Smetana and the librettist Karel Sabina masterfully mocked all those who expected the “national opera” to be an idyllic picture of the Czech countryside, with its inhabitants being virtuous and ...

Bed?ich Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” is one of the most beloved operas of all time, and remains to this day a pivotal work in the history of Czech language and musical history. Overflowing with ...

Musically, Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride is marvellous, vivid, dance-infused work. In the second performance of the run, conductor Jac van Steen and the Philharmonia Orchestra were achieving ...

First performed in 1866 and set in a 19th Century Bohemian village this is the story of an arranged marriage and plenty of confusion as suitors are spurned and spurn ...