Marta Töpferová together with the Milokraj ensemble are putting together a one-off programme for the Janáček Brno 2016 festival. It consists of a selection of songs by Leoš Janáček for voice and piano from the collections Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs, Folk Ballads and Silesian Songs, including several new arrangements by the violinist Stanislav Palúch, the cimbalom player Marcel Comendant and Marta Töpferová for Milokraj. It will also include Janáček’s Piano Sonata in E minor 1. X. 1905 From the Street and a selection of songs by Marta Töpferová.

It is common knowledge that Janáček devoted himself very intently to the study of folk songs. Indeed, for a large part of his life he was regarded primarily as a folklorist, and it was only in his later years that he began to achieve recognition as a composer.

Moravia is also the birthplace of Marta Töpferová, which is why she has had a special relationship with Moravian music since her childhood, and Janáček’s work has been a deep source of musical inspiration for her.

Milokraj is a project which draws upon music with Bohemian and Moravian roots and gives it new tones and meanings; the music is new, and yet it captures the spirit and depth of tradition; at the same time, the arrangements and interpretation offer scope for all of the musicians to put their wealth of experience to good use.

Marta Töpferová is one of the most interesting singers and songwriters of her generation. In her youth she spent eight years singing classical and folk music in choirs in Bohemia and in the United States. After emigrating to the USA in 1987, she learned to speak Spanish fluently and made a name for herself as a distinctive artist and composer of Latin American music. The London Times described Marta as “one of the most charming performers of Latin American folk music”. Marta’s deep voice, lyrical songs and unique accompaniment on the four-stringed cuatro and the guitar have captivated listeners around the world. She established herself on the music scene in New York and has worked with the very best musicians from Latin, jazz and classical music, and this experience is reflected in the inimitable stylistic mix of her own work. In 2012 Marta returned to Bohemia and began writing songs in her native language inspired by Moravian folklore and Slavic music for her new ensemble Milokraj. As well as her own lyrics, Marta has also set to music poems by Věra Provazníková, Jan Zahradníček and others.

To date Marta Töpferová has released seven albums – four in Spanish, two in Czech and one in English, primarily containing her own work: Milokraj (2013, Animal Music), The Other Shore (2011, World Village), Trova (2009, World Village), Flor Nocturna (2006, World Village), La Marea (2005, World Village), Sueño Verde (2003, Circular Moves) and Homage to Homeland (2002, own record label). 

Marta is internationally recognized as one of the leading representatives of world music; she has travelled around Europe, the USA, Canada, Argentina and Thailand and appears at major venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Blue Note in New York and the Bardentreffen Festival in Nuremberg.

Jan Bartoš is one of the younger generation’s most distinctive pianists. His concerts have won him recognition both at home and abroad, and the Italian dail Il Roma ranked him among “the best pianists in Europe”.  Jan Bartoš has worked with renowned artists and teachers. He was the last student of the legendary pianist, prof Ivan Moravec. In the Czech Republic he studied under Martin Ballý and Miroslav Langer, and abroad under Alfred Brendel, Zenon Fishbein, James Tocco, Leon Fleisher and Boris Berman. Jan Bartoš has won many international competitions including the Mieczyslaw Munz Competition in New York, the Zaslavsky-Koch Competition and the Peter S. Reed Award, as well as the Rotary Musikförderpreis in Nuremberg and the Concertino Praga in the Czech Republic.

In 2015 he was the soloist with the Czech Philharmonic at the opening concert of the Smetana Litomyšl festival. Conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek, he performed Smetana’s Macbeth and the Witches and Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in G minor. He has given concerts in many European countries – Germany. Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Holland and in the USA. In 2009 he made his debut in New York with Beethoven’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in D major with the Manhattan Philharmonic. In the same year he gave solo performances at the Carnegie Hall, the Julliard School, the Merkin Concert Hall and Rockefeller University in New York.