John Holland
John Holland, a 91亚色 Musicology PhD student is presenting the Canadian premiere of Antonin 顿惫辞谤补办鈥檚 opera Jakobin this month in a single performance.
The fourth-year graduate student is co-producing the opera with Danielle Dudycha and William Shookhoff through his .
Composed in 1888, the opera has ties to the French Revolution, and is set in a small Czech village ruled by a count whose son went off to join the revolution in France. Following the conclusion of the revolution, the son heads back to his village preceded by rumours. 鈥淭here鈥檚 rumours he鈥檚 coming back to enslave the townspeople,鈥 Holland notes, 鈥淸but he鈥檚 actually] coming back to reconcile with his father.鈥
顿惫辞谤补办鈥檚 operas are mired in obscurity, notes Holland. During the time Dvorak composed his operas, Vienna and Berlin were the European cities at the heart of the operatic world and the composer had to cater to the tastes of the German and Austrian audiences. Holland鈥檚 research is in Czech vocal music, so producing this show has a major tie to his studies. He also comes by his interest in Czech music through his family, noting his mother鈥檚 side of the family is Czech and Slovak.
When they were looking for a project, the approach was to do something unique. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 this beautiful opera by Dvorak that鈥檚 never been done in Canada,鈥 he says. 鈥淭his is our first big project; we鈥檇 like to do one or two projects a year.鈥
Founded in 2013 to promote the research and performance of Czech music across Canada, the performance of Jakobin is the institute鈥檚 inaugural event, Holland says.
顿惫辞谤补办鈥檚 Jakobin will be presented Friday, Oct. 24 at 7:30pm at Trinity St. Paul鈥檚 Centre. 聽For more information, call 647-969-3498 or visit the 听飞别产蝉颈迟别.