Czech Chamber Music Society • Cappella Mariana

Cappella Mariana, a vocal ensemble founded in 2008, specialises in medieval and Renaissance polyphony and early Baroque vocal repertoire. Under the artistic direction of Vojtěch Semerád, Capella Marianaʼs performances have been enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike, who have praised the ensembleʼs expressive performance based on close attention to the text. The ensemble’s discography for the Supraphon and Etcetera labels includes recordings with revelatory dramaturgy by unknown composers or compositions.

The ensemble regularly performs at music festivals and on prestigious stages in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, including Oude Muziek Utrecht, Laus Polyphoniae Antwerpen, Voices of Passion Leuven, Prague Spring Festival, St. Wenceslas Music Festival and Concentus Moraviae. In 2021 the ensemble was in residence at the Alamire Foundation. In addition to concerts, an intensive lab session took place at the Library of Voices. In 2021 the ensemble debuted at the Prague Spring Festival with a unique programme “Kryštof Harant – Journey to the Holy Land” together with the Constantinople Ensemble. With this project, the ensemble embarked on its first overseas tour to Canada.

Vojtěch Semerád is a graduate of the Prague Conservatory, the Faculty of Pedagogy of Charles University in Prague (Chorimastering) and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris (Baroque violin with François Fernandez). He was a finalist in the International Telemann Competition in Magdeburg. His vocal training includes private lessons (with teachers such as Chantal Santon Jeffery, Peter Kooij, Poppy Holden) and many master classes.

As a soloist, Vojtěch Semerád has been invited by renowned ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Ensemble Correspondances and the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, with whom he has performed at major international venues and festivals (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Wigmore Hall London, etc.). He has taken part in several opera productions, most recently singing the role of Acis (Handelʼs Acis and Galatea), the role of Atys (Lullyʼs Atys), the role of Pythonisse (Charpentierʼs David et Jonathas) and is regularly invited to sing the Evangelist in passions and oratorios by J. S. Bach. As a violinist, Vojtěch Semerád is a permanent member of the Collegium Marianum ensemble and also performs in multi-genre and original musical projects.

He has made more than 30 recordings and regularly records for Czech Radio. Vojtěch Semerád is also a researcher focusing on the discovery of vocal music of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries in Central Europe.

Inspired by the ancient city, Constantinople was founded in 2001 in Montreal by its artistic director, Kiya Tabassian. The ensemble aims to anchor music’s place in the heart of our community and encourage cross-cultural musical making and exchanges among artists from around the world. To this end, Constantinople founded the Centre des musiciens du monde, offering a wide range of activities for the general public, including classes, talks, concerts, youth activities, a day camp and a festival. Since its founding, the ensemble promotes the creation of new works incorporating musical elements of diverse musical traditions around the world, drawing from medieval manuscripts to a contemporary aesthetic, passing by Mediterranean Europe to Eastern traditions.

Regularly invited to perform in international festivals and prestigious concert halls, such as the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Berliner Philharmonie or the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in Morocco, Constantinople has joined forces with leading international artists such as singers Marco Beasley and Françoise Atlan, the Greek ensemble En Chordais or the American group The Klezmatics.

Setar virtuoso and acclaimed composer, Kiya Tabassian has carved out a privileged place on the international music scene with his ensemble Constantinople and also as a soloist. Pursuing his training in Persian music as an autodidact and through his recurrent meetings with Reza Gassemi and Kayhan Kalhor, he studied musical composition at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Gilles Tremblay as well.

So far, he has recorded more than 25 albums, including 20 with Constantinople, and has presented nearly 1,000 concerts in more than 263 cities across 55 countries. He has also contributed to many eclectic projects as a composer, performer and improviser, such as the regular collaboration with Société Radio-Canada since 1996 and participation in the international project MediMuses from 2002 to 2005. Numerous musical groups and institutions have called on his talents as a composer, including the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra; he has also composed the music of several documentary and fiction films.

Saša Rašilov graduated from the Prague Conservatoire and later from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he studied under Luboš Pistorius and Jiří Adamíra. Meanwhile, he began performing at Boris Hybner’s Studio GAG (Al in the trilogy At the End of the Garden Named Hollywood), then he was engaged at the theatre Divadlo Komedie (The Student Arkenholz in Ghost Sonata, Semiramis in The Daughter of the Air, Andrey Prozorov in The Three Sisters, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Since 2002, he has been a member of the drama ensemble at the National Theatre. He has made guest appearances on other stages such as the E. F. Burian Theatre (Nicolas in Ardèle), the Kašpar Ensemble (Leopold in The Tutor and Clavijo), and the Theatre Na zábradlí (The Friend in JE SuiS). With Vanda Hybnerová, his wife at the time, he also wrote and directed four projects: Carousel, The Dog Experiment or The Monster, The Chairs (Řeznická Theatre) and The Last Two Cigarettes (Ponec Theatre). Besides theatrical appearances, he has a number of cinematic roles to his credit (Big Beat, The Magic Book, Lovers and Murderers, From Subway with Love), and he also works in the field of dubbing, for which he won the 2003 František Filipovský Prize.