Evening Songs

Kateřina Kněžíková is one of the most promising sopranos of her generation. In addition to her opera career, she increasingly focuses on concert repertoire, achieving success both in her native Czech Republic and abroad. Her core repertoire includes works by Antonín Dvořák, Bohuslav Martinů, Leoš Janáček, as well as the art song genre. She is the recipient of the Classic Prague Awards 2018 for Best Chamber Performance and the Thalia Award 2019 for her outstanding stage portrayal in Julietta or The Key to Dreams (B. Martinů) at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre.

A graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Kněžíková has been a permanent member of the National Theatre Opera since 2006. Her current roles there include appearances in Rusalka, Così fan tutte, Carmen, Jenůfa, The Bartered Bride, and The Cunning Little Vixen.

She has performed at numerous festivals, including the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Prague Spring International Music Festival, Dvořák Prague International Music Festival, and Smetana’s Litomyšl. Her collaborations with leading orchestras include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Czech Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, among others.

She has worked under the baton of many distinguished conductors, including Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov, Serge Baudo, Plácido Domingo, Asher Fisch, Manfred Honeck, Domingo Hindoyan, Jakub Hrůša, Oksana Lyniv, Tomáš Netopil, John Nelson, Petr Popelka, and Robin Ticciati.

In 2021, Kněžíková released her debut solo album “Phidylé” with Supraphon, which was named Editor’s Choice and listed among Gramophone's Best Classical Albums of 2021, also winning the BBC Music Magazine Award in the Vocal category. Her discography with Radioservis includes the albums “Fantasie” and “K2”. In September 2024, she released “Tag und Nacht” with Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberg Symphony under the Supraphon label.

In December 2024, she made a highly successful debut with the Czech Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

source: Agentura Camerata

Baritone Roman Hoza studied in Brno and Vienna. He is a graduate of the prestigious Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival and completed opera studies at the Opéra National de Lyon and Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf.

He made his debut at the National Theatre in Prague in 2015 as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and has since become a regular guest there (Don Giovanni, Dandini, Mamma Agata, Harlequin). Since September 2016, he has been a member of the soloist ensemble at the National Theatre Brno, where he has performed numerous key baritone roles, including Don Giovanni, Guglielmo, Rossini’s Figaro, Belcore, Escamillo, Marcello, and Danilo.

In the 2019/20 season, Roman Hoza returned to Deutsche Oper am Rhein, initially as a guest (Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola) and a year later as a permanent ensemble member. On this stage, he has appeared—and continues to perform—as Papageno, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Taddeo, and Belcore. He makes his debut there in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in spring 2025.

Roman Hoza is also a sought-after concert soloist. His repertoire regularly includes Carmina Burana, Dvořák’s Te Deum, and Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons. In October 2023, he performed in Dvořák’s The Spectre’s Bride under the baton of Jakub Hrůša with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome. His extensive collaboration with Václav Luks and Collegium 1704, as well as other baroque ensembles (Ensemble Inégal, Musica Florea, Czech Ensemble Baroque), has afforded him numerous solo appearances in Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St John Passion (as Jesus), and other works.

Art song holds a special place in Roman’s vocal career. He is a laureate in the song category of the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary.

He performed Schumann’s Dichterliebe with pianist Ahmad Hedar at the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum and sang Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the Brno Philharmonic under Robert Kružík in 2022. In summer 2023, his interpretations of French songs (Ravel, Ibert, Poulenc) were heard in Düsseldorf.

Roman Hoza is a regular guest at opera houses, philharmonic orchestras, and festivals in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has collaborated with conductors such as Jakub Hrůša, Axel Kober, Marc Piollet, David Crescenzi, Daniele Rustioni, Tomáš Netopil, and Vassily Sinaisky and has appeared in productions directed by David Radok, Andriy Zholdak, Tatjana Gürbaca, Michael Hampe, Jiří Heřman, and many others.

source: Agentura Camerata

Czech opera singer Jan Martiník (bass) has received several accolades throughout his career, including the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize in 2009.

