On Wednesday, December 10, the Academical Artistic Ensemble of Charles University will present its traditional Christmas concert at the Church of St. Simon and St. Jude. Conducted by Ondřej Kunovský and Jakub Zicha, the concert will feature compositions by the renowned Czech composer Jakub Jan Ryba and his predecessors. programme Jakub Jan Ryba Jiří Ignác Linek Šimon Brixi František Xaveer Brixi Jan Campanus Vodňanský The first half of the concert will be dedicated to the Czech predecessors of the famous cantor Jakub Jan Ryba, namely Jiří Ignác Linka, whose 300th birthday we are commemorating this year, and who is a typical representative of Czech cantor music of the late Baroque period. Few of Link’s contemporaries composed such an extensive body of work based on Czech texts as this native of Bakov nad Jizerou. The Czech cantor tradition naturally affected not only the Czech countryside, as in the case of Linka and later Ryba, but also reached as far as the “first choir of the Czech lands” — the bandmaster of St. Vitus Cathedral, František Xaver Brixi, who is buried at the Church of St. Simon and Jude — the venue for the concert. The first part will conclude with the Magnificat by Šimon Brixi, father of František Xaver. The second half of the concert will consist entirely of works by Jakub Jan Ryba — a well-known cantor thanks to his Czech Christmas Mass, but in terms of his other works, still a fully undiscovered genius of the turn of classicism and early romanticism. Ryba’s work is extremely varied in style and reflects the composer’s great practicality — the works are composed for specific instruments that Ryba had at his disposal in Rožmitál, with which he was associated throughout his life. The compositions range from those that are easier in terms of composition and performance (such as the Czech Christmas Mass) to more complex pieces that make use of a wide variety of contrapuntal and harmonic possibilities, such as the series of three masses “Serio stylo,” the first of which we will perform. The composition of the mass shows the continued use of the thorough bass practice since the Baroque period, which Ryba pushes to its limits, creating a kind of bridge that spans from the Baroque, through Classicist elements, to early Romanticism. We are also including the profound and contemplative Salve Regina and a part of the Cathedral Songs in this dynamically looking mass. Perhaps with this small gesture we can remind ourselves that Jakub Jan Ryba is not really the author of a “one hit wonder,” but — as in his time and in ours — an underappreciated composer who left behind an extensive body of work of spiritual depth and compositional progressiveness that still awaits its full discovery. Performers Vysokoškolský Umělecký Soubor UK Camerata Carolina Marta Fadljevičová soprano Jana Horáková Levicová alto Ondřej Holub tenor Jan Morávek bass Ondřej Kunovský, Jakub Zicha conducts admission single admission fee CZK 250 (can be ordered by email: vus@vus-uk.cz) The Academical Artistic Ensemble of Charles University (VUS UK) is a leading Czech amateur choir composed mainly of students, graduates, and employees of Charles University and other Prague universities. It was founded in 1948 and is the oldest Czech academic choir. The choir is the only representative of the Czech Republic in the European Federation of Young Choirs. In addition to regular concerts in Prague and other locations in the Czech Republic, the choir also performs frequently abroad. It has released several CDs. The choir is also active in the field of theater production. In 2004, it participated in a spectacular performance of the opera Carmen in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and in September 2005, it performed in the opera Tosca in Bamberg. Another activity of the choir is its collaboration with the drama and opera departments of the National Theater in Prague.