I AM THE PRINCESS OF FOOLS A chamber opera of nine scenes and an epilogue to a libretto by Olga Sommerová, who says of Němcová: “Božena is a friend of all Czech women who have not resigned on their desire for personal and social freedom. She challenges us and guarantees that it is possible to hold our heads high and uproot the ingrained prejudices. She inspires us to dare to think and act outside the box into which women have been confined for ages, to find our identity and self-worth.” The J. K. Tyl Theatre, which is hosting the festival, has chosen the documentary chamber opera with nine scenes and an epilogue based on the libretto by the well-known documentary filmmaker Olga Sommerová as a contribution to the Year of Czech Music. Based on Božena Němcová’s surviving correspondence and poems by František Halas and Jaroslav Seifert, the libretto narrates the life of the most famous Czech female writer, her ups and downs, her relationship with her husband and the struggles of an emancipated woman in the mid-19th century.
Thanks to Lenka Nota’s captivating music and Olga Sommerová’s colourful libretto, the opera I am the Princess of Fools succeeds in presenting Božena Němcová as a brave, free-thinking and loving woman.
– Czech Television
The mezzo-soprano Jana Piorecká as Božena Němcová is strong, beautiful and emotional, vesting the character with a full and stimulating voice, but also with humanity and inner sincerity. Adam Rezner plays her husband, Josef Němec, who gradually gives up on his arrogance and stubbornness, and having gone through injustice and humiliation himself, he becomes a vital and believable human being.
– KARLA HOFMANOVÁ, klasikaplus.cz
MARTIN OTAVA (1963) is a Czech actor, director, theatre director and teacher. He studied acting (1978–1984) and opera singing (1979–1985) at the Prague Conservatoire and opera direction at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Miroslav Nekvasil (2002–2005). Already during his studies, he collaborated with Czechoslovak television, radio and film, as well as with the National Theatre as an actor, presenter and reciter. He also performed as an actor at the East Bohemian Theatre in Pardubice, the Vinohrady Theatre, the Karlín Musical Theatre and the City Theatre Kolín. In the decade after 2000, he was one of the most sought-after opera directors in the Czech Republic, and he also worked regularly abroad, e.g. in Japan. He is also the author and co-author of opera and ballet libretti (Quo Vadis, music and co-author of the libretto Sylvia Bodorová; The Little Prince, ballet by Gabriela Vermelho, choreography by Jiří Pokorný). In 1991–2006, he was an opera director at the State Opera Prague. In 2009–2014 he was appointed the director of the F. X. Šalda Theatre Liberec, since 2014 he is the director of the J. K. Tyl Theatre Pilsen, where he has recently staged the productions Hamlet (2018), Carmen (2020), The Makropulos Affair (2021), The Bat (2021), Quo Vadis (2022), Dalibor (2022), Armida (2023), The Little Prince (2024) and Juliette (2024). He is the founder of Komorní opera Praha o.s. (Prague Chamber Opera) and Česká opera Praha o.s. (Czech Opera Prague).
J. K. TYL THEATRE – OPERA is one of the four ensembles of the leading theatre of the West Bohemian region. Its history dates back to 1832. The Opera dramaturgy of recent seasons includes a line of evergreens as well as a line focused on rarely staged works of the Romantic repertoire. Presented are also works of the pre-Romantic repertoire, quite uncommon on the regular repertoire of Czech opera houses, such as Cherubini’s Medea, Monteverdi’s Orfeo and L’incoronazione di Poppea or Mozart’s Idomeneo. Another line promotes contemporary opera, staging primarily the works by contemporary Czech composers, such as Kubička’s Jakub Jan Ryba, Jirásek’s Fireflies and Bodor’s Quo Vadis. The repertoire also offers classical operettas and operas for children. In the Year of Czech Music 2024, the DJKT Opera Pilsen in cooperation with the Moravian-Silesian National Theatre Opera will perform all of Bedřich Smetana’s operas, including the unfinished Viola.
