2024-08-24 01:31:52
The 23rd year of the Theatrum Kuks baroque theater, opera and music festival began this Wednesday in the extensive Kuks complex in Trutnovsk. It was opened by the acting company Geisslers Hofcomoedianten in a marquee on the meadow next to the famous local hospital.
Already on Wednesday afternoon, the Brno troupe Frgál na nitkách presented the audience with a puppet theater for adults. The production was called the Baptism of St. Vladimir or Na divadlo s*ru. Immediately, the artist and signatory of Charter 77 Abbé Libansky, whose real name is Jaroslav Libánský, unveiled an art installation called Bibliotheca XXII. Through her, he symbolically returns to the premises the library of Count František Antonín Špork, confiscated by Jesuit censors in 1729 after the nobleman was raided by the Inquisition and accused of alleged heresy.
Wednesday’s program culminates in the “magical night organ show” of the Vox organi organ Katta, which is Kateřina Chroboková’s stage name. He will use his custom-made white instrument, with which he will perform on the terrace in front of the Church of the Holy Trinity.
Until Sunday, August 25, Theatrum Kuks will offer over 40 performances and other events. The festival of theatre, classical music, opera, dance and puppet shows takes place in various places in the Elbe Valley.
People can see a lot right on the grounds of the Kuks hospital. The former nursing home for military veterans was renovated ten years ago for 440 million crowns. A program is also prepared for Sunday in the surrounding area, for example in churches in Chloumek, Žíželevs and Dubenc. The conclusion will again be provided by Geisslers Hofcomoedianten, whose beginnings in 2002 are connected precisely with Kuks. While this Wednesday they performed in the festival marquee, on Sunday they will perform in Hank’s house in Dvůr Králové nad Labem.
“This year’s edition will host a number of foreign artists. The Israeli dance residency will be followed by a comedy dell’arte workshop with an Italian lecturer, as well as an Italian-Czech music residency on the anniversary of the first performance of the Venetian opera in Kuks,” says show director Kateřina Bohadlová.
Abbé Libansky with his art installation Bibliotheca XXII. | Photo: CTK
300 years have just passed since the first performance of Italian opera in the Czech lands. On August 15, 1724, a performance of Roland the Furious by Antonio Bioni, with whom the opera company from Venice had come, could be seen at Kuks. Thanks to this, the estate of Count František Antonín Špork became the first regular opera scene in the Czech lands.
On Saturday, August 24, Italian soloists, students of the Venice Conservatory, will symbolically return here to rehearse Bioni’s works with Czech musicians led by Tomáš Hanzlík. The opera Roland the Furious itself did not survive except for the prelude. However, the evening will be called Furious Roland Reloeaded in her honor.
Thursday’s concert by countertenor Vojtěch Pelka will remind us of the operatic tradition of Kuksu. A day later, Czech soprano Markéta Fassati will perform a tribute to Count Špork, Antonio Vivaldi and the alchemists.
The festival is organized by the association Theatrum Kuks. The goal is to continue the tradition of Kuksa as a music, theater and art center of European importance and return living art to the cultural monument.
Count František Antonín Špork initiated the creation of the baroque complex in the Elbe valley in 1692. Construction activity peaked around 1710. Only the hospital with the Church of the Holy Trinity and the crypt have survived from the original extensive spa area. The castle and some other buildings were destroyed by floods and fire. The sculptural decoration of the area by Matyáš Braun is world-famous.
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