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| Who | Bella Adamova (CZ) mezzosoprano Škampa Quartet (CZ) |
| Where | Temple of Diana – Rendez-vous |
| Program | Samuel Barber (1910–1981): Dover Beach, op. 3, H-63 Caroline Shaw (1982): O Death Caroline Shaw: Cant voi l’aube Caroline Shaw: Will there be any Stars in my crown Caroline Shaw: And so —intermission— Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904): String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, B179 “American” I. Allegro ma non troppo II. Lento III. Molto vivace IV. Finale. Vivace ma non troppo Dress code: Semi-Formal |
While focusing on songs, mezzo-soprano Bella Adamova moves naturally through different musical periods, genres and cultures. Her repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary compositions and includes German songs and Russian romances. She has performed deep and thoughtfully crafted song recitals at major venues and festivals such as Prague Spring Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, St. Wenceslas Music Festival, the Music is… festival and Villa Senar, the Swiss residence of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Bella Adamova has won many prestigious international singing competitions. Together with pianist Malte Schäfer, they are laureates of the international competition Franz Schubert and Modern Music in Graz in the category “song duo” and in 2022 she won the main prize in the oratorio category in the international singing competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. However, she is also a sought-after opera singer.
Bella sings and improvises in a duo with pianist Michael Geese, with whom she released their first collaborative album “Blooming” in 2019. Their second CD, “There is home” (2023), brings an unconventional approach, loosely interweaving songs by Pavel Haas, Benjamin Britten, Gustav Mahler and Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, organically interweaved with improvisations on selected poems.
Škampa Quartet started its steep artistic career in March 1989 at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under the guidance of Antonín Kohout and Milan Škampa, members of the legendary Smetana Quartet, and quickly became a household name on Czech and international stages. Currently, the quartet’s lineup is Petra Brabcová, Adéla Štajnochrová, Martin Stupka and Lukáš Polák.
The quartet has performed on many prestigious stages and festivals around the world and has collaborated with many international artists. During its existence it has recorded numerous albums on the Supraphone, for which it has won many awards. Interestingly, the CD “Iva Bittová Classic”, which was created in collaboration with the artist and composer Iva Bittová, is a masterful combination of Romani and Moravian folk music with jazz. On the occasion of the Year of Czech Music, they also recorded the album „Folk Poetry in Songs“ in a quartet transcription by Vladimír Godár and their own original arrangement, again with Iva Bittová. However, they had already been working with arrangements of folk music in 2001–2002, when the project of concerts “Janáček and his Moravian Roots” was created, where Janáček’s string quartets were performed together with Moravian folk music.
Among the significant achievements of the quartet are their pedagogical activities. In addition to masterclasses for the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebow Amsterdam and the University of Mexico City, as well as other institutions and music festivals, this is especially the case with the Royal Academy of Music in London, where the quartet members have been appointed visiting professors in chamber music at the String Department since September 2001.
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