Artist
"Let yourself be dazzled by the stars!"
A unique project, in which soloists of Europe's leading ballet companies join forces on a single stage, this show presents an audience with the very essence of classical dance.
During the ninety-minute evening, the audience has the opportunity to see top works of the classical ballet repertoire alongside attractive modern choreography. The spectators can compare different approaches to dance, get to know the magic that exists around this artistic genre, and meet with the elite of contemporary European ballet.
"Celebration of the human imagination and dreams in contrast to today's busy world around us, because imagination is at the core of black light theatre."
Since its foundation, the Black Light Theatre Jiří Srnec has been one of the most famous representatives of the Czech theatre in the world. The ensemble was founded in 1961 amid the then emerging avant-garde theatre era, and from the very beginning it has drawn attention as a company of remarkable artistic quality which far exceeds with its repertoire most of its contemporaries. The principle, the theatre was endowed by Jiří Srnec - the founder and artistic director of the group - is based on the creative use of a simple trick, called the "black cabinet," where actors draped head to toe in black acting with props are invisible against the black background from the perspective of the viewer. The props, items, or objects thus become capable of movement and thus are imbued with their own distinctive life. However, Jiří Srnec and his theatre do not view the trick effect as an end in itself but merely a means to achieve a scenic and mimic metaphor, plus a strong stage expression realised through the musically organised movement of artistic objects and actors.
The first performance of the ensemble took place in 1959 in Vienna. It immediately gained the group an international reputation. However, the real debut for the ensemble took place at the theatre festival in Edinburgh in 1962. The performance in the completely sold out festival arena was awarded with standing ovations and definitely opened the door for the Black Light Theatre of Jiří Srnec to renowned theatres around the world. Subsequent performances in Europe, America, Australia, Africa and Asia followed. To this day, the theatre has hosted over 300 international tours and has participated in 82 theatre festivals. Under the artistic direction of Jiří Srnec the group has received several awards from audiences and critics, for example Premio Teatral "Juana Sujo", Caracas, MAMBO pub in Barcelona, Premio del Teatro El Espectador y la Critica Madrid, Premio - mejor cojunto Extranjera Vina del Mar, and the Premium World-Fest Certificate in Missouri. In 2002 the ensemble was selected to represent Czech culture at the NATO Summit meeting in Prague.
Up to this day, more than 5 million viewers in 68 countries such as Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Canary Islands, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Holland, Honduras, Chile, China, Croatia, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Colombia, Cuba, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madeira, Hungary, Morocco Mexico, Monaco, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tasmania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Yugoslavia have seen Black Light Theatre performances.
Currently, the Black Light Theatre ensemble consists of young dynamic performers – dancers, actors and mimes. A touring ensemble which, due to its extraordinary mobility, performs almost continuously abroad, and in years of globetrotting has gained a unique position in the European and world culture, is the soul of the theatre. Since 1993, the group has been supplemented with a Prague-based ensemble, which during regular rehearsals educates promising young artists for future black light theatre practice.
Since 1999, the Black Light Theatre has averaged 200 performances a year. Up to this day, the troupe has presented 20 original black light theatre productions. The most recent one called The Flying Velocipede has already been successfully shown in Greece, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. In 2011 the Black Light Theatre of Jiří Srnec created for the Laterna Magica stage a production called "Legends of Magic Prague".
What has been said about the ensemble:
The Black Theatre Prague reminds one of a proverb by Victor Hugo according to which "behind every thing you see there is a fairy hiding." It brings the audience back to the world of dream poetry; to the world wonders of childhood.
~ La Libre Belgique ~
The Black Light Theatre is a collection of strange and fascinating magic. I mean real magic, that is the nonstop running, unbelievably smooth, amusing, and absolutely fascinating surreal stream, which is just as simple as it should be – i.e. incredibly complicated in the background. It is really good.
~ The Province ~
∼ The Vancouver Sun ∼
The surreal world created by Jiří Srnec and his talented actors and illusionists seems to be just one step removed from the world created by Hieronymus Bosch many years ago, and by Salvatore Dali, Max Ernst and Picabia not so long ago. It's a dream world ... Black Light Theatre Prague is a must to see and feel. It delivers a unique and mutable experience to those who surrender to its strange power.
~ The Vancouver Sun ~
The Black Light Theatre is lively and fascinating, especially in short scenes, when eleven actors and their invisible colleagues move in silent joy within Srnec's strange dream world. It is worth it to see them, because their stage is a unique playground of absurdity without compromise.
~ Philadelphia Daily News ~
Fascinating stage magic, playfulness and liberating imagination. The Black Theatre Prague can be dubbed the most original stage organization in the world, and I do not know how anyone could deny this statement.
~ The New York Post ~
The ensemble is masterful and resourceful as always and full of imagination, while it has retained its almost childlike innocence, which is one of its most endearing qualities.
~ The Gazette, Montreal ~
A variety of tricks, a brilliant combination of movement and music, facial expressions, puppetry and pure stage magic zooms out of the darkness. It's a brilliant and remarkable show.
~ Daily Mail ~
"Passion and power from the earth burnt by the sun."
Malambeando is a performance of unusual visual power and pure dance following the beat of the human heart. An energetic performance full of masculinity and strength, with a frantic pace and dramatic moments, is a mix of Argentinean tango and Malambo, the dance of the Argentina countryside, which has been danced in the local solitude of the desert landscape since the 17th century. A variety of other artistic movements (drumming, boleadoras) mixed with gentleness and dynamics also blend in the dance.
Two leading dancers and choreographers are behind this performance - Oscar Horacio Fernandez and Valverdi Nazarene, who came up with the idea to create a generous show, in which Argentina opens up both its heart and cultural heritage to the audience of the world.
