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 ...

All eight of his operas will be staged as a cycle in Ostrava, but elsewhere we’ll have to make do with the familiar titles: no hardship when it comes The Bartered Bride, a score of sublime musical ...

“My music is rhythmic because I am Czech… the natural music of the Czechs is rhythm – strong and agile rhythm.” (Martinů). How well the conductor Jac van Steen and the director Paul Curran understood ...

Garsington favourite that transfers Smetana’s Czech comedy to a 1960s English setting delights again The hit of Garsington’s 2019 season, Bedřich Smetana’s village comedy returns with revival director ...

Although in The Bartered Bride Smetana largely avoided the direct quotation of folksong, the music he composed was considered to be Czech in spirit, meaning that he succeeded in his aim of creating a ...