National Theatre Prague

Conductor: Robert Jindra

Stage director Sláva Daubnerová

Set designer Lucia Škandíková

Costume designer Tereza Kopecká

Lighting designer Daniel Tesař

Movement collaboration Jan Adam

Videoart Dominik Žižka

Dramaturgy Ondřej Hučín

Photo: Petr Neubert

Premiere: 19.1.2024 The Estates Theatre Prague

Cast:

Komponist: Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir

Haushofmeister: Dagmar Pecková

Primadonna/ Ariadne: Cornelia Beskow

Tenor/ Bacchus: Magnus Vigilius

Zerbinetta: Ziyi Dai

Musiklehrer: Pavol Kubáň

Tanzmeister: Jaroslav Březina

Harlekin: Lukáš Bařák

Brighella: Daniel Matoušek

Scaramuccio: Jozef Moravec

Truffaldino: Jan Hnyk

Najade: Lenka Máčiková

Dryade: Michaela Zajmi

Echo: Yukiko Kinjo

Lakai: Martin Matoušek

Perückenmacher: Radek Martinec

Offizier: Petr Dvořák

Dancers: Balet Opery Národního divadla

Orchestr Národního divadla

The Royal Swedish Opera Stockholm

MUSIC

Mikael Karlsson

LIBRETTO

Royce Vavrek

Based on the film by Lars von Trier

World premiere at the Royal Swedish Opera October 7, 2023

ORCHESTRATION

Michael P. Atkinson & Mikael Karlsson

CONDUCTOR

Andrea Molino

DIRECTOR

Sláva Daubnerová

SET DESIGN

Boris Kudlicka

COSTUME DESIGN

Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko

LIGHT DESIGN

Tom Visser

SOUND DESIGN

Avgoustos Psillas

VIDEO

Bartek Macias

DRAMATURGE

Katarina Aronsson

CHOREOGRAPHY

Charlotta Öfverholm

LANGUAGE

Sung in English, with Swedish surtitles

Photo credit: Royal Swedish Opera/ Sören Vilks

RUNNING TIME

Approx. 3 hrs incl. interval.

Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe

An opera in one act by Richard Strauss.

Conductor: Georg Fritzsch

Stage director: Sláva Daubnerová

Set designer: Boris Kudlička

Costume designer: Cedric Mpaka

Lighting designer: Christoph Pöschko

Video designer: Bartek Macias

Choreographer: Tomek Wygoda

Dramaturge: Florian Köfler

Photo: Felix Grünschloß

Premiere: May 14 2022

Salome: Pauliina Linnosaari / Miriam Clark, Jochanaan: Thomas Hall, Herodes: Matthias Wohlbrecht, Herodias: Karin Lovelius / Christina Niessen, Narraboth: Kai Kluge / Nutthaporn Thammathi, Ein Page der Herodias: Ariana Lucas, First Jew: Paul Kaufmann, Second Jew: Merlin Wagner, Third Jew: Harrie van der Plas, Fourth Jew: Eleazar Rodríguez, Fifth Jew: Yang Xu, First Nazarene: Vazgen Gazaryan, Second Nazarene: Florian Tavic, First soldier: Nathanaël Tavernier, Second soldier: Yang Xu, A Cappadocian: Vazgen Gazaryan, A slave: Henriette Schein

Orchestra: Badische Staatskapelle Statisterie des BADISCHEN STAATSTHEATERS

Reviews:

SWR2.de -Bernd Künzig: Scherzo mit tödlichem Ausgang – „Salome“ am Badischen Staatstheater Karlsruhe

Opernglas 7/8 2022 - J.-M. Wienecke: Karlsruhe Salome

Staatstheater Kassel

Opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

Conductor: Francesco Angelico

Stage director: Sláva Daubnerová

Set designer: Sebastian Hannak

Costume designer: Dorota Karolczak

Video designer: Konrad Kästner

Dramaturge: Sarah Schnoor

Lighting designer: Jürgen Kolb

Chorus master: Marco Zeiser Celesti

Chorus master CANTAMUS-Chor: Maria Radzikhovskiy

Photos: Sebastian Hannak, Nils Klinger

With Oksana Sekerina (Floria Tosca), Ricardo Tamura (Mario Cavaradossi), Hansung Yoo (Scarpia), Sam Taskinen (Cesare Angelotti), Michael Tews (Mesner) ,…

Premiere: Samstag, 25. September, 2021

Reviews:

The Mariinsky Theatre St Petersburg

Music and libretto by Rodion Shchedrin after Vladimir Nabokov’s eponymous novel

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev Conductor: Sergey Neller Stage Director: Sláva Daubnerová Set Designer: Boris Kudlička Costume Designer: Natalia Kitamikado Lighting Designer: Daniel Tesař Video Designers: Jakub Gulyás, Dominik Žižka Musical Preparation: Irina Soboleva Chorus Master: Pavel Teplov

