This year’s major opera project will be Smetana’s Prodaná Nevěsta (Pro-da-nah Nev-yes-ta) or, as it’s more known in English, The Bartered Bride.
This full scale opera production presents an amazing opportunity, unparalleled in the North East, for members of the general public to participate in an original language rendering of this very popular work.
The opera is most often performed in translation, either in the language of the country it’s performed in, or more generally in German. However, just a little googling reveals that Smetana wrote the opera in Czech at a time when the country was German speaking (and had been for decades!). Czech was considered a dying language at the time, and the work is often touted as being central in the preservation and revival of the Czech language and cultural identity.
It felt wrong to perform in translation with it’s echoes of colonialism and xenophobia when the work, at it’s core, so clearly rallies against those things. And, besides that the pronunciation is perhaps easier than some more ‘popular’ languages due to it’s phonetic spelling.
Jake Zualski, Artistic Director
Newcomers to the language need not fear though, as we will be working with Czech speakers throughout the project to keep us on track. Both for the confidence of our participants, but also to be sure that we are working respectfully of this very different language identity.
The opera is in 3 acts and follows the story of Mařenka (Ma-zhen-ka), a young woman in love, but whose parents have arranged a marriage with the wrong man. The plot follows as she navigates the difficult territory of escaping marriage to the village idiot, Vašek (Va-shek) while pursuing the man of her dreams Jenik (Yeh-nick).
While it might sound a bit heavy going with themes of misogyny and patriachy, the opera is actually quite light and comedic. In many ways it undermines the arranged marriage through comedy, and Mařenka, you’ll be pleased hear, does get her way in the end.
While traditionally, the opera does present some problematic themes… arranged marriage, stutter shaming and one instance of racial insensitivity, at HSO we aim to shine a light on how much we’ve moved on since the works inception, and to highlight the difficult material to provoke open discussion and promote the dismantling of predjudices.
Jake Zualski - Artistic Director
The project will be delivered predominantly through our regular Tuesday night rehearsals, 7-9pm where the music and language will be taught by our creative team. Over time we will incorporate more movement and get the blocking in place and gradually an opera will emerge.
We will give 4 performances in November 2024 with an Orchestra under the direction of our resident conductor Desmond Lau.
Whether you’ve got lots of experience, or none at all, you will be welcomed at Harlekinin Studio Opera. We believe in an open access policy, where everyone is invited to learn the skills necessary to suceed in opera through our programme.
Fill out the contact form on our website, drop us an email (harlekinstudioopera@gmail.com) or look us up on Instagram/Facebook to learn more.
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