Children’s Opera Prague : The Fat Great-Grandfather and the Robbers

Performance suitable for children from the age of 5

Jan Šimůnek – Conductor and musical arrangement 

Martin Vydra – Choirmaster 

Jiřina Marková Krystlíková – Director 

Jiří Votruba – Set designer 

Tereza Mouchová – Costumes 

Ivo Dankovič – Lighting design 

Soloists and choir of Children’s Opera Prague 

It Turned Out Well or The Fat Great-Grandfather, the Robbers and the Detectives is a two-act opera by Jaroslav Křička based on the fairy tale of the same name by Josef Čapek. The premiere took place at the National Theatre in Prague on December 29, 1932, performed by its drama company. For the Year of Czech Music, the Prague Children's Opera decided to restudy this fairy tale and premiere it as part of the Everlasting Hope festival.

Jaroslav Křička (1882–1969) was a prominent Czech composer, and also choirmaster of the Prague Hlahol, a journalist, and a conductor. Coming from a family of cantors, he wrote many songs, cantatas, symphonies, children's operas, and even music for the film Saint Wenceslas.

A cheerful story about a chubby great-grandfather who goes to sell a horse at the market in Hradec and on his way back gets caught in a fierce storm in the forest. He runs to take shelter in the nearby inn called "At the Golden Jug". Unaware that a gang of robbers is having their ball there, he is first robbed by them, but the great-grandfather outsmarts them with the help of constables and Detective Sherlock Holmes. Thus, he can return home to his beloved great-grandmother with a cheerful song, accompanied by his dog Voříšek.

Children's Opera Prague (DOP) is a group of child and young soloists studying singing. It was founded in 1999 by Jiřina Marková-Krystlíková, a soloist of the National Theatre opera in Prague and a singing professor at the Prague Conservatory, on the foundations of her private music school. The ensemble currently has a wide repertoire, partly staged Italian and German. DOP has released nine CDs: Czech Christmas Mass by J. J. Ryba, H. Krása's Brundibár, Little Mozart, Geniuses and Children (B. Smetana, A. Dvořák, B. Martinů, L. Janáček), Opera Entertains Us, B. Britten's The Little Sweep, K. Hašler's Clouds Drift Far Away (songs), J. Uhlíř, Z. Svěrák's Mini Operas, and J. Křička's Hounds. The DOP's performance of Hans Krása's most famous children's opera, Brundibár, was released on DVD. A television documentary was made about the ensemble, and the media regularly report on its activities.