Event date
06 / 08 / 2026 - Thursday 19:30
Event venue
Event type
Collegium 1704 & Luks
Gluck's opera Le Cinesi, performed by the world-renowned Collegium 1704, will transform the world's best-preserved Baroque theater into a place where musical brilliance meets period interpretation.
Artists
Collegium 1704
Václav Luks - conductor, artistic director
Helena Hozová - soprano
Monika Jägerová - alto
Aneta Petrasová - mezzo-soprano
Marek Žihla - tenor
Andrea Miltnerová: director, choreographer
Chris Vinz: costumes
Program
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Le Cinesi, Wq. 18
Collegium 1704
Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704, founded by Václav Luks, are among the world’s leading Baroque ensembles. In 2008, the Prague–Dresden Music Bridge cycle was established, which in 2012 resulted in a concert series at the Rudolfinum. Since 2019, Collegium Vocale 1704 has had its own chamber music series. The ensemble has performed at the Salzburg Festival, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Theater an der Wien, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Lucerne Festival, BOZAR, the Chopin Festival, the Elbphilharmonie, Zaryadye in Moscow, Versailles, and the Bachfest Leipzig. In 2021, the ensemble opened the Prague Spring festival with Smetana’s My Country. In opera projects, it builds on the success of Handel’s Rinaldo with productions of Mysliveček’s L’Olimpiade (IOA 2014 nomination), Vivaldi’s Arsilda, and Handel’s Alcina (2022). The ensemble has collaborated with B. Mehta on Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (DVD), on the BBC documentary Mozart in Prague with R. Villazón, and on the film Il Boemo. Its recordings have won the Diapason d’Or, Trophées 2020, and Edison Klassiek 2021 awards.
Václav Luks
Václav Luks studied at the Conservatory in Plzeň, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and Schola Cantorum. In 2005, he founded Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704, with which he performs at festivals and in concert halls in Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Brussels, Amsterdam, Warsaw, and London, collaborating with soloists such as Kožená, Gauvin, Genaux, Piau, Jaroussky, B. Mehta, Mingardo, Plachetka, and Scholl. Their recordings have won Trophées, Diapason d’Or, and Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik awards. Luks has made a significant contribution to the revival of the works of Zelenka and Mysliveček and to Czech-German cultural ties. With Collegium 1704, he recorded the music for the films Zpověď zapomenutého (Confession of the Forgotten) and Il Boemo and collaborated with directors Decker, U. Herrmann, Moaty, Radok, Heřman, Pitínský, and Havelka. He collaborates with the OAE, Netherlands Bach Society, Akamus, Concerto Köln, La Cetra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, NORK, and SWR. He conducted the Orchestre national de France at a benefit concert for Notre Dame, and France Musique dedicated a series called Grands interprètes to him. In 2022, he received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, in 2024 he presented Rameau’s Platée, and in 2025 The Marriage of Figaro.
Helena Hozová
Soprano Helena Hozová is a sought-after performer, particularly of Baroque
music. She has performed in nearly every country in Europe as well as in South America.
She studied voice at the Pardubice Conservatory and at the Faculty of Music of JAMU
in Brno. She completed an internship at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber
in Dresden in Christiane Hossfeld’s opera class and in early music performance under
the guidance of Ludger Rémy. She has collaborated with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra in Olomouc, the Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlín, the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic,
the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, and ensembles such as Les Gouts Réunis
(Luxembourg), the Volantes Orchestra, Collegium Marianum, Musica Florea, and Barocco
sempre giovane. Currently, Helena Hozová collaborates primarily with the ensemble
Collegium 1704, which specializes in performing early music. As a soloist,
she has appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the “Chopin and His Europe” festival in
Warsaw, Musikfest Erzgebirge, Smetana’s Litomyšl, the St. Wenceslas Music
Festival in Ostrava, the Most Prague-Dresden concert series, the Theater an der
Wien, the Zarydadye Concert Hall in Moscow, and the Centro Nacional de Difusión
Musical in Madrid. She sang the role of Nicandro in Antonio Vivaldi’s opera *Arsilda*, directed by David
Radok and conducted by Václav Luks, at the Slovak National Theater, the Royal
Opera of Versailles, the Opéra de Lille, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, and the Théâtre de
Caen. In 2019, she went on a concert tour with the Duo Siempre Nuevo ensemble, performing song cycles by A. Dvořák, L. Janáček, M. de Falla, and J. Rodrigo in Portugal, Brazil, and Peru. She also performed the role of Galatea in Handel’s opera Acis and Galatea at the Tage Alter Musik festival in Regensburg, in Sligo, Ireland, at the Al’ Improvviso festival in Gliwice, Poland, and at the Summer Festival of Early Music in Prague. She is currently appearing as a guest artist at the National Theater in Brno in the role of Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro. She has premiered a number of songs by Luboš Sluka, and songs have been composed specifically for her voice by Lukáš Sommer, František Chaloupka, and Miloš Štědroň.
Monika Jägerová
Czech contralto Monika Jägerová is acclaimed for her captivating, deep voice and stylistic versatility, with a repertoire spanning Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and contemporary opera. She has appeared at leading European venues, including the National Theatre in Brno, the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles, Theater am Gärtnerplatz, Bergen Nasjonale Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Oper Köln, and Auditorio Nacional de Música, as well as at the Oude Muziek Festival, the Bayreuth Baroque Festival and the Dvořákova Praha Festival.
