The winner of many singing competitions will add the ambitious bitch Poppea from Monteverdi’s masterpiece opera to her repertoire of operatic heroines. The new production wastes no time and starts at the Pilsen J.K. Tyl Theatre during the usual theatre holidays: August 15.
The opera The Coronation of Poppea is a rarity on stage, but soprano Lucie Kaňková is encountering it for the second time in her artistic career: “The Coronation of Poppea was even my very first opera production in my life. I sang the triple role of Valletto, Damigella, Drusilla. And I always dreamed of singing Poppea herself.”
Claudio Monteverdi composed the opera The Coronation of Poppea in 1642, while he was an innovator in this genre and led the solo singing to unprecedented effectiveness and declamatory drama. The performers must be versatile not only in singing but also in acting. “The set and costumes in our production are very impressive, but sometimes tricky,” explains Lucie: “I have to be careful not to get burned, step on my train or fall off the swing due to the fire effects.”
Due to Covid restrictions, rehearsals had to be shortened and with great commitment. “We rehearsed the opera in three weeks instead of the usual six, and I was on stage for ten hours a day. It was a big school, but thanks to the great production team and the support of my colleagues, it was mainly a joy for me. I think the production was really successful,” adds the soprano.
Lucie Kaňková has the ability to sing in a wide repertoire and style range: from the Renaissance to the present. As a coloratura soprano, she naturally enjoys interpreting classic bel canto roles, and thanks to her ample voice volume and ability to lend it urgency, she also portrays Verdi heroines such as Violetta from La Traviata. She has already demonstrated her acting agility, technical skills and great range as Mozart’s Susanna or the Queen of the Night. She has been celebrating success in countless competitions with this role, most recently during the coronavirus quarantine with a video recording of the Queen of the Night aria, she won second place in the worldwide online version of the IFAC Australian Singing Competition. We will see her in this role in the upcoming season during the series of performances of The Magic Flute at the Prague Estates Theatre.
More about the production, production team and cast can be found here:
https://www.djkt.eu/korunovace-poppey
