Projects | Nachtigall Artists

Soprano Simona Houda-Šaturová and piano virtuoso Marek Kozák only started performing together this year and gave successful performances, a charity concert for the Charles University in Prague and a gala concert at the Viva Musica Festival in Bratislava.

Simona Houda-Šaturová is a highly sought-after interpreter of Mozart’s characters and the repertoire of the Italian bel canto period. Among the highlights of her last seasons is the performance of Mozart’s trilogy (Mozart – Da Ponte) at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, where she is a regular guest. She also collaborates intensively with the Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen (Violetta, Adina, Konstanze, Donna Anna) and with the National Theatre in Prague. She has made guest performances at the Theater an der Wien, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and the Monte Carlo Opera, among many others. She is also very successful on the international concert scene, has performed at Salle Pleyel in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, festivals in Salzburg, Lucerne and Edinburgh, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, etc., and is a regular guest of the Prague Spring Festival. In May 2022, she made her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein Wien, and this season she will, among other engagements, perform at concerts with the Czech Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum in Prague and with the Staatskapelle Dresden in the Semper Opera.

The musical career of thirty-year-old pianist Marek Kozák has long been associated with his achievements in international competitions. In June 2021, he was awarded third prize in the renowned International Piano Competition Concours Géza Anda. In 2019 he was a finalist at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano, in 2018 he won the European Piano Competition in Bremen, he took 2nd place at the Prague Spring Competition in 2016 and a year earlier, he made it to the semi-finals of the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. He regularly collaborates with leading Czech orchestras, including the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, the Brno Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, etc., and is also a highly acclaimed recital artist.

On Wednesday, 18^th October from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., a workshop for students on song interpretation will be held at the Jan Deyl Conservatory, led by Simona Houda-Šaturová.