KZKM: Pictures from the east
Fri, 15 Nov
|Vila Löw Beer in Brno
An evening full of music by Robert Schumann and Arabic poetry by Al-Hariri from Basra. Students of piano and music-drama studies at the Brno Conservatory. Admission to the concert is voluntary. You can set your contribution when selecting tickets below. Due to limited capacity, please purchase tickets in advance.
Time & Location
15 Nov 2024, 19:00 – 21:00
Vila Löw Beer in Brno, 22, Drobného 297, 602 00 Brno-sever, Czech republic
About the event
PICTURES FROM THE EAST (a musical farce) PREMIERE
It’s December 1848 and Robert Schumann is composing his new cycle for four-hand piano Pictures from the East. He has been inspired by the work of the Arabic poet al-Hariri of Basra and would like to meet him in person. However, the poet has been dead for over 700 years… What happens when Clara and Robert Schumann travel through time to the 12th century? Will they succeed in reaching distant Arabia to meet the mysterious poet al-Hariri in the city of Basra? Will Clara and Robert’s marriage survive the journey? And what if Johannes Brahms, who is madly in love with Clara, unexpectedly shows up?
The play was written to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the first publication of Schumann’s work Pictures from the East, Op. 66, the 205th anniversary of Clara Schumann’s birth, and the 970th anniversary of the birth of al-Hariri of Basra.
Photo: Nikol Wetterová
Concept and script: Jakub Smekal
Script collaboration and assistant directors: Karolína Bínová, Filip Fajt, Radim Tvarůžek
Director: Jakub Smekal
Production adaptation and pedagogical supervision: Zuzana Skálová, Ema Jedlička-Gogova
Cast:
Robert Schumann: Filip Fajt
Clara Schumann: Adéla Ondrušová
Al-Hariri of Basra: Radim Tvarůžek
Members of Hariri’s gathering: Karolína Bínová, Sára Fiurášková, Kristýna Mandousová, Tomáš Jiřík (also Man/Interrogator and Riddler), Jakub Procházka (also Abī Zayd of Seruj)
William Bennett, 1st pianist: Jakub Černý
Johannes Brahms, 2nd pianist: Jakub Smekal
Additionally, six piano duos: Kateřina Kroutilová and Berenika Kučerová, Pavla Nováková and Matěj Hampl, Natálie Kvasničková and Jitka Naušová, Karolína Soukalová and Barbora Šlézarová, Karolína Kolářová and Karolína Reháriková, Eliška and Tereza Horákovy.