The evening was opened by the Czech Ambassador to Canada Martin Tlapa. He appreciated John Holland's efforts to promote Czech music, and Dvořák's works especially in Canada. Around sixty opera lovers listened with enthusiasm not only to the stories from Dvořák'live but also the explanations of reason why Dvořák's operas are not performed very often, despite of their unquestionalble quality. The live performances of John Holland and Grace Quinsey from the operas the Jacobin and Rusalka were undoubtedly the highlight of the evening.

The Lost Tradition of Dvořák's Operas: Myth, Music, and Nationalism was published in 2024 through Lexington Books. It examines Antonín Dvořák’s operas, specifically Jakobín and Rusalka, from a critical standpoint, focusing on such criteria as tonal structures, thematic material and motives, subject matter, Czech folklore and musical influences, textual language, nationalism, characters, compositional history, performance history, and reception. This research vindicates and validates Dvořák as an opera composer and shows him to be an overlooked master in nineteenth century opera and the bridge between the Verdi and Wagner traditions.

To help promote Czech music studies in Canada, John founded Canadian Institute for Czech Music in 2013.

Czech-Canadian Bass-Baritone John Holland has embarked on a diverse career of opera, oratorio, and art song. In 2020, John won a JUNO award as a member of the Ottawa Bach Choir. His Operatic credits include Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague and Toronto City Opera, Vodník in Rusalka in the Czech Republic, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri with Toronto Concert Orchestra, Purkrabi in Dvořák’s Jakobin, Achilla in Giulio Cesare, Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore, and Henry VIII in Anna Bolena with Toronto’s Opera by Request. He is a frequent performer with The Mississauga Symphony, as Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (2023) and Sacristan in Tosca (2024), and also with Opera York, as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte  (2023) and Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus  (2023). Recently, he was Kecal in The Bartered Bride with the Canadian Institute for Czech Music, and can be heard this summer as Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro with Toronto Concert Orchestra, and then Purkrabi in Dvořák’s Jakobín in September 2024 as part of the Year of Czech Music Opera Fest! Dr. Holland completed his PhD in Musicology at York University in 2018. His scholarly work reaches over many genres, but is focused on the study of Czech Opera, Art Song, and Choral Works. 

Soprano Grace Quinsey most recently "graced" the stage as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro with No Strings Theatre. Her recent engagements include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, First Lady & Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Norina (Don Pasquale) with Opera By Request, and Zulma (L’italiana in Algeri) with Vera Causa Opera. She played the roles of Helen & Robin in a workshopped version of Michael Rose’s A Northern Lights Dream. Grace also performs with Toronto Operetta Theatre and Opera In Concert. Other roles include Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Alice (Night Blooming Cereus Flower), and the soprano lead in several of Gilbert & Sullivan’s operettas. Grace has a comprehensive Cecchetti ballet background, and she has been noted for her unique characterization, insightful musicality, and dramatic stage presence. When not on stage, Grace works as a software developer and is a video game aficionado.

 

The event is organized on the occasion of The Year of Czech Music 2024.

The Year of Czech Music is a unique event dating back to 1924 when Bedřich Smetana’s 100th anniversary was celebrated.

With only a few exceptions, the Year of Czech Music has been celebrated every decade ever since and has gradually expanded its dramaturgy to include the anniversaries of other Czech composers and musicians (Antonín Dvořák, Josef Suk, Leoš Janáček, Bohuslav Martinů, etc.).

On the occasion of the Year of Czech Music, the Czech Centres and Radio Prague International present a joint podcast Faces of Czech Music introducing artists worth watching on the contemporary Czech music scene across different genres.