Opera coauthored by Bishop Hrdlička to have a premiere

The world premiere of an opera by Zdeněk Pololáník Night Full of Light will be a great event and a more than interesting full stop after this year’s season in the Moravian Theater in Olomouc. The libretto to the opera was written by Bishop Josef Hrdlička, auxiliary of Olomouc, and the project is taking place under the auspices of Cardinal Dominik Duka and Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg.

Olomouc: Michael Tarant is the director of the production. Petr Šumník is the author of music and conductor. The premiere in the Moravian Theatre Olomouc will take place on Friday 28^th June at 7 p.m.

The new piece in the opera repertoire recalls the anniversary connected with the personality of Paul Claudel, whose drama Annunciation to the Virgin Mary (1911) became a model for the opera called Night Full of Light. “A hundred years ago, Paul Claudel, who was the consul general of France, worked in our country. He was one of the great figures of world literary and dramatic production. Claudel was strongly influenced by the spiritual legacy of our history, to which he paid homage in a collection of poems titled ‘Holy Pictures of Bohemia’,” emphasized the author of the libretto to Night Full of Light, Bishop Josef Hrdlička, auxiliary of Olomouc. The launching of the opera is foreshadowing one more important anniversary. “The world premiere of Night Full of Light is our contribution to the 1150^th anniversary of the arrival of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia,” said the director of the Moravian Theater Olomouc (MDO), Josef Podstata.

Direction was taken care of by a successful opera and drama director and the artistic director of the drama section of the MDO, Michael Tarant. The main female role will be played by Lea Vítková. “Violéna is a strong heroine; a personality who feels a calling to sacrifice herself. She is willing to bear her fate,” Vítková explained. On the stage, she will be accompanied by Jiří Přibyl in the role of the Father, Zdeňka Mollíková in the role of the Mother, Barbora Polášková as Mara, David Szendiuch as Petr from Craon and Petr Martínek in the role of Jakub. The soloists will be accompanied by the MDO orchestra and choir.

(Transl.: www.velehrad.eu)