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.

The Baroque theater in Český Krumlov, a jewel of world cultural heritage, will be the venue for an extraordinary musical comeback. In a space that is itself a living miracle of Baroque art, Collegium1704, led by Václav Luks, will perform. The ensemble is one of the world's leading performers of historically informed interpretation. After more than two and a half centuries, the music of Christoph Willibald Gluck, a composer who worked in Krumlov in the service of the Schwarzenberg family, will symbolically resound here. The ensemble will commemorate his short one-act opera Le Cinesi, an elegant and playful miniature that reflects the operatic conventions of its time with a sense of perspective. In a single evening, the charm of the Baroque stage, the purity of classical melody, and Gluck's flair for dramatic expression will come together here. This is not merely a memory of the past, but an encounter with a place where music and history constantly mirror each other – one comes alive in the other.

Artists

Collegium 1704

Václav Luks - conductor, artistic director

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.