Jaroslav Březina

Biography

Jaroslav Březina studied at the Prague Conservatory under the tutelage of Zdeněk Jankovský and after graduating further honed his technique with Václav Zítek. During his studies he became a member of the vocal ensemble Dobrý večer kvintet. His concert activity is extensive, primarily as regards projects pertaining to the baroque and classical repertoire. He has appeared on concert stages in Japan, Austria, Norway, Italy (performances of Dvořák’s Stabat Mater in Rome and Pisa), Germany, France and Spain. He has collaborated with a number of conductors, including J. Bělohlávek, Sir C. Mackerras, O. Dohnányi, S. Baudo, G. Albrecht and T. Netopil. Since 1993 he has been a soloist of Prague’s National Theatre Opera, where he has created a host of roles from both the Czech and world repertoire - Mozart’s Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Tito (La clemenza di Tito), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Count Almaviva (Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dancairo (Bizet: Carmen), Verdi’s Alfredo (La traviata), Fenton (Falstaff) and Macduff (Macbeth), Beppe (Leoncavallo: Pagliacci), Zinovy Borisovich (Shostakovitch: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), Smetana’s Vašek and Jeník (The Bartered Bride), Vítek (Dalibor), Šťáhlav (Libuše), Skřivánek and Vít (The Secret) and Michálek (The Devil’s Wall), Dvořák’s Jiří and Benda (The Jacobin) and Jirka (The Devil and Kate), Janáček’s Laca (Jenůfa), Kudrjáš and Tikhon (Katya Kabanová), Schoolmaster/Mosquito (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Brouček (The Excursions of Mr. Brouček), Martinů’s Yannakos and Panait (The Greek Passion), Mascaron (The Miracles of Mary) and Michel (Juliette), Nemorino (Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore), The Spirit of the Masque (Britten: Gloriana). He featured on CD recordings of J. J. Ryba’s Czech Christmas Mass (Deutsche Grammophon), Zelenka’s coronation opera Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis, which won a Cannes Classical Award for the year 2002, Janáček’s Šárka and Dvořák’s The Stubborn Lovers (all for Supraphon). He performed Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared at the Teatro Real in Madrid, at the Moravian Autumn and Janáček Hukvaldy festivals, during the Czech Philharmonic’s concert season, and also regularly at Prague’s National Theatre during the years 1998–2001. In 2016, he performed as Schoolmaster in Jan Latham-Koenig and Robert Carsen’s production of The Cunning Little Vixen in Teatro Reggio in Torino and as Števa Buryja in a concert performance of Jenůfa in Prague and London with Jiří Bělohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic. He performed as Tikhon (Katya Kabanová) in the production by Jakub Hrůša and Barrie Kosky at the Salzburger Festspiele 2022. He also works with Czech Television (e.g. a production of Martinů’s opera The Voice of the Forest). He was awarded the Thálie Award 2015.