Her signature roles include Bradamante (Alcina), Cornelia (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), or Kontschakowna (Prince Igor), and the Third Wood Nymph (Rusalka). She has also portrayed Timante (Demofoonte), earning a nomination for the 2019 Thalia Award, and created the role of Sasha in the world premiere of Here I Am, Orlando by Ľubica Čekovská. Her Cornelia has brought her Thalia Award and Jantar Award 2025 nominations.
On the concert stage, she has performed Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and collaborated with ensembles such as the Czech Philharmonic, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Concerto Köln, and Collegium 1704. A semifinalist at the Stanisław Moniuszko International Vocal Competition in Warsaw and a finalist at the Renata Tebaldi Competition in San Marino, she is also co-founder of the Lieder Society, organizing art song concerts in Prague and initiating acclaimed projects focusing on female composers (Sláva Vorlová 130, Agnes Tyrrell 180).
She combines her performing career with scholarly research as a PhD candidate at the University of Leipzig, focusing on opera, feminism, and political representation in the 19th century.
Aneta Petrasová
The mezzo-soprano Aneta Petrasová first studied flute and later singing at the Prague School of Music under the tutelage of Christine Kluge. She continued her studies at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno under Anna Barová, at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden in the vocal studio of Hendrikje Wangemann, and then in the studio of Olaf Bär and in the field of early music under Ludger Rémy. As a student, she became a laureate of several vocal competitions, including the Bohuslav Martinů Vocal Competition and the Dušek Mozart Competition. She enjoys singing the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the Lieder repertoire. Since 2013, she has been collaborating with the Dresdner Kammerchor and its conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann as a soloist and a member of the vocal ensemble, and since 2015 she has been singing with Collegium Vocale 1704 and the conductor Václav Luks. With these ensembles, she has given performances at prestigious festivals and concert stages including the Salzburger Festspiele, Bachfest Leipzig, the Bachfest Stuttgart, Resonanzen Wien/Wiener Konzerthaus, the Berlin Philharmonic, and Oude Muziek Utrecht. Since 2015, she has been collaborating with AuditivVokal, a German ensemble specializing in contemporary vocal music.
Marek Žihla
Tenor Marek Žihla studied classical singing under Zbyněk Brabec at the Prague Conservatory and is currently under the artistic guidance of mezzo-soprano Markéta Cukrová. Since the 2021/22 season, he has been a regular guest performer at the J. K. Tyl Theater in Pilsen, where he has appeared as Evandro in Gluck’s Alceste, as well as the Governor, Ragotski, and Vanderdendur in Bernstein’s Candide, Lindoro in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri, and has also portrayed the title role of Emperor Titus in Mozart’s opera La clemenza di Tito. During the same season, he made his debut at the South Bohemian Theater in České Budějovice as a tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah, for which he was nominated for the South Bohemian Thalia Award. He subsequently appeared there as the First Soldier and the Priest in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the First Philistine and the Messenger in Saint-Saëns’s Samson and Delilah, in the tenor role of the staged version of Ryb’s Czech Christmas Mass, and as the Priest in the staged version of The Czech Lute. He made his debut at the Moravian Theater in Olomouc in the role of Emperor Titus (La clemenza di Tito) and also portrayed Belmonte in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio.
Andrea Miltnerová
British dancer, choreographer and director of Czech origin was born and trained in London and came to Prague to dance with the Ballet of the National Theatre. Her contemporary dance solos Dance of the Magnetic Ballerina (selected by the prestigious European network Aerowaves) and Tranzmutation, directed by Jan Komárek, (European Move-Award quality label) have been presented to critical acclaim at numerous festivals and theatres throughout Europe.
Andrea’s deep interest in the baroque led her to collaborate as a director, choreographer and dancer with the early music ensembles Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum and Musica Florea and with the Aalto Theatre Essen. She has danced in baroque operas at the National Theatre in Prague, in Český Krumlov and Litomyšl and in Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. She regularly worked with the late French choreographer Françoise Denieau, performing in her opera collaborations: Rinaldo, Egisto, Vénus et Adonis and Rameau – Maître à danser (Les Arts Florissants) throughout France, including Paris (Opéra Comique) and Versailles (Opéra Royale) and in Luxembourg, Switzerland (Opéra Lausanne), Seoul, London (The Barbican), Moscow (Bolshoi) and New York (BAM).
In 2017 Andrea created the choreography for Vivaldi’s opera Arsilda (Collegium 1704), conductor Václav Luks, director David Radok which premiered in Bratislava and toured to Lille, Luxembourg, Caen and Versailles to critical acclaim. She has also collaborated with David Radok on Václav Havel’s play The Beggar’s Opera (ABC Theatre, Prague), Richard Strauss’ opera Salome and Dvořák’s Rusalka (National Theatre Brno). She recently created the choreography for Puccini’s opera Manon Lescaut (director Štěpán Pácl) at the National Theatre Brno.
For the Musica Florea Ensemble she has directed and created the choreography for the operas Praga Nascente da Libussa e Primislao (Vivaldi), Camilla (Bononcini), Farnace (Vivaldi) and La guerra de los gigantes (Durón). The latter two were perfomed in Prague, Poland, Nové hrady, Valtice and Český Krumlov to very favourable reviews.
Andrea also worked as choreographer and movement coach to Scarlett Johansson in the Oscar winning 2019 film Jojo Rabbit.
Castle Baroque Theatre
The Castle Baroque Theatre is a gem of Český Krumlov, which visitors from all around the world come to see.
