2014

There was a wide variety of Kapralova related projects and events produced in 2014, ranging from Czech Philharmonic's Prague premiere of the composer's Concertino for Violin, Clarinet, and Orchestra to a radio play on the composer's life (written by Hana Roguljic for Czech Radio 3). Also last year, Supraphon relased a digital copy of their 1975 recording "Portret skladatelky" (Portrait of a composer), and made it available for download on iTunes. The release offers the only commercially available version of Kapralova's Suita Rustica. Czech Radio in turn made available, on their radioteka.cz site, Kapralova's melodrama Karlu Capkovi (To Karel Capek) and the composer's orchestral miniature Prélude de Noël - also the only recordings currently available on the market. In addition, they released two versions of Kapralova's String Quartet (the original, uncut version by Skampa Quartet, and a shortened version performed by Kapralova Quartet) and a new recording of Kapralova's Military Sinfonietta (by Pilsen Symphony). The most important among the Kapralova projects that were initiated and/or assisted by our Society was the publication of two scores: Kapralova's Piano Concerto in D Minor (Czech Radio Publishing House) and Tales of a Small Flute (Amos Editio).

In 2014, Kapralova's music continued to be performed and broadcast worldwide. The most anticipated event of the year was the performance of Kapralova's unfinished Concertino, op. 21 by the Czech Philharmonic under the baton of Jakub Hrusa and with soloists Irena Herajnova (violin) and Lukas Dittrich (clarinet). Other notable performances included Benyounes Quartet's rendition of Kapralova's string quartet and a performance of the composer's Partita for Piano and Strings by Alice Rajnohova and Ensemble Opera Diversa conducted by Gabriela Tardonova.

The composer's music was also presented at five music festivals and one international music competition last year. Equator Festival in London (United Kingdom) programmed Kapralova's string quartet performed by Benyounes Quartet. The Women Composers Festival of Hartford (United States) programmed Kapralova's collection of songs Seconds, sung by Michelle Latour. Janacek International Festival of Brno (Czech Republic) featured the composer's April Preludes and Scherzo Passacaglia, performed by Alice Rajnohova. The composer's Grotesque Passacaglia was performed by Dora Novakova-Wilmington at the Concentus Moraviae Festival (Czech Republic), while Kutna Hora Music Festival (Czech Republic) programmed Kapralova's chorus "Maticce" (To mother), sung by children's choir Jitro. The 49th Dvorak International Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) heard Kapralova's art songs from several semifinalists and finalists. Kapralova's music was also featured in 7 radio broadcasts last year, and the countries included Australia, the Czech Republic, and the United States.

Kapralova's music was reviewed for several magazines and e-zines last year. Nuova e Nostra printed a review by Marco del Vaglio of the Czech Radio recording of Kapralova's string quartet, released in October 2012 with the assistance of our Society. Cesky dialog published a concert review mentioning Marketa Janackova's rendition of April Preludes (Martina Fialkova) and Opera PLUS printed a concert review mentioning Kapralova's song cycle For Ever (Simon Koreny). Finally, mestohudby.cz posted online reviews of Dora Novakova-Wilmington's rendition of Kapralova's Grotesque Passacaglia (Jiri Benes) and Alice Rajnohova's performance of Kapralova's Partita (Aneta Bendova).

There were also two notable additions to Kapralova's bibliography in 2014 – two books: one in English (Timothy Cheek, publ. Rowman & Littlefield) and one in Czech (Jiri Macek, publ. Litera Proxima). Timothy Cheek's revised and expanded edition of his pioneering work Singing in Czech (2011) now includes a chapter on Kapralova, while Jiri Macek's expanded edition of his 1958 monograph on Kapralova drew on several sources published since the first edition, particularly on Jiri Mucha's novel-autobiography Podivne lasky (Strange loves). In addition to these texts, Kapralova was the subject of a number of articles. The Kapralova Society Journal featured two: one on the discovery and reconstruction of Kapralova's orchestral song Sad Evening (Timothy Cheek) and one on Kapralova's art song Waving Farewell (Cristina Castaldi). Other texts appeared in various Czech magazines and e-zines, including Magazin Ceske filharmonie (Jakub Raus), Magazin Vltava (Jan Hlavac and Renata Venclova), Opera PLUS (Jakub Hrusa), and play.cz (Remy Martin).

