Czech and Slovak Cultural Center

This eloquent play is an activist fantasy, first produced at the National Art Theater of Prague justafter World War I. Its darkly comic view of the modern world travels well into the 21st Century. Come observe the Čapek brothersʼ millennium bugs, as they demonstrate their tiny sexualtensions, their miniscule materialism, and their microscopic machines of war. The performance is presented under the sponsorship of the Czech and Slovak Cultural Center of Minnesota, and it is dedicated to the memory of Vaclav Havel.

When: Saturday, January 7th, 2012, at 7:30PM

Where: Whiting Proscenium Theater, Rarig Center at the University of Minnesota, 330 21st Ave S.,Minneapolis

Tickets:$10 adults / $5 seniors, students and children. Purchase online at any time HERE.

or

by phone: 612-624-2345 starting on January 3rd, 2012.

Czech and Slovak Cultural Center would like to invite you to The World We Live In (The Insect Comedy) by Joseph and Karel Capek.

The Insect Comedy, by Josef and Karel Capek, is an activist fantasy, first produced at the National Art Theater of Prague in the period just following World War 1. Its darkly comic view of the modern world has traveled well into the 21stCentury. Come observe the Capek brothersʼ millennium bugs, as they demonstrate their tiny sexual tensions, their miniscule materialism, and their microscopic machines of war.

When: December 7, 8, 9, 10, 2011 at 7:30 PM

Where: Black Box Theater, Arts High School
6125 Olson Memorial Highway, Golden Valley, MN 55422

Tickets: Adults (College students and older) $8; Youth & Seniors (Seniors 62 years and older, Children and students through 12thgrade) $5. Perpich Alumni $5. Current Perpich students and staff, free.Tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. We encourage patrons to arrive no later than 30 minutes prior to showtime.

Visit http://www.mcae.k12.mn.us/2011_2012_AHS_Performance_Calendar.pdf for more information.

Acoustic Folk Rock from the Czech Republic

Who: The legendary “Czechgrass” band Druha Trava
What: The Band’s 20th Anniversary, a Month-Long U.S. Tour, New CD in English
When: mid October to mid November 2011 (click for schedule details)
Minnesota Schedule:

- Oct 13 2011, Park Rapids (MN), Park Rapids Area High School Auditorium, 401 Huntsinger Ave, 7PM

- Oct 16 2011, Zumbrota (MN), Crossings at Carnegie, 320 East Avenue, 7PM (Benji Flaming opening)

- Nov 18-20, 2011 Minneapolis (MN), MBOTMA’s Harvest Jam Festival Marriott Minneapolis West, 9960 Wayzata Blvd., St. Louis Park

– Druha Trava will be available for radio, TV and webcast performance

– Robert Krestan, Lubos Malina and Ruth Ellen Gruber will be available for interviews

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the legendary Czech band Druha Trava returns to the United States for a month-long tour starting Oct. 13, 2011. Highlight will be the launch of Shuttle to Bethlehem — DT’s first-ever CD to mostly feature English- language versions of singer/ songwriter/ frontman Robert Krestan’s iconic songs.

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Czech and Slovak Cultural Center of Minnesota would like to invite you to SLOVCZECH concert on Sunday, August 28^th, 2011 at Lake Harriet Bandshell.  The concert is from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.

SLOVCZECH is a local band playing Slovak, Czech, and European folk music arranged in modern rock arrangements. Their music is similar to Varttina, Ukranians, Orkestar Bez Ima, and other modern European folk bands. Using fiddle, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, accordion, and sequencer result in a blend of folk and rock&roll, that is full of energy and drive.

During the 1 and ½ hour long concert, you will be able to dance, sing, or simply enjoy this great band and taste of great Czech, Slovak and European modern folk music.

Call your friends, families and music lovers and please come to support SLOVCZECH if you are in Twin Cities area.  The concert if free.

Benefit preview performances of Why We Laugh: A Terezín Cabaret

June 2, 2011 (St. Paul) and June 5, 2011 (Minneapolis), 2011

by Kira Obolensky, director Hayley Finn, composer Craig Harris, translator and dramaturg Lisa Peschel featuring Julie Kurtz, Elise Langer, Ryan Lindberg and Skyler Nowinski based on an original cabaret by Felix Porges, Vítězslav Horpatzky, Pavel Weisskopf and Pavel Stránský

Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 7:30 pm

The C.S.P.S. Sokol Hall

383 Michigan Street

St. Paul, Minnesota 55102

Sunday, June 5, 2011 at 7:00 pm

The Loring Theater

1407 Nicollet Avenue South

Minneapolis, MN 55403

Suggested donation $25; additional contributions welcome! For reservations please call 917-397-6345.

