Il Boemo (Motion Picture Soundtrack) Collegium 1704 & Václav Luks

• Josef Mysliveček (1737 - 1781):
• 1Mysliveček: Ezio: Overture - I. Allegro con spirito03:59
• 2Mysliveček: Ezio: Overture - II. Andantino Affettuoso02:41
• 3Mysliveček: Ezio: Overture - III. Presto01:08
• 4Mysliveček: Demetrio: "Sarete al fin contenti" (Cleonice)01:25
• 5Mysliveček: Demetrio: "Mi parea del porto in seno" (Cleonice)05:40
• 6Mysliveček: L'Olimpiade: "Con questo ferro" (Licida)01:23
• 7Mysliveček: L'Olimpiade: "Gemo in un punto e fremo" (Licida)03:47
• 8Mysliveček: Adamo ed Eva: "Non sò se il mio peccato" (Eva)06:39
• 9Mysliveček: Il Bellerofonte: "Pria ch’io perda" (Ariobate)06:00
• 10Mysliveček: L'Olimpiade: "Mentre dormi" (Licida)04:08
• 11Mysliveček: Il Demofoonte: "Sperai vicino il lido" (Timante)05:48
• 12Mysliveček: L'Olimpiade: "Che non mi disse un dì" (Argene)03:28
• 13Mysliveček: Il Bellerofonte: "Palesar vorrei col pianto" (Argene)10:33
• 14Mysliveček: Demetrio: "Nacqui agli affani in seno" (Cleonice)07:09
• 15Mysliveček: Armida: "Il caro mio bene" (Rinaldo)04:40
• 16Mysliveček: Romolo ed Ersilia: "Deh in vita ti serba" (Ersilia, Romolo, Acronte, Curzio)04:42
• 17Mysliveček: L'Olimpiade: "Misero me, che veggo! " (Megacle)04:05
• 18Mysliveček: L'Olimpiade: "Intese tutto Aristea?" (Licida, Megacle)00:45
• 19Mysliveček: L'Olimpiade: "Se cerca se dice" (Megacle)06:03
• 20Mysliveček: Il Bellerofonte: Overture - Allegro02:55
• 21Mysliveček: Il Demofoonte: "Odo il suono" (Demofoonte)02:56
• 22Mysliveček: Ezio: "Finchè un Zeffiro soave" (Fulvia)07:24
• 23Mysliveček: L'Olimpiade: "Siam navi" (Aminta)05:21
• Total Runtime01:42:39

Info for Il Boemo (Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and soprano Emoke Baráth appear on the soundtrack of a 2022 film by the award-winning Czech director Petr Václav. Called Il Boemo (The Bohemian), it tells the story of the Prague-born composer Josef Myslivecek (1737-1781). He became a major figure on Europe's operatic scene, achieving particular renown in Venice, Naples and Munich and composing more than two dozen operas in all. Myslivecek is also notable for being a friend and colleague of Mozart, whom he first met in Bologna in 1770. Both Philippe Jaroussky and Emoke Baráth make on-screen appearances - as operatic performers - in Il Boemo. Václav Luks conducts Collegium 1704, the period-instrument ensemble he founded in Prague in 2005.

Il Boemo (lit. ’The Bohemian’) is a 2022 feature film about the life and career of the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček (1737–1781), directed by Petr Václav. Mysliveček was one of the most acclaimed and prolific composers of opera seria in Italy in the second half of the eighteenth century, and mentor and friend to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The film stars Vojtěch Dyk, Elena Radonicich, Barbara Ronchi, and Lana Vlady. The music for the film has been recorded by the Czech ensemble Collegium 1704 led by Václav Luks, featuring international soloists such as Philippe Jaroussky, Emöke Baráth, Raffaella Milanesi, and Simona Šaturová. It was selected as the Czech entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. It premiered at 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival on September 19, 2022.

The son of a Prague miller, who expected him to follow in his footsteps, Mysliveček as a young man flees to Venice to realize his dream of becoming a composer. Against all odds he manages, becomes known as “Il Boemo” (i.e. “Czech”), and his success surpasses even his own expectations. During the 1770s, he is at his most prolific, composing numerous works in the genre of Italian opera seria.

Philippe Jaroussky, counter-tenor
Emöke Barath, soprano
Simona Šaturová, soprano
Sophie Harmsen, soprano
Krystian Adam, tenor
Collegium 1704
Vaclav Luks, conductor

Václav Luks
studied at the Pilsen Conservatoire, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and crowned his training with the specialised study of early music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland in the studios of Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Jesper Christensen in the fields of historical keyboard instruments and historical performance practice. During his studies in Basel and in the years that followed, he gave concerts all over Europe and overseas as the principal horn player of the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin.

After returning from abroad in 2005, he transformed the chamber ensemble Collegium 1704, which he had already established during his studies, into a baroque orchestra, and he founded the vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704.

Under his leadership, the ensembles perform at prestigious festivals and at renowned concert halls. Their recordings have earned both public success and critical acclaim, including awards such as Trophées, Diapason d’Or, and Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

In addition to his intensive work with Collegium 1704, Václav Luks also collaborates with other distinguished ensembles including the Netherlands Bach Society, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Camerata Salzburg, the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, and the Dresdner Kammerchor. At a benefit concert for the restoration of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Václav Luks conducted the Orchestre nationale de France. The French radio station France Musique devoted five episodes of the programme Grands interpretes de la musique classique to Václav Luks in 2021. In May 2021, he conducted Collegium 1704 in the opening concert of the international festival Prague Spring.

He has worked with internationally renowned soloists including Karina Gauvin, Vivica Genaux, Ann Hallenberg, Martina Janková, Philippe Jaroussky, Magdalena Kožená, Bejun Mehta, Sarah Mingardo, Adam Plachetka, and Andreas Schöll.

Václav Luks has collaborated on operatic and theatrical performances with such stage directors as Willi Decker, Ondřej Havelka, Ursel Herrmann, Jiří Heřman, Louise Moaty, J. A. Pitínský, and David Radok. Under his direction, Collegium 1704 recorded the music for Petr Václav’s documentary Zpověď zapomenutého (Confession of the Vanished) and for his feature film Il Boemo about the life of Josef Mysliveček. In this case, Václav Luks also served as chief music advisor.

His activities have played an important part in the revival of interest in the works of Czech composers such as Jan Dismas Zelenka and Josef Mysliveček, and in strengthening Czech-German cultural links through rediscovery of the two countries’ shared musical heritage.

In June 2022, he received the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) from Ambassador Alexis Duterteur at a ceremony at the French Embassy in Prague. The Order is awarded by the French Minister of Culture for significant merits in the field of art and literature.

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