PERFORMERS Conductor: Valery Gergiev Lolita: Pelageya Kurennaya Humbert Humbert: Petr Sokolov Charlotte: Daria Rositskaya Claire Quilty: Aleš Briscein

News: The Mariinsky Theatre production LOLITA is nominated to the Golden Mask Award- Russian National Theatre Award for the season 2020/21. Rodion Schedrin's Lolita opera staged by Sláva Daubnerová will compete to The Best Opera Production. Also, Pelageya Kurennaya (Lolita) is listed as The Best Female Singer nominee, Alexander Mikhailov (Clare Quilty) and Petr Sokolov (Humbert) as The Best Male Singer. Petr Sokolov received the prestigeous St. Petersburg Teatre Award "Golden Soffit" for his portrayal of Humbert in Shchedrin's "Lolita" at the Mariinsky Theatre as well the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers for The Best Chorus Performance.

Original production by the National Theatre in Prague (2019) Premiere of this production: 3 October 2019, National Theatre, Prague Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 13 February 2020, St Petersburg

National Theatre Prague

Musical preparation and conductor: Sergey Neller
Stage director and choreography: Sláva Daubnerová
Sets: Boris Kudlička
Costumes: Natalia Kitamikado
Light design: Daniel Tesař
Videoart: Dominik Žižka, Jakub Gulyás
Chorus master: Adolf Melichar
Chorus master:Petr Louženský
Dramaturgy: Jitka Slavíková

Pelageya Kurennaya, Lolita, Petr Sokolov, Humbert Humbert, Alexander Kravets/Aleš Briscein Claire Quilty, Daria Rositskaya/ Veronika Hajnová Charlotte State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Kühn's Children's Choir Premiere performances: 3 and 5 October 2019

Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin created an opera set to Nabokov’s best-known work. The very first Czech production of Shchedrin’s Lolita was created for the National Theatre in Prague by the renowned Slovak director and performance artist Sláva Daubnerová, who is noted for her singular approach to 20th–century opera, affording it a forcible and visually provocative touch.

“National Theatre Prague - Shchedrin - Lolita Mit entsprechender Ernsthaftigkeit einem heiklen Thema wie Pädophilie gegenüber gelang der Regisseurin Sláva Daubnerová eine eindrucksvoll intensive Theaterarbeit die in keiner Hinsicht zu wünschen übrig ließ. Das war pures Handwerk und Gefühl für starke Bilder und Differenziertheit, begünstigt durch Komposition und Textbuch, beides aus der Hand von Schtschedrin. Er trifft sowohl musikalisch mit seiner meister haft gestalteten Partitur, die ganz mit traditioneller Besetzung auskommt, als auch mit knapp gehaltenen, stets inhaltlich ohne Umwege auf den Punkt gebrachten Dialogen sehr konzentriert den Kern des Stückes: ein in sich gefangener, getriebener Mann, der sich und andere zerstört.” G. Helbig, Opernglas 12/2019

“Was zunächst erstaunt bei dem heiklen Stoff: Sláva Daubnerová verweigert jede Aktualisierung oder ideologische Kontextualisierung. Doch die Zurückhaltung der slowakischen Regisseurin, Schauspielerin und Autorin bekommt Shchedrins «Lolita»-Oper ausgezeichnet.” Volker Tarnow, Opernwelt

“Sie formte aus jeder Rolle in der Personenführung klar umrissene Charaktere, und wenn das Buch wie auch die Oper von Sex handeln, so gibt es im ganzen Stück im Grunde nur zwei „Sexszenen“, die von dieser Regisseurin wohltuend dezent, äußerst geschmackvoll, nicht voyeuristisch umgesetzt wurden…” Sune Manninen, onlinemerker.com

“Mit Rodion Schtschedrins Oper „Lolita“ erlebt das Prager Ständetheater eine Sternstunde des zeitgenössischen Musikschaffens…Die Regisseurin Sláva Daubnerová geht mit bösartiger Präzision vor. Boris Kudličkas Bühnenbild erinnert in seiner brutalen Ödnis an Filmszenen aus Lars von Triers Amerika-Triologie.” Sebastian Hennig, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“Inszeniert wurde die tschechische Erstaufführung dieser ziemlich drastischen Oper von Regisseurin Sláva Daubnerová, die innere Vorgänge und szenische Entwicklungen gekonnt miteinander verbunden hat..Aufregendes, ergreifendes und mitunter auch mitreißendes Musiktheater also, das von Boris Kudlicka (Bühne) und Natalia Kitamikado (Kostüme) den 60er und 70er Jahren verhaftet blieb, was glaubhaft, jedoch nie gestrig gewirkt hat, sondern – Stichwort #MeToo – starke Bezüge auch zu Gegenwärtigem aufwies. Michael Ernst, Neue Musikzeitung

