THE MAKROPULOS AFFAIR

ABOUT THE EVENT

Leoš Janáček belongs to the most respected composers of the previous century. His works are presented by leading opera houses worldwide.

Janáček shocked his contemporaries by the themes he selected for his operas, including the Makropulos Affair, a 1922 text by Karel Čapek.

He was surely attracted by the character of the mysterious Elina Makropulos, a daughter of court physician to Rudolph II. The emperor feared death and ordered his physician to prepare an elixir of eternal youth and immortality. Once the potion was ready the emperor ordered the physician to test it on his daughter Elina who then lived over three hundred years long. In the opera we see Elina at the end of her existence, exhausted by the excessive length of her life and wishing for death that she fears at the same time. The philosophical message of the theme – “you fools, you are so happy to be dying soon” – is still valid today. In Plzeň it will be the first time that the Macropulos Affair will be staged as opera.

CREATORS

Musical arrangement: Norbert Baxa

Conductors: Norbert Baxa / Jiří Štrunc

Directed by: Martin Otava

Stage Design: Daniel Dvořák

Costume: Dana Haklová

Light Design: Antonín Pfleger

PERSONS AND ACTORS

Emilia Marty: Ivana Veberová

Albert Gregor: Philippe Castagner / Richard Samek

Vítek, solicitátor: Petr Horák / Tomáš Kořínek

Krista, jeho dcera: Zuzana Koś Kopřivová / Magdaléna Heboussová

Jaroslav Prus: Jiří Kubík / Svatopluk Sem

Janek, jeho syn: Jan Maria Hájek / Amir Khan

Doktor Kolenatý, advokát: Jevhen Šokalo / František Zahradníček

Strojník: Jan Hnyk / Dalibor Tolaš

Poklízečka: Radka Sehnoutková / Ivana Šaková

Hauk - Šendorf: Petr Horák / Jan Ježek

Komorná: Jana Foff Tetourová / Jana Piorecká

Lékař: Viktor Bezkorovainyi / Roman Dušek