Apollo & Dionysus
Trio Sonatas by A. Corelli and G. F. Handel
Artists
COLLEGIUM MARIANUM
Jana Semerádová – flauto traverso
Magdalena Malá – Baroque violin
Hana Fleková – Baroque cello
Jan Krejča – theorbo
Sebastian Knebel – harpsichord
Programme
Georg Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
Triosonata in G major, HWV 399
Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762)
Sonata in F major No. 5, Op. 5
Air d᾿Handel
Georg Friedrich Händel
Triosonata in B minor, HWV 386b
Intermission
Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)
Sonata da chiesa in B minor No. 4, Op. 3
Jean-Baptiste Quentin (before 1690 – ca 1742)
Sonata in D major No. 5, Op. 3
Francesco Geminiani
Triosonata in D minor, No. 5, Op. 2
Annotation
The environment of the Roman palaces of the high nobility and the church dignitaries associated with it contributed to the rich development of instrumental music in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. As there were no regular opera performances in Rome in the 17th century, musicians and composers found work with the wealthy nobility. The most prominent nobles held public concerts called academies in their mansions every week, at which the latest works of the masters active in Rome were performed, alongside musical pieces of other composers. Queen Christina I of Sweden was one of the main patrons, from 1677 Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili held academies in his palace, and ten years later, musical productions also took place in the palace of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. At the beginning of the 18th century, the patronage of musical life was taken over primarily by the exiled Polish Queen Dowager, Marie Casimire, and the Marquis (later Prince) Francesco Maria Ruspoli. For this evening, the Terezian Hall of the Břevnov Monastery will be transformed into a music salon in the palace of Marquis Ruspoli or Cardinal Ottoboni, featuring masterpieces by their protégés Georg Frideric Handel and Arcangelo Corelli. The programme will be complemented by the works of their contemporaries Francesco Geminiani and Jean-Baptiste Quentin. The Collegium Marianum ensemble, under the direction of Jana Semerádová, will present solo and trio sonatas in various instrumental combinations with both precision and playfulness.
Partners of the concert
With the kind support of the Municipal district of Prague 6.
Artists
Jana Semerádová
artistic director, flauto traverso
Flautist Jana Semerádová is a graduate of the Prague Conservatory, the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University (Theory and Practice of Early Music), and the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, the Netherlands. She is also a laureate of the Magdeburg and Munich international competitions.
Jana Semerádová is the artistic director of Collegium Marianum and programming director of the concert cycle Baroque Soirées and the international music festival Summer Festivities of Early Music. She undertakes intensive archival research both at home and abroad and is engaged in ongoing study of Baroque gesture, declamation and dance. Many of her unique programmes are built around the interconnection of music and drama. Under her direction, Collegium Marianum stages several modern premieres each year. Jana Semerádová has a number of CDs to her name; her recordings with Collegium Marianum are featured as part of the successful series “Music from Eighteenth-Century Prague” on the Supraphon label, for which she has also recorded her two signature CDs “Solo for the King” and “Chaconne for the Princess“.
Jana Semerádová has performed at leading European concert venues and festivals (such as Bachfest Leipzig, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Innsbrucker Festwochen, Händel-Festspiele Halle, Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, Festival de Sablé, the Prague Spring festival, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, the Konzerthaus in Vienna and Berlin, Vratislavia Cantans a Palau de la Música Catalana), collaborated as a soloist with artists including Magdalena Kožená, Sergio Azzolini, Alfredo Bernardini, and Enrico Onofri, and regularly performs with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Il suonar parlante, Wrocławska Orkiestra Barokowa, Orkiestra Historyczna and Ars Antiqua Austria.
In 2015 she received her habilitation degree as an associate professor of flute from the Faculty of Music and Dance at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In 2019 she was awarded the prize of the Prague Group of the Society for Arts and Sciences.
Collegium Marianum
Baroque Ensemble
Since it was founded in 1997, the Prague ensemble Collegium Marianum has focused on presenting the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially by composers who were born or active in central Europe. One of the few professional ensembles specializing in this field in the Czech Republic, Collegium Marianum not only gives musical performances, but regularly also stages scenic projects.
The ensemble works under the artistic leadership of the traverso player Jana Semerádová who also regularly appears as a soloist with some of the eminent European orchestras. Her active research together with her study of Baroque gesture, declamation and dance, has enabled Semerádová to broaden the profile of the Collegium Marianum ensemble and present multi-genre projects featuring Baroque dance and theater. Her unique, thematic programming has resulted in a number of modern-day premieres of historical music presented each year. The ensemble has collaborated with renowned European conductors, soloists, directors, and choreographers such as Andrew Parrott, Hana Blažíková, Damien Guillon, Peter Kooij, Sergio Azzolini, François Fernandez, Simona Houda-Šaturová, Benjamin Lazar, Jean-Denis Monory, and Gudrun Skamletz.
Collegium Marianum has received critical acclaim both at home and abroad. The ensemble has appeared extensively on the Czech Radio and TV as well as on the radio abroad. It regularly performs at music festivals and on prestigious stages both in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, including Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Bachfest Leipzig, Potsdam Festspiele, Mitte Europa, Festival de Sablé, Bolzano Festival, Palau Música Barcelona, Pražské jaro, or Concentus Moraviae.
In 2008 the ensemble started a successful collaboration with the Supraphon label. Within the “Music from Eighteenth-Century Prague” series it has launched eight recordings with music by both well-known and lesser-known composers including J.D. Zelenka, F. Jiránek, J.J.I. Brentner and J.A. Sehling.