“Slovak director Sláva Daubnerová doesnʼt back off the characterizations – from the opening notes, Humbert is a ruthless sexual predator with no grey shadings, thoroughly amoral and filled with loathsome self-pity. But she places him in a morally ambiguous universe.” Frank Kuznik, Bachtrack

National Theatre Prague

Musical preparation: Jaroslav Kyzlink
Conductor: Jaroslav Kyzlink
Stage director and choreography: Sláva Daubnerová
Sets: Pavel Borák
Costumes: Simona Vachálková
Videoart: Erik Bartoš
Chorus master: Martin Buchta
Dramaturgy: Ondřej Hučín

The National Theatre Chorus and Orchestra Photo: Pavel Borecký, Hana Smejkalová Premieres 22. and 25. April 2018

Festivals: The International Festival Janáček Brno 2018

Leoš Janáček’s opera The Excursions of Mr. Brouček is an absurd burlesque about the chronic moral insufficiencies of the Czech man, or – even better – little man. Bringing to bear the tools of satire and irony (which are, fortunately, close to us), the diagnosis was first described by the great Czech poet and prose writer Svatopluk Čech in his two 1888 “Brouček” novels. Subsequently, the subject was undertaken by Leoš Janáček, who furnished it with equally satirically and ironically refined, or sharpened, music. Janáček’s indisputably most comical opera took some nine years (1908–1917) to write, as the composer strove to furnish it with an appropriate final form. ”

«Die Ausflüge des Herrn Brouček» gehören zu den selten gezeigten Meisterwerken Janáčeks. Und zwar deswegen, weil die 1917, unmittelbar vor «Katja Kabanowa» entstandene Oper nicht als solches gilt. Begründet wird das Urteil mit dem chaotischen Libretto, an dem mindestens vier Autoren beteiligt waren, unter ihnen auch der Komponist; schon die literarische Vorlage ist ziemlich disparat, handelt es sich doch um gleich zwei Romane Svatopluk Čechs: «Herrn Broučeks Ausflug zum Mond» und «Herrn Broučeks Ausflug ins 15. Jahrhundert. Doch funktioniert Janáčeks fünfte Oper dramaturgisch ausgezeichnet, wenn sich, wie jetzt in Prag, die Regisseurin Sláva Daubnerová ihrer annimmt und das gesamte Team stimmige, traumhaft schöne Beiträge liefert. Hier steht die Moritat vom Kleinbürger Brouček (auf Deutsch: ‹Käfer›) gleichermaßen für eine köstliche Komödie wie für eine philosophische Tragödie, überwältigend in der Bildhaftigkeit seiner mannigfaltigen Milieus und rein musikalisch über jeden Zweifel erhaben. Mehr als in anderen Bühnenwerken bemüht Janáček hier die Leitmotivtechnik, was den abrupten Szenen- und Stimmungswechseln strukturellen Halt verleiht. Teils schwelgerisches, teils ironisches.» Volker Tarnow, Opernwelt

“Bereits hier zeigt sich die wohltuend respektlose Inszenierung der noch jungen Slowakin Slava ́ Daubnerova ́, sie abstrahiert rauf und runter, was an szenischem und thematischen Klimbim die surrealen, meist unzusammenhängenden Aktionen hemmen könnte. Im abstrakt-weißen Raum zeigt sie Broučeks Ängste und Nöte ebenso wie seinen Größenwahn. Keine Biergläser weit und breit, nur Chiffren und Versatzstücke aus anderen Gedanken- welten. Bildnerische Zitate von Max Ernst bis Henri Matisse. Die Prager Bürger in schwarzen Anzügen mit schwarzen Melonen.” Walter Gürtelschmied, Die Presse

The State Opera Prague

Conductor: Marco Guidarini 
Stage director: Sláva Daubnerová 
Set designer: Juraj Kuchárek 
Costume designer: Martin Kotúček 
Lighting designer: Daniel Tesař 
Video: Lukáš Kodoň 
Movement collaboration: Stanislava Vlčeková 
Chorus master: Adolf Melichar 
Dramaturgy: Jitka Slavíková

State Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Premiéres: April 21 and 23, 2016

Selected festivals: National Festival Smetana's Litomyšl 2016

In his youth, the French composer Charles Gounod (1818–1893) said that “one can only make a successful music career by composing operas”. Of the 13 operas he wrote, two went on to gain global recognition: Faust and Roméo et Juliette. Since its premiere at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris on 27 April 1867, Gounod’s setting of the immortal story of the Verona lovers has enjoyed ever-increasing popularity.

