá dievča
from the cycle The New Chap-Book / z cyklu Nový špalíček
Leoš Janáček
The Diary of One Who Disappeared / Zápisník zmizelého
song cycle for tenor, alto, three female voices and piano on text by Ozef Kalda / písňový cyklus pro tenor, alt, tři ženské hlasy a klavír na text Ozefa Kaldy
1. Potkal sem mladou cigánku | One day I met a gypsy girl
2. Ta černá cigánka | That black-eyed gypsy
3. Svatojánské mušky tančia po hrázi | Twilight glow-worms
4. Už mladé vlaštúvky v hnízdě vrnoží | Already swallows
5. Těžko sa mi oře, vyspal sem sa malo | Weary work is ploughing
6. Hajsi, vy siví volci | Hey there, my tawny oxen
7. Ztratil sem kolíček | I’ve got a loose axle
8. Nehleďte, volečci | Don’t look, my oxen
9. Tahne vůňa k lesu | From the ripening cornfield
10. Tmavá olšinka | Forest’s shady height
11. Klavírní mezihra | Intermezzo erotico
12. Slnéčko sa zdvíhá | See how high the sun is
13. Moji siví volci | Now my tawny oxen
14. Co sem to udělal? | What has come over me?
15. Co komu súzeno | Who can escape his fate?
16. Nedbám já včil o nic | Nothing matters now
17. Letí straka, letí | See that thieving magpie
18. Mám já panenku | Have I a beauty
19. Můj drahý tatíčku | Father, how wrong you were
20. Sbohem, rodný kraju | Then farewell, dearest land
The Year of Czech Music celebrates Czech composers and their masterworks as well as gifted performers once every decade. This year it honors Bedřich Smetana (200th anniversary), Leoš Janáček (170th anniversary), Antonín Dvořák (120th anniversary of his death), and many others, marking important dates in the rich and diverse history of Czech music.
The event has sold out.
About
PETR NEKORANEC is one of the most outstanding talents of the young Czech singing generation. In the 2023/24 season, he assumes the roles of Nemorino in the new production of L’elisir d’amore, and Vít in the new production of Smetana’s The Secret, both at the National Theatre in Prague. In December 2023, he will create Ramiro in the concert version of Rossini’s La cenerentola in Prague’s Smetana Hall. Abroad he will guest as Arbace (Idomeneo) at the Opéra nationale du Capitol in Toulouse, and David (David et Jonathas) at the Théâtre de Caen, in Nancy, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg and Teatro Real Madrid.
Nekoranec’s recent opera engagements have included the roles of Asprando (N.A. Porpora: Carlo Il Calvo) at the Margrave Theatre in Bayreuth, Yuródivïy (Boris Godunov) at the Stuttgart State Opera, Almaviva at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, Oronte (Händel: Alcina) in Florence alongside Cecilia Bartoli in the title role, and Pylades (Gluck: Iphigenie na Tauride) at the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy. He regularly cooperates with front orchestras (Czech Philharmonic, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra São Paulo, Warsaw Philharmonic), and conductors (†Jiří Bělohlávek, †James Levine, Keath Lockhart, Alexander Liebreich, Petr Popelka, Gianluca Cappuano, Robert Jindra, Giacomo Sagripanti, Petr Altrichter, Tomáš Netopil, Oxana Lyniv, Emanuel Villaume, etc.). He passionately devotes himself to contemporary music, he collaborates with the British composer Iain Bell.
In 2016, Petr Nekoranec was selected for the Lindemann Program at the Metropolitan Opera for 2 years as the first Czech to be accepted into this important project. In 2014–2016 he was a member of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and its opera studio, where he created a number of roles including the title roles in the operas Le Comte Ory and Albert Herring. For Albert Herring, he was awarded the Bavarian Arts Prize in Munich on 28th November 2016. In January 2018, he received another prestigious award: the Classic Prague Awards for the 2017 Talent of the Year. In autumn 2019, his profile album French Arias (Supraphon; Czech Philharmonic, conductor Christopher Franklin) was released.
Nekoranec is a laureate of a number of prestigious European competitions. In October 2021, he won the 2nd prize in the Vincerò World Singing Competition in Naples, in January 2017 he became the absolute winner of the Francesco Viñas International Competition, held at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, where he also received the Plácido Domingo Award. Petr Nekoranec studied singing at the Pardubice Conservatoire with Jarmila Chaloupková and collaborates with the Italian operatic tenor and tutor Antonio Carangelo.
This event is presented by the Dvořák American Heritage Association in partnership with the Czech Center New York, with the support of the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York and the Bohemian Benevolent Literary Association.
