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PŘEDŘEČ ŠELMY | ... hudební divadlo
BEFORE THE BEAST | ... musical theater
Event by: Alfred ve dvoře / Motus
Location: Alfred ve dvoře, Františka Křížka 495/36, Praha 7
Tickets: Get tickets
About event
language barrier free | 60 min
2025 Theater Critics Award for Music!
Prelude to the Beast is a musically theatrical composition that combines the original language of composer Petr Hora with the imagination of director Jiří Adámek Austerlitz and his theater voiceband ensemble Boca Loca Lab. Together with the BERG Orchestra, they draw the listener - the viewer into a dreamy, fantastic, emotional world.
The production is loosely based on the autobiographical book Believe in Beasts. In it, the French anthropologist Nastassja Martin copes with the fateful event when she was attacked by a bear during field research among the indigenous tribes in Kamchatka. Her confession goes from an analytical description of events to the borderline of dream and myth.
In his musical-dramatic work, composer Petr Hora explores forms of vocal expression that are not articulated into continuous speech. From the literary model, he focused on the line of extra-rational processes, when after being attacked, a piece of the beast remains in the woman and a piece of the woman remains in the beast, when the civilized and the animal are mixed. Hora uses only a few sentences from the book, which immediately disintegrate and create a fascinating landscape of sounds. It juxtaposes the vocal expression of singers, actresses and the natural vocal performance of all instrumentalists.
Petr Hora won the Theater Critics Award 2025 for his music in the production Prelude to the Beast.
concept and music: Petr Hora
director: Jiří Adámek Austerlitz
libretto: Petr Hora, Jiří Adámek Austerlitz
performers: Annabelle Plum, Gabriela Vermelho, Vendula Holičková, Barbora Mišíková (voice)
BERG Orchestra: Gabriela Barillová (violin / voice), Štěpán Drtina (cello / voice), Martin Debřička (saxophone / voice), Štěpán Janoušek (trombone / voice), Jakub Švejnar (percussion / voice)
lighting design: Pavel Havrda
scenography and costumes: Petra Vlachynská
premiere: September 8 and 9 2025, Alfred in the yard, Prague
collaboration: Alfred in the yard theater, BERG Orchestra, Boca Loca Lab / Jedefrau.org, HAMU
2025 Theater Critics Award for Music!
Prelude to the Beast is a musically theatrical composition that combines the original language of composer Petr Hora with the imagination of director Jiří Adámek Austerlitz and his theater voiceband ensemble Boca Loca Lab. Together with the BERG Orchestra, they draw the listener - the viewer into a dreamy, fantastic, emotional world.
The production is loosely based on the autobiographical book Believe in Beasts. In it, the French anthropologist Nastassja Martin copes with the fateful event when she was attacked by a bear during field research among the indigenous tribes in Kamchatka. Her confession goes from an analytical description of events to the borderline of dream and myth.
In his musical-dramatic work, composer Petr Hora explores forms of vocal expression that are not articulated into continuous speech. From the literary model, he focused on the line of extra-rational processes, when after being attacked, a piece of the beast remains in the woman and a piece of the woman remains in the beast, when the civilized and the animal are mixed. Hora uses only a few sentences from the book, which immediately disintegrate and create a fascinating landscape of sounds. It juxtaposes the vocal expression of singers, actresses and the natural vocal performance of all instrumentalists.
Petr Hora won the Theater Critics Award 2025 for his music in the production Prelude to the Beast.
concept and music: Petr Hora
director: Jiří Adámek Austerlitz
libretto: Petr Hora, Jiří Adámek Austerlitz
performers: Annabelle Plum, Gabriela Vermelho, Vendula Holičková, Barbora Mišíková (voice)
BERG Orchestra: Gabriela Barillová (violin / voice), Štěpán Drtina (cello / voice), Martin Debřička (saxophone / voice), Štěpán Janoušek (trombone / voice), Jakub Švejnar (percussion / voice)
lighting design: Pavel Havrda
scenography and costumes: Petra Vlachynská
premiere: September 8 and 9 2025, Alfred in the yard, Prague
collaboration: Alfred in the yard theater, BERG Orchestra, Boca Loca Lab / Jedefrau.org, HAMU