Collegium 1704 is a Czech early music orchestra and choir founded in 2005 by the Czech conductor, harpsichordist, and horn player

Václav Luks Václav Luks (born 14 November 1970) is a Czech harpsichordist, horn player, conductor, musicologist and pedagogue, founder and artistic director of the Prague baroque orchestra Collegium 1704 and of the vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704. He ...

. The Collegium Vocale 1704 is the affiliated vocal ensemble. Since 2007, the ensemble has been making regular guest appearances at festivals and concert halls all over Europe: the

Salzburger Festspiele The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

(2015, 2016, 2018), the

Berliner Philharmonie The Berliner Philharmonie () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is o ...

, London’s

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...

, Vienna’s

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prima ...

and Konzerthaus, the

Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it curren ...

, BOZAR (Palais des Beaux-Arts) in Brussels, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, Wratislavia Cantans, and the

Elbphilharmonie The Elbphilharmonie (; "Elbe Philharmonic Hall"), popularly nicknamed Elphi, is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. It is among the largest in the world. The new glassy con ...

, and it is an ensemble-in-residence at the festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht and at the Leipzig Bachfest. In 2008, Music Bridge

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

—

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

began, bringing together the two cities’ wealth of cultural traditions. In 2012 Collegium 1704 started a concert series at the

Rudolfinum The Rudolfinum is a building in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava. Since its opening in 1885, it has been associated with music and art. Curr ...

in Prague. Since autumn 2015, the two cycles have been merged into a single concert season that continues to take place in parallel in Prague and Dresden. In 2019 Collegium Vocale 1704 launched a series of chamber choir concerts in Prague. Collegium 1704 specialises in Baroque music, in particular that of

Jan Dismas Zelenka Jan Dismas Zelenka (16 October 1679 – 23 December 1745), baptised Jan Lukáš Zelenka was a Czech composer and musician of the Baroque period. His music is admired for its harmonic inventiveness and mastery of counterpoint. Zelenka was rais ...

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

, Claudio Monteverdi, and

Georg Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

. They also strive to promote the music of

Josef Mysliveček Josef Mysliveček (9 March 1737 – 4 February 1781) was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with significant com ...

. The ensemble cooperates with prominent soloists, both Czech and international, including

Magdalena Kožená Magdalena Kožená (also Lady Rattle; ; born 26 May 1973) is a Czech mezzo-soprano. Early life Kožená was born in Brno in Czechoslovakia. Both her parents had come originally from Bohemia, to the west. She was born one of the two daughters o ...

, Bejun Mehta, Simona Houda-Šaturová,

Martina Janková Martina Janková (born 1972, Orlová) is a Czech operatic soprano. She has been successful in a number of opera contests, including winning first prize at the competition Neue Stimmen in Gütersloh. She has been a member of the Zürich Opera since ...

, Hana Blažíková, Karina Gauvin,

Lisandro Abadie Lisandro Abadie (born 28 July 1974) is an Argentine bass-baritone. He studied in Switzerland, initially in Basel at the Schola Cantorum (music diploma in 2001) and subsequently at the Music School of Lucerne University, graduating with a solo-sin ...

, and others.

Opera productions

In 2009/2010, Collegium 1704 performed Handel's ''Rinaldo'' at the National Theatre in Prague, at Théâtre de Caen, Opéra de Rennes, and Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg. In 2013, they performed Josef Mysliveček’s opera '' L’olimpiade'' and the production was nominated for the 2014 International Opera Awards. In 2017, they followed with Antonio Vivaldi’s '' Arsilda, regina di Ponto'' in its modern-era world premiere, directed by David Radok - the premiere took place at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava and the production toured several European cities, including Opéra de Lille, Théâtre de la ville de Luxembourg, Théâtre de Caen, and Opéra Royale de Versailles. In 2022, Collegium 1704 staged G. F. Handel's ''

Alcina ''Alcina'' (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV 34) is a 1735 opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of ''L'isola di Alcina'', an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after during ...

'' at the National Theatre Brno, in co-production with Théâtre de Caen and Opéra Royale de Versailles, and the production was renewed in 2023.

Film appearances

In 2014 Collegium 1704 collaborated with Bejun Mehta on a DVD of

Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

’s opera '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' with the stage director

Ondřej Havelka Ondřej Havelka (born October 10, 1954) is a Czech jazz and swing singer, actor, and director. Career Havelka has been the lead vocalist for the Original Prague Syncopated Orchestra (1976-1995) and for Ondřej Havelka and his Melody Makers (19 ...

, and with

Rolando Villazón Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born 22 February 1972) is a Mexican operatic tenor, stage director, author, radio and television personality and artistic director. He now lives in France, and in 2007 became a French citizen. Villazón has published ...

on the making of the BBC 2 documentary ''Mozart in Prague''. The ensemble took part in making the director Petr Václav’s upcoming epic film '' Il Boemo'' about the life of

, and previously in the director's documentary about Mysliveček, ''Confessions of the Vanished''.

Discography

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( , ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival." He has been regarded i ...

: ''My Country'' (Accent, 2022) * Luigi Cherubini: ''Requiem C Minor'' / Karol Kurpiński: ''Te Deum'', sol. Simona Šaturová (Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, 2021) * Jean-Philippe Rameau: ''

Les Boréades ''Les Boréades'' is a ''tragédie lyrique mise en musique'', or a lyric tragedy put into music, a type of opera, in five acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). It is the last of his five such works. The libretto, attributed to Louis de Cahus ...

'' (Château de Versailles Spectacles, 2020) *

: ''Missa 1724'' (Accent, 2020) *

: ''Il giardino dei sospiri'' , Marcello, Vinci, Leo, Gasparini, Händel (Accent, 2019) *

: ''Messiah'' (Accent, 2019) *

: ''Oboe concertos et cantatas'' (Accent, 2018) *

: ''Violin Concertos'' (Accent, 2018) *

: ''Sonatas'' ZWV 181 , a 2 oboi (violino) e 2 bassi obligati /2CD/ (Accent, 2017) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''Missa Divi Xaverii'' ZWV 12 (Accent, 2015) * Johann Sebastian Bach: ''Mše h moll'' BWV 232 (Accent, 2013) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''Officium defunctorum'' ZWV 47 / Requiem ZWV 46 (Accent, 2011) * Antonín Reichenauer: ''Concertos , Koncerty'' (Supraphon, 2010) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''I Penitenti al Sepolcro del Redentore'' (Zig-Zag Territoires, 2009) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''Missa votiva'' (Zig-Zag Territoires, 2008) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''Composizioni per Orchestra'' , Orchestrální skladby (Supraphon, 2005) * Jiří Antonín Benda: ''Harpsichord Concertos'' , Koncerty pro cembalo (ARTA Records, 2005) * Henrico Albicastro: ''Concerti a quattro'', op. 4 (PAN Classics, 2001)

References

External links

official website of the ensemble (Czech, English, German)
{{Authority control Early music groups Czech orchestras Music in Prague Musical groups established in 2005 2005 establishments in the Czech Republic