CCMS • Martina Janková and Musica Florea

The Czech-Swiss soprano Martina Janková has been a member of the Oper Zürich since 1998. One of the finest contemporary singers of Mozart roles, she has also been lauded as a superb Baroque music performer. Highly esteemed have been her recent appearances in a number of opera productions in Zurich, at the Salzburger Festspiele, the Wiener Festwochen and at concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra. Her portrayals of Aminta (Il re pastore, 2012) and Despina (Così fan tutte) dazzled Salzburg audiences and were hailed by the critics.

In 2016, she debuted to great acclaim at La Scala in Milan, performing the role of Belezza in G. F. Handel’s oratorio Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno. That year, she was also lauded for her account of the lead role in Mozart’s opera Il re pastore, in whose concert version she performed within a European tour with Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie. In 2017, Martina Janková made her US debut, appearing as Mélisande in Yuval Sharon’s production of Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande, along with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst.

Formed in 1992, Musica Florea is one of the first Czech ensembles to have specialised in historically informed early music performance. Their fundamental traits are playing period instruments, research into historical sources and aesthetics, and creative revival of forgotten performance styles and techniques. The ensemble’s repertoire encompasses instrumental chamber works, sacred and secular vocal-instrumental pieces, concertos, symphonies, oratorios and operas spanning the period between early Baroque and the 20th century.

Musica Florea have performed at prestigious festivals worldwide and worked with renowned soloists (e.g. Magdalena Kožená, Philippe Jaroussky, Nancy Argenta, Véronique Gens, Paul Badura-Skoda, Susanne Rydén, Peter Kooij, Gianluca Capuano, Furio Zanasi, Martina Janková, Lorenzo Charoy) and ensembles (Orlando Consort, Les Pages & Les Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, Le Poème Harmonique, and others). They have garnered a number of coveted accolades, including the Diapason d'Or, the Zlatá Harmonie Prize and the Cannes Classical Award.

The conductor, cellist and choirmaster Marek Štryncl held the post of concert master of the North Bohemia Philharmonic while still a student. After graduating in conducting from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (2002), he went on to study the Baroque cello at the Dresdner Akademie für alte Musik. Moreover, he attended a number of master classes focused on historically informed early music performance. Of late, he has worked with distinguished orchestras, choirs and ensembles (New Israeli Vocal Ensemble, Boni Pueri, Orlando Consort, Prague Chamber Choir, Les Musiciens du Paradis, Prague Philharmonia, etc.), as well as feted soloists (including Magdalena Kožená and Phillipe Jaroussky). His repertoire ranges from early Baroque to Romantic and contemporary music. Interest in historically informed performance led Marek Štryncl to establishing in 1992 Musica florea, an ensemble with whom he has revived previously neglected Czech Baroque and Classical music.