Opening night of a month-long celebration at the Bohemian National Hall planned in connection with the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Antonín Dvořák’s opera Rusalka. Beginning at 5pm, view a rare Czech Center exhibition of original scores, letters and artifacts related to his beloved fairy tale opera, presented in America for the first time in collaboration with the National Museum in Prague and the Metropolitan Opera. In the Dvořák Room, see also Mythic Bohemia: Dvořák’s Villa and Lake Rusalka, a photographic presentation organized by the Dvořák American Heritage Association. At 7pm, soprano opera star Gabriela Beňačková is joined by tenor Petr Nekoranec and bass David Leigh in a performance of selections from Rusalka, accompanied by Ken Noda on the piano. Musicologist Michael Beckerman moderates this enchanted evening, presented in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in the historic building’s Ballroom.
Free admission; exhibition opens at 5pm and concert begins at 7pm.
For reservations and further information click here!
Guided Tours of the Czech Center exhibition Rusalka & The Dvořák Room will be offered on the following dates: February 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23 at 3 PM and 5 PM at the Bohemian National Hall
In the special Dvořák Room presentation, explore explore Antonín Dvořák’s beloved country house at Vysoká and its scenic surroundings in recent photographs by noted Czech photographer Eva Heyd. Finding inspiration in nature, Dvořák composed the opera Rusalka (The Water Nymph) over a period of seven months in 1900, largely in this idyllic setting. When away, he constantly longed for Vysoká, only in the atmosphere of the woods and lakes of mythic Bohemia, nourished by Czech fairy tales and the libretto of poet Jaroslav Kvapil, could Dvořák have created his universally treasured water nymph Rusalka.
Curated by Majda Kallab Whitaker, Dvořák American Heritage Association. Photography by Eva Heyd. With special thanks to Antonín Dvořák III and the Czech Museum of Music, Antonín Dvořák Museum, Prague.
RSVP for tours by telephone at 646-422-3395.
The exhibition RUSALKA is organized by the Czech Center New York in collaboration with the National Museum in Prague, the Metropolitan Opera, Harmony Foundation and the Dvořák American Heritage Association. Presented under the auspices of the Consul General of the Czech Republic in New York Martin Dvořák.