Andrea Miltnerová, Monika Knoblochová, Jan Komárek

Andrea Miltnerová

Andrea Miltnerová is a British dancer and choreographer of Czech origin, who lives in Prague. In addition to her contemporary dance creations, Andrea specialises in baroque dance and its creative fusion with other techniques. She was born and trained in London and came to Prague to dance with the Ballet of the National Theatre. She also collaborates as a performer with various Czech and foreign choreographers.

Her contemporary dance solo Dance of the Magnetic Ballerina was selected by the prestigious European network Aerowaves and has been presented to critical acclaim at numerous festivals and theatres throughout Europe for example in England, Scotland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Slovenia, Romania, Finland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Her solo Tranzmutation, directed by Jan Komárek, was awarded the European Move-Award quality label and has toured to Slovenia, Holland, Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Andrea’s deep interest in the baroque led her to collaborate on the reconstruction of baroque operas and to create her own performances based on movement analysis and ethnochoreographic research. She has worked as a director, choreographer and dancer with the early music ensembles Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum and Musica Florea. She has danced in baroque operas at the National Theatre in Prague, in Český Krumlov and Litomyšl and in Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. She regularly worked with French choreographer Françoise Denieau, performing in her opera collaborations: Rinaldo, Egisto, Vénus et Adonis and Rameau - Maître à danser (Les Arts Florissants) throughout France, including Paris (Opéra Comique) and Versailles (Opéra Royale) and in Luxembourg, Switzerland (Opéra Lausanne), Seoul, London (The Barbican), Moscow (Bolshoi) and New York (BAM).

In 2017 Andrea created the choreography for Vivaldi’s opera Arsilda (Collegium 1704), conductor Václav Luks, director David Radok which premiered in Bratislava and toured to Lille, Luxembourg, Caen and Versailles to critical acclaim.

In 2019 she directed and created the choreography for the opera Praga Nascente da Libussa e Primisla for Musica Florea and this year she directed and choreographed the opera Farnace (Vivaldi). The latter was perfomed in Prague, Poland and Valtice to very favourable reviews.

Andrea also worked as choreographer and movement coach to Scarlett Johansson in the 2019 film Jojo Rabbit.

Monika Knoblochová

Monika Knoblochová - a zealous advocate of the authentic performance of baroque music and at the same time a renowned interpreter of contemporary music.

She studied harpsichord in Dresden, Cologne and Munich where she graduated from the Masters class of Christine Schornsheim. At the same time she attended the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where she received her Doctor’s diploma under Giedré Lukšaité-Mrázková.

Monika is laureate of the Prague Spring International Harpsichord Competition and together with flautist Jana Semerádová of the 16th Grosser Förderpreiswettbewerb Munich in chamber music. She also received the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Prize, the Bohuslav Martinů Society Prize and the Czech Davidoff Prix for the most talented young artist under the age of 28 in the classical music sphere. Since 2008 Monika has presented her own concert series, the Café Crème Music Salon, consisting of original, inventive performances combining early and modern music, the spoken word, dance and theatre.

Monika has recorded a wide spectrum of CDs for Supraphon, Cube Bohemia a Radioservis. She regularly records for Czech Radio. She regularly performs as a soloist and chamber music player both at home and abroad (Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Poland, Spain). She frequently collaborates with numerous soloists and ensembles (Musica Florea, Orchestr Berg, Collegium 1704 etc.).    

Monika has led the harpsichord department at the Early Music Summer Academy in Holešov since 2006, has been teaching at the Early Music Academy at Masaryk University in Brno since 2007 and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague since 2015. From 2011 to 2013 she taught harpsichord at the Faculty of Arts of Olomouc University.

Jan Komárek

Jan Komárek studied painting and graphic design at the School of Applied Arts in Prague. He worked in diverse fields, as well as composing music for theatre and puppet theatre.

After emigrating to France, he formed Mimo Theatre, creating puppet theatre for both adults and children, performing himself as puppeteer and clown. In 1983 Jan moved to Toronto, Canada, where, together with composer Rainer Wiens he founded Sound Image Theatre, using actors as well as dancers and various performers to create image based, poetic performances with live music. He received several prestigious Dora Mayor Awards for Best Play, Best Set and Lighting Design and Best Music. He gradually started to work as lighting designer for other professional theatre companies, particularly in the dance field in Toronto and Montreal.

In 1989 he visited Prague with his performance Muzika, featuring musicians and dancers from Toronto and shortly after he created Metamorphosis of a Shadow at the Minor Theatre and Shadows of Dreams at the Alfred ve dvoře Theatre with a Canadian - Czech artistic team. His dance piece Das Martyrium received ‘Best Production of the Year Award’ in Toronto.

Jan now lives in Prague where he has created many projects such as Spaces in the Dark - Narcissa en silence, Memento Mori, Shadows of Sculptures. He directed and designed Dragonfly (Theatre 29, Pardubice) and is the author of performances Dance of the Paper Dancers (Czech Museum of Music), DeRbrouk and Crime and Punishment (for the NANOHACH ensemble), Awakening of Genius loci (National Museum for the Next Wave Festival). Jan has worked extensively with choreographer and dancer Andrea Miltnerová: The Hirošima Magician, Fractured, Flashback, Tranzmutation (European Move-Award Quality Label) and Dance of the Magnetic Ballerina (Aerowaves), which has been presented at many prestigious European festivals. In 2009 Jan was recipient of the Next Wave Personality of the Year Award and in 2010 of the Czech Dance Platform’s Award for Best Lighting Design. Among his latest projects are the lighting design for Benjamin Britten’s Noah's Flood (Prague National Theatre) and cooperation as director and lighting designer with composer Miro Tóth on his operas Mystery of a Stick and Man in a Spacesuit, as well as lighting design for the Berg orchestra. His art-theatre-dance performance with live music entitled Kabaret Velázquez was nominated for a Czech Theatre DNA 2018 Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in the Field of New Theatre’.