古楽管弦楽団 & 合唱団: コレギウム 1704
Collegium 1704 is a Czech early music orchestra and choir founded in 2005 by the Czech conductor, harpsichordist, and horn player Vaclav Luks.
The Collegium Vocale 1704 is the affiliated vocal ensemble. Since 2007, the ensemble has been making regular guest appearances at festivals and concert halls all over Europe: the Salzburger Festspiele (2015, 2016, 2018), the Berliner Philharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Theater an der Wien and Konzerthaus, the Lucerne Festival, BOZAR (Palais des Beaux-Arts) in Brussels, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, Wratislavia Cantans, and the Elbphilharmonie, and it is an ensemble-in-residence at the festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht and at the Leipzig Bachfest. In 2008, Music Bridge Prague - Dresden began, bringing together the two cities’ wealth of cultural traditions. In 2012 Collegium 1704 started a concert series at the Rudolfinum in Prague. Since autumn 2015, the two cycles have been merged into a single concert season that continues to take place in parallel in Prague and Dresden. In 2019 Collegium Vocale 1704 launched a series of chamber choir concerts in Prague.
Collegium 1704 specialises in Baroque music, in particular that of Jan Dismas Zelenka, Johann Sebastian Bach, Claudio Monteverdi, and Georg Frideric Handel. They also strive to promote the music of Josef Myslivecek.
The ensemble cooperates with prominent soloists, both Czech and international, including Magdalena Kozena, Bejun Mehta, Simona Houda-Saturova, Martina Jankova, Hana Blazikova, Karina Gauvin, Lisandro Abadie, and others.
Opera productions
In 2009/2010, Collegium 1704 performed Handel's Rinaldo at the National Theatre in Prague, at Theatre de Caen, Opera de Rennes, and Grand Theatre du Luxembourg. In 2013, they performed Josef Myslive?ek’s opera L’olimpiade and the production was nominated for the 2014 International Opera Awards. In 2017, they followed with Antonio Vivaldi’s Arsilda, regina di Ponto in its modern-era world premiere, directed by David Radok - the premiere took place at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava and the production toured several European citites, including Opera de Lille, Theatre de la ville de Luxembourg, Theatre de Caen, and Opera Royale de Versailles.
Film appearances
In 2014 Collegium 1704 collaborated with Bejun Mehta on a DVD of Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice with the stage director Ondrej Havelka, and with Rolando Villazon on the making of the BBC 2 documentary Mozart in Prague. The ensemble took part in making the director Petr Vaclav’s upcoming epic film Il Boemo about the life of Josef Myslive?ek, and previously in the director's documentary about Myslive?ek, Confessions of the Vanished.