SPONSOR
University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities
COMMUNITY PARTNER
Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra
DONOR
Deborah S. Greer
Kapr Code
Lucie Králová
Prague, Czech Republic | 2022 | 91 | DCP
North American Premiere
A “documentary opera” reconstructing the life of Jan Kapr (1914-1988), a contradictory Czech composer who was at first a prominent communist, a Stalin Award laureate who was later banned in socialist Czechoslovakia and erased from public memory. Director Lucie Králová starts a philharmonic dialogue with Kapr by mixing newly composed opera songs (written by Jirí Adámek) with Kapr’s never-before-shown private archive, revealing his humor, inner struggles, and desire to leave a mark.