“Daubnerová, who showed imagination and flair in her staging of the Shostakovich double bill Orango and Antiformalist Rayok at the National Theater in 2014, brings the same combination of sound fundamentals and whimsical touches to classical fare. Her crowd scenes are superb, with the chorus neatly integrated into the action as couples or small groups seated at tables, checking in or strolling through the lobby, each apparently immersed in its own business. An occasional surrealist accent adds color and atmosphere – a ballet dancer perched in a storybook moon that descends during Mercutioʼs invocation of Queen Mab, interludes of female hotel staffers prancing across the stage en pointe.” Frank Kuznik, Bachtrack

National Theatre Prague

Musical preparation: Jan Kučera
Conductor: Jan Kučera
Stage director: Sláva Daubnerová
Sets and costumes: Marija Havran
Dramaturgy: Pavel Graus
Lighting design: Pavel Kotlík
Videoart: Lukáš Kodoň
Chorus master: Marek Vorlíček, The Kühn Choir of Prague Premiere: December 17, 2014

Festivals: The International Theatre Festival Eurokontext Bratislava 2016, Opera Nova Festival 2018 Prague

Two extravagant Dmitri Shostakovich’s works give one of the possible answers to the question of what form should opera take after the final end of Romanticism. All that has remained from the ambitious avant-garde opus Orango, about a human-ape, is an eloquent fragment. The Antiformalist Rayok is the composer’s bitterly grotesque protest against the dunces controlling culture in the Soviet Union, and elsewhere too.

“Slovak director Sláva Daubnerová tied the pieces together with two clever devices. Before Orango started, a bizarre trio – three men in dark suits, seemingly spray-painted in white from the chest up – were shown to seats in the front row. They didn’t like the performance and left in disgust halfway through, which made sense when they turned out to be the three main speakers in Anti-Formalist Rayok. And she inserted Shostakovich himself as a character, conducting the music in the first piece, playing the piano in the second, and generally getting pushed around and intimidated the entire evening. The part was played by Czech pianist, conductor and composer Jan Kučera, who looked uncannily like his Russian counterpart…A final takeaway from the evening: Sláva Daubnerová, 34, is a talent to watch. She showed a solid command of the material, had original ideas and struck just the right note of black humor. And the final transformation of the white-topped apparatchiks into plaster busts was brilliant. Shostakovich would have been pleased.” Frank Kuznik, Bachtrack

“Of the operas, the progressive staging of two pieces by Dmitry Shostakovich, Orango and the Anti-formalistic Rayok, by National Theatre in Prague brought a rare image of the less-known and experimental paths of this genre. Orango, a fragment of avant-garde satirical composition of the Russian musician is based on a rare scientific feat when a orangutan female was inseminated by human semen…The Prague staging, played together with another of Shostakovich’s work, is directed by Slovak experimental artist Sláva Daubnerová. Anti-formalistic Rayok is a musical parody on Stalin and Stalinism, on all totalitarian regimes based on the personality cult, on pretence and on the leadership dictating everything including official art forms. Rayok is a word invented by the composer and used only in this context, meaning a bizarre fair promenading a freak show of politicians, officials and dictators.” Zuzana Vilikovská, The Slovak Spectator

The State Theatre of Košice

Author: Marek Piaček Libretto: Martin Ondriska, Marek Piaček, Peter Kerekes Director: Sláva Daubnerová Conductor: Marián Lejava Dramaturgy: Silvia Hroncová Set and costumes: Katarína Holková Choreography: Stanislava Vlčeková Light design: Ints Plavnieks Production: Asociácia súčasného divadla Premieres: December 14 and 15 2013, Kunsthalle Košice in the frame of Košice 2013 - European Capital Of Culture Photo: Ján Štovka

The new, original Slovak opera – the documentary „66 seasons“ is based on the film of the same name directed by Peter Kerekes (2003) which was awarded several international prizes. The opera illustrated the history of the city using the environment of the Košice old indoor pool. In ten portrayals, the „66 seasons“ opera captures the historical events of more than six decades, from 1936 to 2002, and uses them as a backdrop to bring the personal stories of people from Košice. In the „66 seasons“ opera, composer Marek Piaček (1962) brings an interesting musical interpretation: music full of energy, humour and nostalgia, which symbolically refers to several musical poems and genres of the 20th Century.

Melos Étos International Music Festival

György Kurtág

Kafka-Fragmente, Op. 24

first performance in Slovakia

Premiere: Tuesday 12 Nov 2019

Clarissian Church Concert Hall Bratislava

Director and visual concept: Sláva Daubnerová

Performers:

Eva Šušková – soprano

Milan Paľa – violin

Renata Ptačin – dance