5. 11. 2021 | 19:30 | Church of St. Simon and Judy

Gustav Mahler was inspired to compose the song cycle The Boy's Magic Horn by a collection of German folk poetry compiled by two representatives of German Romanticism, Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, . Mahler later used the motifs of these songs in his symphonies. In the period after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, when the young Gideon Klein had to interrupt the study of musicology after the introduction of the so-called Nuremberg Laws in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. At the time the Divertimento was composed, he only had two years until his transport to Terezin, and only six until his death in the Fürstengrube concentration camp. The Divertimento, is one of his most balanced compositions, pointing to the influence of Janáček and Schönberg, but it also reflects influences from neo-classicism and Moravian folk songs.

Roman Janál, winner of the Thalia Award from 1999, is one of the few Czech performers who systematically devoted himself to songs. He studied violin at the Pilsen Conservatory and singing at the Academy of Music in Sofia. During his studies he was a guest on the stage of the State Opera in Sofia and further engagements led to Banská Bystrica, the Chamber Opera (later the Mozart Opera) in Prague and the Pilsen Opera. Since 1997 he has been a soloist at the National Theater, where he has performed many roles in the domestic and world repertoire. He has performed at the Bohuslav Martinů Days festivals in London with Jiří Bělohlávek and the BBC Orchestra, Europalia Brussels, the Bohuslav Martinů Festival in Amsterdam conducted by Christopher Hogwood, the Bratislava Music Festival, the Prague Spring, Smetana's Litomyšl, the International Music Festival in Český Krumlov, Janáček's May, St. Wenceslas festivities, Dvořák's Autumn, Pontes Festival, Czech-Saxon Festival, Concentus Moraviae, festivals in France, Italy and Germany, contemporary music festival in Boston, concert tours in Australia, Korea, Japan, France and opera festivals in San Remus, Ravenna and others.