Magdalena Švecová

Biography

Magdalena Švecová first studied the violin at the České Budějovice and Prague Conservatories, and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. In 2004, she completed her studies of opera direction at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing  Arts (JAMU) in Brno (under the tutelage of Alena Vaňáková). The JAMU Chamber Opera company performed her productions of Milhaud’s L'abandon d'ArianeandLa délivrance de Thésée, Markéta Dvořáková’s Giraffe Opera, Janáček’s opera The Beginning of a Romance and ballet Rákós Rákoczy (premiered within the Janáček Brno 2004 festival). She has also directed Jaroslav Krček’s electro-acoustic opera Raab the Harlot (2003) and Stravinsky’s L'Histoire du soldat(2005), the performance of which re-opened the reconstructed Reduta theatre in Brno. At the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň, she has staged Donizetti’s Don Pasquale (2005), Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (2007), Dvořák’s The Jacobin (2010) and Krček’s opera Clothes the World Has Never Seen (2014). At the National Theatre in Prague, she has directed a production of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride (2008), Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (2018), Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (2021), and participated in the staging of Britten’s Noye's Fludde (2016). At the National Theatre in Brno, she has directed its production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (2017). The Smetana’s Litomyšl festival presented her adaptations of Purcell’s Baroque opera The Fairy Queen (2012 and 2013) and Rameau’s acte de ballet Pygmalion (2015). Magdalena Švecová has also worked with the Chamber Music Festival in Český Krumlov, for which she has staged two productions within the Baroque Night project (2015 and 2016). She teaches opera acting at the PragueConservatory. In 2015-2019, she was guiding Czech Radio’s Noční Mikroforum programme.