This breathtaking performance places the highest demands on the dancers – impeccable posture, skilfulness, strength, agility and style, and it fills the audience with powerful emotions.
Felix Slováček jr., the clarinettist and singer, was born in Prague, the son of the conductor and saxophonist Felix Slováček and the actress Dagmar Patrasová. In 2006 he graduated from the Prague Conservatory under Prof. Milan Polák and further developed his talents at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Prof. Jiří Hlaváč and Prof. Vlastimil Mareš. He participated in master classes in Austrian Semmering (ISA), where he was awarded the 2009 Antonín Rejcha Award in the category of brass instruments.
Felix Slováček does not avoid, however, classical repertoire. Since May 2008, he has held the position of first clarinettist in the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, with which he now works as a soloist. Felix successfully performed with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic in Zlín, the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, and the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, where he performed as a clarinettist and singer. In 2007, he took part in the 10th swing music festival, where he was introduced as a singer in a series of concerts with the Australian legendary trumpeter, composer and member of the GRP All Star Big Band, James Morrison. In 2010, Felix Slováček appeared in the Jazz Festival in Mikulov with the RTV Big Band as well as in Nocturne in Třeboň in 2011 as a soloist with the Gustav Brom Big Band. In addition, he performed at the Jazz Without Borders Festival, Moravia Music Fest, 10th Jazz Festival in Mikulov dedicated to Karel Kraugartner, at the festival of classical music "Spring in Russia" held in 2013, and numerous others. In 2009, Felix participated in a tour for the 70th birthday of the Czech singer Karel Gott across the Czech and Slovak Republic with the RTV Big Band of Felix Slováček, where he continues to be a regular guest up to now. He also took part in several concerts with the Big Band in Northern Germany and Spain.
In 2010-2011 Felix Slováček jr. went for an internship to Oslo, Norway at the Norges Musikkhøgskole (Norway Academy of Music), where his major was in clarinet with the well-known Prof. Hans Christian Bræina, and he also participated in a master course taught by the first clarinettist of the Royal Concert Orchestra, Andreas Sundén. He studied chamber music with the Norwegian pianist Vebjørna Anvik (Grieg Trio). Felix’s minor was in ensemble Jazz vocals. In Oslo, in addition to performing at the music school and the Czech Embassy, he played a concert at Barrat Due, the second most prestigious music school in the festival of so-called forbidden music "Erklært Unmusikk" (Stravinsky, Webern).
Nowadays, Felix Slováček jr. is dedicated to dramaturgical and production activities in the legendary "Jazz Section," and a musical gathering "Baroque Jazz Special," which focuses on the interpretation of the "third stream," which is a mutual fusion of classical, jazz, contemporary, and alternative music, but also his own work. He collaborates with guitarist Peter Alexa on the "Felix Gang Band Project" with its own repertoire, where he actively plays, sings, and composes. Felix is a member of a Prague-based saxophone quartet. In 2012, he became a manager and producer of the Eduard Nápravník International Music Festival. He is currently starring as Honza in the musical fairy tale entitled "Kapka medu pro Verunku" (A Taste of Honey for Verunka) at the Hybernia theatre and at Semafor theatre in the musical "Kdyby tisíc klarinetů" (A Thousand Clarinets).
"He's a brilliant artist, gifted by God." (Master Josef Suk)
"When he begins to play, it seems that the whole world is holding its breath and is disappearing somewhere...
He magically transforms any work into an unforgettable experience."
(The Bridge)
The violin virtuoso Alexander Shonert (*1972), winner of the prestigious Antonin Dvorak, Gustav Mahler and Gold Hanukkah Berlin international awards, graduated from Novosibirsk State Conservatoire (named after Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka), where he also received his doctorate. He is an extraordinarily gifted musician with an exceptional ability to improvise, who avoids common theatrical gestures during his playing and lets the instrument speak for itself. His style and range of tones cannot deny the influence of the various Jewish-Russian cultural roots from which he grew up.
This discreet musician, being one of a few top class European violinists, has performed throughout Europe, both as a soloist and as a guest soloist together with symphony and chamber orchestras. He collaborated with outstanding musical celebrities (e.g. with Placido Domingo, or the composer Karel Svoboda in the Czech Republic). In 2005, he debuted with tremendous success in the US.
Since 1999, Alexander Shonert has permanently resided and worked in Prague, where for his significant contribution to cultural and charitable activities he earned the right to dual citizenship of the Russian Federation and the Czech Republic. In 2008, Czech Television filmed and put together a documentary about him entitled "The Life Pilgrimage of a Violin Genius". Alexander Shonert represents the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation in a variety of cultural events in countries across the European Union (in 2009 he represented Czech culture at the European Commission in Brussels).
The brilliant virtuosity, and the deep emotionality of Alexander's interpretation style as well as his charming improvisations make him an ideal interpreter of ethnically tinged music - his recitals feature hints and tones of Spanish, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian, Romanian, Armenian, Gypsy and Arabic music. Significant place in his work is devoted to Jewish music, for which interpretations he was awarded in Israel and at a world competition of Jewish artists in Berlin. Jewish melodies, which are his "pilgrimage with love, joy, tears and mystical ecstasy," were to be heard in his presentation during the filming of the solo parts of the Prague Golem musical.
During his performances, Alexander Shonert does not avoid large icons of classical music - his repertoire includes works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Bloch, Brahms, Bernstein, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Paganini, de Sarasate, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Khachaturian.
In addition to his concert activities, Alexander Shonert has also served as a thriving and popular teacher. He has meticulously developed his own teaching methodology, which is based on the best traditions of the Russian violin school. Currently his students play in symphony orchestras in Russia, Europe and the US.
