Czech Chamber Music Society • Pavel Černoch

Talent, industriousness, and an intelligent vocal approach have made Pavel Černoch one of today’s most respected and sought-after tenors. Critics highlight the silky tenderness and malleability of his voice and praise his acting talent, thanks to which he has convincingly portrayed such complex operatic characters as Janáček’s Laca, the Prince in Dvořák’s Rusalka, and Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca. He has performed many roles from operas mainly from the 19th and early 20th centuries at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra national in Paris, Covent Garden in London, and the Teatro Real in Madrid; he has also appeared at the BBC Proms and at festivals in Bregenz, Salzburg, and Glyndebourne. Recently, he could also be heard in Boston in Samuel Barber’s opera Vanessa. A graduate of the music management programme at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, he also went abroad to pursue his dream of becoming a singer. At the very beginning of his vocal career, he met the teacher Paolo De Napoli, who became his life-long mentor. His path to fame is recorded in the Czech Television documentary Pavel Černoch – Enfant terrible?

David Švec studied piano and conducting first at the České Budějovice Conservatoire and then at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. In February 2000 he took part at conducting masterclasses under Sir Colin Davis in Dresden, and in 2002 he completed a study visit at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna (under Leopold Hager). In 2004 he won the Bösendorfer Preis in the opera coaching category at the Belvedere International Competition in Vienna.

Although he also appears regularly in concert halls (Bamberg Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc), David Švec profiles himself mainly as an opera conductor. Already as a student he was active at the Janáček Opera in Berlin, then in September 2003 he began working at Prague’s National Theatre, where he has had a full-time conducting engagement since 2011. Last year he became the chief conductor of opera at the South Bohemia Theatre in České Budějovice. He also makes guest appearances abroad at opera houses (Barcelona, Paris, Vienna, Ljubljana) and festivals (Glyndebourne). In 2014 for the publisher Bärenreiter, he made the new piano vocal score for Janáček’s opera Věc Makropulos, which was used for the first time for the production of the opera at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

He has been collaborating with the Prague Chamber Orchestra as a pianist since 1998, and he is in demand as an especially sensitive chamber music partner. He has also made many CD recordings for Czech Radio. He appears on stage regularly with leading Czech singers such as soprano Eva Urbanová, bass-baritone Adam Plachetka, and soprano Kateřina Kněžíková, with whom he has appeared, for example, at the Prague Spring Festival (2010 and 2015).