About Diversa
Ensemble Opera Diversa is a company of young professional musicians and singers. Our aim is to perform chamber music and opera in a "diversed" way, with utmost care for the spectator and the listener, ideally in informal venues allowing immediate responses and a close contact between the performers and the audience. Besides a classical repertoire we perform new compositions, such as the (mini)operas of the author team Ondřej Kyas (music) and Pavel Drábek (libretto).
For us, opera is a live genre which needs further cultivation and development; we believe opera has come out of arty laboratories and elite sanctuaries, and search for new audiences. The motto of our Ensemble formulates our artistic programme: OPERA – MUSICA – ORSO – TERREMOTO (opera-music-bear-earthquake). It is a tribute to Benedetto Marcello's visionary treatise Teatro alla moda (1721).
Ensemble Opera Diversa has 3 lines of activities:
- chamber concerts, performed by a 15-member string orchestra (principal violin Jan Bělohlávek) and wind instrumentalists (conductors: Gabriela Tardonová and Tomáš Hanák)
- chamber operas – minioperas and full-length pieces – composed for a few solo voices and a mixed ensemble of mostly wind instruments; stage direction by Tomáš Studený, stage design by Sylva Marková
- choral music, performed by the chamber choir Ensemble Versus, conducted by Vladimír Maňas
Selected Repertoire
Chamber Orchestra
- classical solo concertos (Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann)
- classical repertoire for strings (Mozart, Classicism, Dvořák, Grieg, Janáček)
- classical oratorios and cantatas
- new music by modern composers (Czech Republic, Austria, Latvia)
Chamber Operas
- Kyas|Drábek,
Cycles:
The Horrorropperras of the Elbe Region, or The Talking Cow and other Monsters (Labske horrorropperry, aneb Mluvící dobytek a jiné přízraky, 2005), a horror triple bill, consisting of The Laughing Head (Smějící se hlava), The Elbe (Labe, a hydrological aria), and The Talking Cow (Mluvící dobytek) (50’)
The Minioperatic Marriage Consultancy (Minioperní manželská poradna, 2008), a cycle of 4 minioperas, inspired by Japanese Kyogen farce (40’)
Rubezahl Strikes Back (Rýbrcoul vrací úder, 2003), consisting of The Sweeper of Leaves (Metařka listí), Rubezahl's Pond (Rýbrcoulova tůň), Professor Bohr's Hoof (Podkova profesora Bohra) and others - Bach, The Coffee Cantata (1719)
- Loos, Opera bohemica de camino (The Czech Chimney Opera, 1775)
Full-lenght Operas
- Kyas|Drábek,
Pickelhering 1607 ossia Il nuovo Orfeo di Boemia (Pickelhering 1607 aneb Nový Orfeus z Bohemie, 2007), a comical opera for 18 musicians, 7 singers and 2 Bohemian devils (100’), directed by Tomáš Studený, stage design by Sylva Marková, conducted by Gabriela Tardonová; one of top ten opera productions of the 2007/2008 season (Harmonie 8/2008); libretto awarded with the Masaryk University Rector's Prize
The Strange Suicide of two Lovers in Shinagawa (Společná smrt milenců v Šinagawě, 2009), a poetic chamber opera for 5 singers, a dancer and 10 musicians (65’), directed by Tomáš Studený, stage design by Sylva Marková, conducted by Tomáš Hanák
Ensemble Members (active in the past year)
Chamber Orchestra
Violin I
- Jan Bělohlávek – principal violin
- Adam Novák – deputy
- Renata Staňková
- Veronika Petrášová
- Magdalena Graffová
- Vojtěch Zajíc
Violin II
- Václav Zajíc
- Kristina Czajkowská
- Monika Skřivánková
- Lukáš Mik
- Ján Vindiš
- Filip Kostelecký
Viola
- David Křivský
- Kateřina Stanislavová
- Barbora Kozáková
- David Šlechta
Violoncello
- David Hrubý
- Lukáš Svoboda
- Ondřej Kratochvíl
Double Bass
- Anežka Moravčíková
- Barbora Opršálová
Flute
- Michal Vojáček
- Iveta Kundrátová
Oboe
- Hana Drábková
- Ivana Jenešová
Clarinette
- Lubor Pokluda
- Pavla Caletková
Bassoon
- Pavel Horák
- Jan Dvořák
- Vít Procházka
Corn
- Martin Novák
- Jan Kelnar
Harpsichord
- Monika Šujanová
Singers
Sopranos
- Ivana Krejčiříková
- Lucie Kašpárková
- Jana Chocholatá
- Hana Škarková
Altos
- Veronika Demelová
Tenors
- Petr Pytlík
- Jakub Tuček
- Zdeněk Nečas
- Ondřej Koplík
Bassi
- Aleš Janiga
- Martin Kux
- Ondřej Kyas
- Martin Šujan
- Jan Štáva
- David Vonšík
Authors
Libretto
- Pavel Drábek – vedoucí souboru
Music
- Ondřej Kyas
- Jiří Mottl
Dramaturg and Ensemble Versus Choir Master
- Vladimír Maňas
Stage Director
- Tomáš Studený
Stage Designer
- Sylva Marková
Graphics
- Tomáš Hrůza
Conductors
- Tomáš Hanák
- Gabriela Tardonová
Management and production
- Pavel Drábek
- Lubor Pokluda
- Zdeněk Nečas
- Petr Pytlík
- Tomáš Pilař
- Pavlína Sedláčková
Ensemble Opera Diversa is officially registered as a non-governemental organization Opera Diversa, o.s. (Klíny 67, 615 00 Brno; IČ: 27015271; e-mail: ensemble(zavináč)operadiversa(tečka)cz; telephone: +420 737 584 287). The trustees are Pavel Drábek (chair), Jan Bělohlávek (vice chair), Lubor Pokluda (secretary), Lucie Kašpárková and Ondřej Kyas.