Step in Time Theater is raising funds to stage the world premiere of Why We Laugh: A Terezín Cabaret in the Czech Republic! Please join us for our benefit preview performances.

Why We Laugh is a new adaptation of Laugh With Us!, a cabaret written and performed in 1944 in the World War II Jewish Ghetto at Terezín (in German, Theresienstadt), just 40 miles northwest of Prague. The cabaret, complete with its original sheet music, came to light in the spring of 2005 in two separate family archives. The original cabaret is set in a postwar Prague identical to the beloved city the Czech Jews remembered from the late 1930s. In playwright Kira Obolensky’s new adaptation, characters based on the original Terezín performers encounter “the scholar,” a theater historian from our present. As the performers look forward to the postwar future and the scholar looks back toward their past, they confront each other with difficult questions: why did the Terezín prisoners laugh, and what does that laughter mean to us today?

The world premiere of Why We Laugh will take place in Terezín on June 15, 2011 and the performance will be featured in the Nine Gates Festival of Czech-German-Jewish Culture in Prague on June 18, 2011. For more information please see:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/pesc0029/lisapeschel/why-we-laugh.html

If you would like to support us but can’t attend the benefit performances, please see:
http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Why-We-Laugh

For the latest information on the benefit performances please see:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/pesc0029/lisapeschel/benefit-performances-of-why-we-laugh.html

Why We Laugh is a sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts.

Traditional Czech folk tunes, a selection of Dvorak’s instrumental and vocal pieces, and a potpourri of other fun songs, some of which you’ll recognize and some which may be new to you, but all sung in Czech!

When
Saturday, April 9th, 2011 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Location
Prospect Park United Methodist Church, 22 Orlin Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

More Information
Písnička Česká – Czech vocal & instrumental music

Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 7 p.m.

Sokol Minnesota joins with Wells Pianos, 1330 Grand Avenue, in producing a benefit concert for our beloved CSPS sokol Hall.  A nine-foot piano will make its appearance in our theater, along with two stellar pianists.

William Yang, Eden Prairie, is a student of Paul Wirth of the Wirth Center for Performing Arts in St. Cloud, which has forged partnerships with school districts around Minnesota.  William has appeared in young artist concerts and most recently at the Polish Festival featuring Chopin.  He appears to be a slight, sheepish soft spoken nine-year-old until he attacks a broad range of composers including Chopin for us. The selections by Frédéric Chopin will include Prelude in C minor, Op.28 No.20; Waltz in A-flat Major, Op.42; Ballade No.3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47; Waltz in C# minor, Op.64 No.2; Nocturne in F# Major, Op.15 No.2; Scherzo No.1 in B minor, Op.20.

Anton Melnichenko is a graduate student at Hamline University studying under Alexander Braginsky.  Anton will showcase Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s Eight Waltzes, Op. 54; Allegro con fuoco and Allegro modetato, as well as Bedřich Smetana’s Concert Etude, “On the Seashore.” He will conclude with Chopin’s Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47 and two other pieces to be announced at the performance.

At the intermission, a selection of potica and kolache will be available for purchase.

The performances will be recorded for later broadcast through support by Hailun USA.

This will be a unique offering in the entertainment of the West End and St. Paul.

April 29 & 30, May 1 & 2, 2010, Saint Paul RiverCentre, Saint Paul, MN

At the 2010 Festival of Nations, 90 different ethnic groups from around the world will share their foods, crafts and traditions that form the mosaic of our American culture. At the Festival of Nations, we are able to renew a sense of dignity in our respective ethnic heritages. At the same time we have the opportunity to develop an appreciation, rather than just toleration, of the culture of others as we build for the future together. The Festival of Nations has been an event of the people, created as a celebration of ethnic diversity and a vehicle for preserving culture and family values. As a result, differences ultimately become less significant because barriers to understanding are removed. http://www.festivalofnations.com

We would like to promote following performances:

Lipa Slovak Folk Dancers

Friday April 30th – 5:00 pm Main Auditorium & 8:00 pm Cafe Stage
Saturday May 1st – 2:30 pm Main Auditorium

SlovCzech Trio

Friday April 30th – 6:00 pm Cafe stage & 8:30 pm Bazaar stage
Saturday May 1st – 3:30 pm Bazaar stage & 5:00 pm Cafe stage
Sunday May 2nd – 12:00 pm Bazaar stage, 2:00 pm Bazaar stage & 4:00 pm Cafe stage