“My music is rhythmic because I am Czech… the natural music of the Czechs is rhythm – strong and agile rhythm.” (Martinů). How well the conductor Jac van Steen and the director Paul Curran understood ...

Musically, Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride is marvellous, vivid, dance-infused work. In the second performance of the run, conductor Jac van Steen and the Philharmonia Orchestra were achieving ...

It’s a sure sign of disaster when the loudest cheer during an opera comes in response to a circus divertissement. Sadly, this was the case in this, the Royal Opera’s second revival of Francesca ...

Smetana and the librettist Karel Sabina masterfully mocked all those who expected the “national opera” to be an idyllic picture of the Czech countryside, with its inhabitants being virtuous and ...

Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click. For over 150 years, The Bartered Bride has occupied the top position among Czech ...

Bedrich Smetana deals with love In his earthy opera "The Bartered Bride." It may not be politically correct — the bride is bought, after all — but everything turns out happily in the end. Here's an ...

A new production of Smetana's irrepressible The Bartered Bride will be presented by Cape Town Opera, in collaboration with the UCT Opera School, at the Baxter from August 17. A riot of song, dance and ...

Who would have thought Czech was the language of love? Then again, who would have thought a comedy about a bride exchange would be a national opera? The new romantic comedy, The Bartered Bride, sung ...