For the Advent and pre-Christmas period, the ensemble performed a vocal-instrumental program consisting of works of the high and late Baroque period, which emphasize the spiritual dimension of the Christmas holidays and their joyful message. In compositions by Bach, Vivaldi, Sammartini and Werner, soprano and Českolip native Alena Hellerová or flutists Marek and Anna Špelin will perform in solo roles. Tickets for the final concert of this year’s Česká Lípa chamber cycle are on sale at the festival box office in Česká Lípa or online.

Christmas concert ensemble Musica Florea introduced the listeners with a purely baroque program to the times when religion had a determining role in the life of the entire society and the spiritual dimension of Christmas was completely predominant over the material one. Next to Easter, Christmas was the most important Christian holiday, and this time of joy, which commemorated the birth of the savior, was also reflected in the works of the masters of that time. This is well illustrated, for example, by the pastoral about the birth of the savior by Gregor Joseph Werner, who was Haydn’s predecessor in the position of court bandleader of the Esterházy family in today’s Eisenstadt in Burgenland. The theme of Christmas is similarly strongly prescribed in the concerto grossa in G minor by Guiseppe Sammartiniwhich was originally composed for performance at Christmas Eve services.

A late baroque evening cannot leave out the work either Antonio Vivaldi whose Johann Sebastian Bach. His famous cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen announcing and urging the spread of divine joy to all lands was not originally intended for performance at Christmas, but thematically it is undoubtedly related to this peak of the Christian calendar.

Alena Hellerová she studied singing at the Teplice Conservatory, the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under the direction of Magdaléna Hajóssyová. As a soloist, she performed in a number of oratorios, cantatas and compositions by contemporary authors and collaborated with leading Czech ensembles. Since 2010, she has been mainly engaged in baroque music and is a member of Collegia Vocale 1704, with whom she has also performed as a soloist at prestigious festivals in many places in Europe. File Musica Florea was founded in 1992 by cellist and conductor Marko Štryncle as one of the first significant acts in the field of stylistically informed interpretation in the Czech Republic. The playing of period instruments supported by the study of period sources and aesthetics, research activity and the creative revival of forgotten interpretation styles and means have become the basic characteristics of the ensemble, which for its rich preservation under the leadership of the conductor, cellist, choirmaster and composer Mark Štryncl presented at a number of major world festivals and collaborates with outstanding soloists and ensembles all over the world.

Tickets at the final concert of the 5th year of the Česká Lipa chamber cycle are available online at www.clkc.cz and at the pre-sale of the cycle at the office at Žižková street 528/6 in Česká Lípa. The remaining tickets will also be on sale at the evening box office before the concert.

The program of the 6th year of the cycle will be presented in January 2023 and advance ticket sales will begin on February 1.

Photo: M. Svetlík