Introduction
Ensemble Opera Diversa is a group of professional musicians and singers, performing chamber music and chamber opera. Its origins reach back to 1999 when Ondřej Kyas and Pavel Drábek co-wrote two minioperas:
- The Parrot (in English), a 30-minute opera for 3 singers and piano, based on E.A. Poe's The Raven
- The Two Brothers (Dva bratři), a 15-minute opera in Czech for 3 singers, flute, oboe and piano
In 2003, Ensemble Opera Diversa was founded. Since then the group have premiered over 15 minioperas (written by Ondřej Kyas and Pavel Drábek) and 2 full-length chamber operas.
In 2005, Jan Bělohlávek, the principal violinist of the Ensemble founded a chamber string orchestra which performs both classical and modern music. Since 2005, the orchestra has grown both in size and in popularity, regularly collaborating with soloists and performing both new Czech music and new work by Austrian composers (collaborating with CreativesCentrum Wien, str|ngverein, OESTIG, and the Musikuniversität in Graz).
In 2006, the stage director Tomáš Studený shot an animated film based on the Ensemble's horror opera The Talking Cow.
Since 2007, Ensemble Opera Diversa has been invited to the Prague festival dedicated to professional Czech opera productions. Its productions of the horror minioperas from the Elbe River (The Talking Cow cycle) and the buffa Pickelhering 1607 ossia Il nuovo Orfeo di Boemia have won the group considerable critical acclaim.
In 2010-2011, the Ensemble are planning a series of performances and concerts, organized by Skutečnost (www.skutecnost.cz), a non-profit organization in Prague, specializing in fringe culture. This project is to be a series of international chamber opera and chamber music performances in Prague and partner cities (Bratislava, Vienna, Brno). As part of this series, the Ensemble will realize a production of Bohuslav Martinů's chamber opera of 1937 Alexandre Bis in Prague and in Brno. The Prague production will be done in collaboration with the Pavel Haas Orchestra. Lukáš Sommer (www.lukassommer.cz) has written Ela, Hela and Hitchhiking, a 20-minute miniopera for Ensemble Opera Diversa, on a libretto based on Václav Havel's early short play. Ondřej Kyas is writing a experimental 40-minute opera The Pumpkin Demon in a Vegeterian Restaurant (libretto Pavel Drábek). These new pieces, conducted by Gabriela Tardonová and directed by Tomáš Studený, will also be produced as part of the performance series in the 2010-2011 season.
Jiří Mottl, a young composer, is writing a ballet for Ensemble Opera Diversa, under the title of A Zíbrt Carnival, based on semi-pagan folk costums and rituals.
Chamber Opera Repertory
Minioperas (Composer Ondřej Kyas | librettist Pavel Drábek)
Rübezahl Strikes Back cycle:
(for 4 singers, violin, viola, cello, flute, oboe, clarinette, and harpsichord)
- The Sweeper of Leaves (2003), a late autumn opera inspired by Japanese drama
- Rübezahl’s Pond (2003), an autumn opera (set in the Krkonoše Mountains) for a wanderer, a native, and a mountain ghost, with a prelude for a meteorologist and a fog
- The Two Brothers (1999), a comical miniopera based on a story by Anthony de Mello
- A Heelpiece, a Pinscher and a Lady (2003), an autumn city miniopera for a soprano, small male choir, and a messenger of good news
- Professor Bohr's Hoof (2004), a minioperatic present based on an Isaac Asimov's anecdote
- The Young Lord (2003), a mini-miniopera for 2 male voices and a mixed choir (suitable as an encore)
Horrorroperras of the Elbe River cycle:
(for 7 singers, flute/oboe/violin, viola, clarinette and bassoon)
- The Talking Cow, or the Mysterious Bones (2005), a three-part horror opera from the Elbe River basin
- The Laughing Head, a cantata (13 minutes)
- The Elbe, a hydrologist aria (6 minutes)
- The Talking Cow, an opera (30 minutes)
- The Exodus (2008), a national miniopera for a male voice and a choir of 10 million Czechs; based on Lubor Pokluda's concept; the first part of the pentalogy The Ring of the Přemyslids
The Minioperatic Marriage Consulting Service cycle:
(for 3 singers, violin, viola, clarinette and bassoon)
- The Singing Groom (2008), a 15-minute opera for a singer, non-singer and a tacet soprano; based on two Japanese Kyogens
- Husband and Wife on a Boat (2008), a 9-minute marriage crisis for soprano and basso; based on a Japanese anecdote
- The Robber Bride (2007), an 8-minute nocturnal barter trade for soprano, basso and a pistol; based on a Japanese Kyogen farce
- The Postman, or Breeding the Pedigree Neva Masquerade (2007), a 12-minute farce for 3 singers and a couple of mistaken letters
Full-length Operas (Composer Ondřej Kyas | librettist Pavel Drábek)
- Pickelhering 1607: Il Nuovo Orfeo di Bohemia (Pickelhering 1607 aneb Nový Orfeus z Bohemie, 2007), an opera buffa for a chamber orchestra (20 musicians) and nine singers; written originally on commission of the National Theatre in Prague (as part of a project of experimental new opera; this project was discontinued before the opening night; the production is realized by Ensemble Opera Diversa); conducted by Gabriela Tardonová; directed by Pavel Drábek
- The Strange Suicide of the Lovers in Shinagawa (Společná smrt milenců v Šinagawě, 2009), a poetic opera for 10 musicians, 5 singers and a dancer, loosely based on a Japanese anecdotic tale of the Rakugo narrative art; conducted by Tomáš Hanák; directed by Tomáš Krejčí
The chamber orchestra of Ensemble Opera Diversa, under the leadership of its principal violinist Jan Bělohlávek gives concerts in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and in Austria, especially in collaboration with composers' associations. The orchestra regularly works with young choirs, the kaMUFFláž Choir, Vox iuvenalis, Musica da camera, and the Masaryk University Choir. Apart from the classical repertory, it specializes in modern Czech and Austrian music, having premiered a number of compositions. The orchestra works regularly with two brilliant young Czech conductors, Gabriela Tardonová and Tomáš Hanák, as well as with a number of others (Jan Ocetek, Tomáš Krejčí, Jakub Klecker, Michal Vajda).
Selected modern instrumental compositions written for or premiere by Ensemble Opera Diversa:
- Ondřej Kyas, Empty Streets: fantasy for string orchestra (2008)
- Ondřej Kyas, Triple Concerto for flute, clarinette, bassoon and string orchestra (2006)
- Martin Petrík, Elán concerto grosso (2004)
- Jiří Mottl, Rock'n'roll, prelude and fugue (2004)