For nearly a decade, Jan has been a soloist at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the oldest opera house in Germany. Audiences can hear him there in roles such as Stárek/Sacristan (Puccini: Tosca), Dr. Kolenatý (Janáček: The Makropulos Affair), Zuniga (Bizet: Carmen), The Voice of the Oracle (Mozart: Idomeneo), Daland (Wagner: The Flying Dutchman), The Innkeeper (Eötvös: Sleepless), and many others. He also collaborates with Komische Oper Berlin, the National Theatre in Prague, the Vienna Volksoper, and other opera houses.

He regularly performs with leading orchestras worldwide, including the Czech Philharmonic, Bamberger Symphoniker, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, and many more.

He is frequently invited to collaborate with the world’s most distinguished conductors. He has sung under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov, Manfred Honeck, Michael Sanderling, Jakub Hrůša, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and others.

Jan is also active as a recording artist. Among his latest recordings is Schubert’s Winterreise (Supraphon), which was awarded five Diapasons. With the Czech Philharmonic under Jiří Bělohlávek, he recorded Dvořák’s Biblical Songs (2020, Decca). With the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, he recorded and performed the dual role of the Priest/Badger in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen—a recording that was nominated for a Grammy in 2020

source: Arte Visio

David Mareček (b. 1976) is a sought-after chamber musician who regularly performs with leading Czech soloists, including violinists Jiří Vodička and Jan Mráček, cellists Michaela Fukačová and Václav Petr, and singer Jan Martiník. He has collaborated with some of today’s foremost musicians, such as cellists Alisa Weilerstein and Gautier Capuçon. As a soloist, he has worked with renowned conductors, including Jakub Hrůša, with whom he performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. Mareček has earned international acclaim for his interpretation of Dvořák's Piano Quintet (praised by The Strad) alongside ensembles such as the Dover, Jerusalem, and Zemlinsky Quartets. In 2018, he performed live on BBC Radio 3 with Alisa Weilerstein, and in 2021, the duo recorded a recital at the Rudolfinum for Czech Television.

Their recording of Schubert’s Winterreise with Jan Martiník received, among other accolades, a five-star review in Diapason (2018), and the recording of Dvořák’s complete works for violin and piano with Jiří Vodička received numerous distinctions, including Editor’s Choice from the British magazine Gramophone, Choc de Classica, and a five-star rating from Diapason in France. Mareček performs regularly as a chamber musician across Europe, the United States, and Asia.

He is a graduate of the Brno Conservatory, where he studied piano and conducting under Ivana Stanovská and Evžen Holiš. He continued his piano studies at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts with Inessa Janíčková and Jaroslav Smýkal. Mareček has also participated in masterclasses with distinguished pianists and educators, including Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Dominique Weber, and Peter Lang.

source: David Mareček

In 2002, Miroslav Sekera won first prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria. Prior to this, he received numerous awards at prestigious competitions both in the Czech Republic and abroad, including first prize at the Frédéric Chopin Competition in Mariánské Lázně, first prize at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) competition (YAMAHA Scholarship), and second prize at the International Competition in Gaillard, France. In 2016, he was honoured with the “Salon de Virtuosi” award in New York.

Sekera has performed as a soloist and chamber musician on many renowned stages worldwide, including the Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo, and many other prominent venues.

He regularly collaborates with Czech Radio, leading Czech orchestras, and major festivals. His frequent artistic partners include violinist Josef Špaček, with whom he recorded an album for Supraphon, and horn player Radek Baborák. In 2016, he made his debut at Prague’s Rudolfinum in the “World Piano Music” concert series and also performed at the Rudolf Firkušný Piano Festival.

In 2019, Sekera toured Japan with the legendary cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and appeared as a soloist at the international festival in Karuizawa, Japan, performing Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat Major. In 2020, Supraphon released his solo album featuring works by Franz Liszt and Bedřich Smetana, which received critical acclaim, including recognition from pizzicato.lu. Together with conductor Marko Ivanović and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, he was awarded the Anděl Prize for their recording of works by Czech composer Miloslav Kabeláč.

Miroslav Sekera teaches at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) and the Iwami Ginzan Music Academy in Japan.

source: Agentura Makropulos