In 2014, the Society put out the twelth volume of Kapralova Society Journal, publishing research on composers Kapralova (Timothy Cheek and Cristina Castaldi) and Goering (Alice Abraham), and re-printing an interview with French conductor Laurence Equilbey (Lydia Perovic).

Thanks to worldwide volunteers, our databases of women composers and conductors and other online resources on women in music continue to grow and attract visitors to our website. While the databases are frequently bookmarked by online discussion groups, many college libraries also link to our journal and the woman composer question bibliography.

We would like to thank the following artists who performed Kapralova's music in Canada, Czech Republic, France, United Kingdom, and the United States: Hedar Ahman, Leigh Akin, Thomas Bandy, Benyounes Quartet, David Bergeron, Leah Bobbey, Katherine Calcamuggio Donner, Elizabeth Cameron, Cesár Cañón, Timothy Cheek, Amy I Lin Cheng, Patrice Chevy, Saori Chiba, Joshua Curtis, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicholas Davis, Kayleigh Decker, Kellen Degnan, Lukas Dittrich, Jody Doktor, Natalie Doran, Ensemble Opera Diversa, Julia Farbstein, Peter Geisselbrecht, Chad Heltzel, Irena Herajnova, Marina Hogue, Jakub Hrusa, Nicholas Hutchinson, Marketa Janackova, JITRO Children's choir, Alena Kohoutova, Kirill Kuzmin, Anthony Lafrinier, Michelle Latour, Lucie Laubova, Gunta Laukmane, Chaazi Levicek, Jiri Levicek, Brian Locke, Susan McDaniel, Shannon McGinnis, Kathryn Michell, Ingrid Mikolajczyk, Arwen Myers, Kate Nadolny, Kripa Nageshwar, Jana Nevoralova, Angela Nieman, Dora Novakova-Wilmington, Ana Maria Otamendi, Lambroula Maria Pappas, Jessica Paul, Laura Perkett, Alice Rajnohova, Lonnie Reed, Ivana Rusko, Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, Jaroslav Saroun, Dagmar Saskova, Leann Schuering, Ivan Seng, Nicholas Shaneyfelt, Michael Sherman, Stephen Shipps, Katerina Skacelova, Jiri Skopal, Pavla Svestkova, Sonya Szabo-Reynolds, Gabriela Tardonova, Genevieve Thiers, Kylie Toomer, Dale Tsang, Alexander Turpin, and Vendula Urbanova.

We also wish to thank our members, partners, friends, and all the others who promoted the composer and/or assisted our efforts in 2014: Alice Abraham, All Clasical FM Portland, Amos Editio, Aneta Bendova, Jiri Benes, Frantisek Bilek, Ales Brezina, Brno Conservatory, Ivo Brzobohaty, Cristina Castaldi, Cesky dialog, Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, Concentus Moraviae Festival, Alejandro Corona, Czech Centre in Paris, Czech Museum of Music, Czech Radio 3, Czech Radio Publishing House, Greg Dayton, Antonin Dvorak International Singing Competition, Martin Dvorak, Equator Festival, Virginia Eskin, Martina Fialkova, Eugene Gates, Barry Gorman, HAMU Library, Jan Hlavac, Jana Horka, Janacek International Festival Brno, Olga Jezkova, Kelso Music Society, Katerina Konopaskova, Simon Koreny, Kutna Hora Music Festival, Martin Ledvinka, Litera Proxima, Luther College, Jiri Macek, Magazin Ceske filharmonie, Magazin Vltava, mestohudby.cz, Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, Moravian Master Class in Namest nad Oslavou, Moravian Museum Department of Music, Muzeum Bedricha Smetany, Veroslav Nemec, NoD Roxy, Northbrook Public Library, Nuova e Nostra, Oberlin Conservatory, Opera PLUS, Parisian Salon Concerts, Lydia Perovic, Ondrej Pivoda, ProART Company, Tom Quick, Radio 4MBS Classic FM, Radioservis, Jakub Raus, Hana Roguljic, Romanticky novomestsky klavir 2014, Salon Concerts, Scarecrow Press, Zoja Seyckova, Jan-Olof Sjöström, Spectrum, Marie Stastna, Supraphon, University of British Columbia School of Music, University of Michigan School of Music, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Marco del Vaglio, Veronika Vejvodova, Renata Venclová, Ales Vrzak, Western Michigan University, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, and Xavier University.