Magdalena Kožená, mezzo & Karel Košárek, piano
Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 7:30 PM

Magdalena Kožená

Magdalena Kožená was born in Brno, studied at the Brno Conservatoire and with Eva Blahová at the College of Performing Arts in Bratislava.  She was awarded several major prizes in both the Czech Republic and internationally, culminating in the 6th International Mozart Competition in Salzburg in 1995.

She is an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon, and her first solo recital disc of Dvorak, Janacek and Martinu won the Gramophone Solo Vocal Award, 2001.  Recent recordings with DG include Mozart, Gluck and Myslivecek arias with the Prague Philharmonia and Michel Swierczewski; French arias with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Minkowski; Gluck’s “Paride ed Elena” with the Gabrieli Consort and McCreesh; a recital with Malcolm Martineau; an acclaimed disc of cantatas by members of the Bach family (“Lamento”) with Musica Antiqua Koeln and Reinhard Goebel, a Mozart album with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Sir Simon Rattle, a Handel disc with the Venice Baroque and Andrea Marcon and a recital disc with Malcolm Martineau “Songs my Mother taught me”.  She was the 2004 Gramophone Awards Artist of the Year.

Magdalena Kožená is well established as a major concert and recital artist.  Recital appearances have taken her to London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna, Hamburg, Lisbon, Prague, Copenhagen, Tokyo, San Francisco, and New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall.  She has also appeared at the Munich, Salzburg, Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, Aldeburgh and Edinburgh festivals.  Her pianists include Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman, Malcolm Martineau, Andras Schiff and Mitsuko Uchida.

Her concert appearances include the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Mariss Jansons, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Sir Charles Mackerras; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Robin Ticciati, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Daniel Harding and Sir Simon Rattle; the Accademia Santa Cecilia with Myung-Whun Chung and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela with Gustavo Dudamel.

Operatic engagements have included Octavian “Der Rosenkavalier” for the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin; Gluck's "Orphée" with Gardiner in Paris; Nerone (“L’Incoronazione di Poppea”) with Minkowski in Vienna; Mélisande in Paris with both Bernard Haitink and Marc Minkowski; Mélisande  at the Deutsche Staatsoper with Sir Simon Rattle, Cherubino in Aix-en-Provence and Munich; Sesto (“Giulio Cesare”) in Amsterdam. At the Salzburg Festivals her roles have included Zerlina (“Don Giovanni”) with Harnoncourt, Idamantes with Norrington and Rattle and Dorabella with Rattle.  At the Metropolitan Opera she has sung Varvara (“Katja Kabanova”) with Belohlavek and Cherubino, Dorabella and Idamantes with Levine and for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden she has sung the title role of “La Cenerentola”.

In 2003 she was awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

Karel Košárek

Karel Košárek, graduated from the Prague Conservatory and the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. He completed his studies in the United States (Dallas) in 1995 receiving the Artist Certificate and the degree of Master in Music. Karel Košárek has won a number of international piano competitions, i.a. laureate of Walter Naumburg Piano Competition in New York (1997).

Recitals given in the past seasons in New York, Dallas, Palm Beach, Calgary, Tel Aviv, and St. Peretsburg, and appearance in concerts in Europe and Japan document Karel’s international musical involvement. He has also appeared at international music festivals and has cooperated with leading orchestras, including the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonia, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra.

He has frequently cooperated with the mezzo Magdalena Kožená, accompanying her in concerts throughout the Czech Republic, at an appearance for the Deutsche Grammophon in Hamburg and in Wiena, festivals Mitte Europe, Saint-Denis in Paris, Verbier, her US debut in the Lincoln centre in May 2001 and a during her Japanese tour in 2006.

Karel Košárek regularly records for acclaimed record labels such as Supraphon and Naxos. His first solo recording included the works by Bedřich Smetana, Bohuslav Martinů, Samuel Barber and George Gershwin (by Radioservis in 2000). In 2005 he recorded a CD of songs with a highly-acclaimed Czech baritone Roman Janal (Supraphon). Together with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (under the baton of Christopher Hogwood) and violinist Bohuslav Matousek he recorded a CD with compositions by Bohuslav Martinů (released by Hyperion in February 2008). His most recent disc is a solo recital of Martinů piano works for the Supraphon, which includes several world premier recordings (February 2008 release).

In 2009, he will perform the complete works for piano and orchestra of Bohuslav Martinů upon the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of the composer and accompany Magdalena Kožená on her tour in USA.