Concert to celebrate Day of the founding of the Czechoslovak state
07.10.2025 / 16:15 | Aktualizováno: 07.10.2025 / 19:14
On the occasion of the 107th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, the Embassy cordially invites all lovers of Czech music to a special concert evening featuring exceptional Czech and Canadian artists.
When: Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Where: Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Lisgar Street, Ottawa
Free Admission
To participate please register here.
The program will include works by Czech composers Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček, and Luboš Fišer, performed by the piano duo Zuzana Šimurdová and Mikołaj Warszyński (ZUMI Piano Duo).
The concert will also feature soprano Whitney Leigh Sloan, who will perform Gypsy Songs by Antonín Dvořák, Songs by Václava Kaprálová, An excerpt from Jenufa by Leoš Janáček and the beloved aria “Song to the Moon” from Dvořák’s Rusalka — one of the most famous pieces of Czech opera literature.
Performers
Zuzana Šimurdová
Studied at the University of Montreal and Concordia University (Canada), the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava, and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (Czech Republic). She continued her studie under Professor Renn Kellaway at the Royal Northern College of Music (United Kingdom). She is a First prize winner at the International Music competition „Prague-Viena-Budapest.
Mikołaj Warszyński
A versatile pianist, lecturer, and pedagogue. He is a recipient of numerous scholarships, grants, and awards from Canada and abroad, and was a gold medalist in the Festival de Musique du Royaume du Québec. He completed his bachelor's degree in piano performance at the University of Alberta In Europe, he furthered his graduate studies “cum laude” at the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands, where he was awarded a Sauter grand piano on loan from the National Instrument Foundation in Amsterdamas a chamber musician, playing music of the baroque, classical, and contemporary repertoire all over the world.
Whitney Leigh Sloan
Completed both her Undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Opera Performance at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She performed as Mimí in La Bohème, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Additionally, Ms. Sloan performed the roles of Tatiana in Eugene Onegin and Arsamene in Serse as a part of the collaboration between UBC and the Mestke Divadlo in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic. She looks forward to engagements with Edmonton Opera, covering the role Violetta Valery in their production of La Traviata and performing the role of Alice in Rossini’s Le comte Ory.
We look forward to seeing you there!