Marvin Hamlisch and His Czech Roots

The famed composer / conductor Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (1944 -2012), a native of NYC, was one of only twelve people to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (also known as an EGOT). He is one of ten people to win three or more Oscars in one night and the only one other than a director...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

May 22, 2017

Extraordinary Voyages of Jules Verne

My son who is currently in Prague went to see The Extraordinary Voyages of Jules Verne the other night and said it was amazing. Immediately, I looked into it and did a little bit of research, and indeed it looks like a show not to be missed. The show takes the audience into a world in which...

ENTERTAINMENT, Theater

May 15, 2017

Listen to KTO Kamarádi Táborových Ohňů

Sometimes the best way to relax is to sit back with friends around a flickering campfire, pull out the instruments, and write a tune… That is exactly how the Czech country band KTO started. Kamarádi Táborových Ohňů (KTO) seriously translates to Friends of Campfires. Today we are sharing a few of their hits from the...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

Pagan_Queen_Libuse_Czech_Legends_Tres_Bohemes

April 18, 2017

The Pagan Queen Libuše and the Founding of Prague

Last night we watched a rare film, The Pagan Queen (2009), a historic romance with fantasy elements set in the dark ages, 700 AD. Rare perhaps, because most films that deal with the Middle Ages are known for Tolkien lore and magic whereas this film deals more with Paganism in the early Medieval period and...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

April 15, 2017

Listen to Czech Opera Singer Jarmila Novotná

Jarmila Novotná was a Czech opera singer who was also known in America as the leading soprano for the Metropolitan Opera from 1940 to 1956, and a movie star. Her voice is powerful yet graceful and when she sings, the presence in her voice sounds like she really feels the music… It is warm and...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

Lida-Baarova-The-Devils_Mistress-Tres_Bohemes

April 7, 2017

Lída Baarová: The Devil’s Mistress Movie

Last night we watched an interesting movie about the Czech actress, Lída Baarová. It’s a fictional work based on the real life of the actress and her affair with the Nazi Party’s Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, which lasted from September 1936 until August 1938. It’s an interpretation of her life and affair, and not a...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

March 31, 2017

Tuskegee Airmen Fly Red Tails from the Czech Republic

The film Red Tails takes place in Italy, 1944. We’re posting about it today because it was filmed in 9 filming locations, the main “base camp” in the Czech Republic. Other locations include, Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, San Rafael, California, Skywalker Ranch, San Rafael, California, Hamilton Air Force Base, Novato, California, Kerner Optical Sound Stages, San Rafael, California, and Prague Studios,...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

March 28, 2017

The Homolka Trilogy of Films

Ecce homo Homolka, or in English, Behold Homolka (1970) It is a beautiful Sunday, and the Homolka family is having a typical Czech picnic in a forest not far from Prague. The grandfather and grandmother have settled comfortably in the grass, their son Ludva romps about in the river with his two young twin sons,...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

March 21, 2017

Czech Composer Rudolf Friml and American Music

Charles Rudolf Friml was born on December 7, 1879 in Prague. The son of a baker, he already showed aptitude for music at an early age and entered the Prague Conservatory in 1895, where he studied the piano and composition with Antonín Dvořák. Passionate about music, he was expelled from the conservatory in 1901 for performing without...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

Moravian-Muse-Love-Letters-Janacek-TresBohemes

March 8, 2017

The Moravian Muse Who Inspired Music

Yes, love inspires music. At 63, Czech composer Leoš Janáček met his Moravian muse, Kamila Stösslová, and through years of writing to her and composing as a way to further experess his feelings, his greatest works were created. Sometimes the words we say are not as important or as telling as the words we write...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

Czech_Composers_Jerome_David_Kern_Tres_Bohemes

March 2, 2017

Father of American Musical Theater is Czech

Today we have another surprise for you. How many of you realized that the man considered the ‘Father of American Musical Theater’ comes from Czech parents? Yes. Jerome David Kern (1885-1945), is remembered for his almost 1,000 songs and more than 100 theater performances and films. Jerome Kern was born in New York, in Sutton Place,...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

La-planète-sauvage-Fantastic-Planet-Divoka-Planeta-Czech-Animation-TresBohemes

February 28, 2017

Czech Animation Classic Fantastic Planet

It took the Czechs five years to animate Divoká planeta, which literally translates to ‘The Wild Planet‘, a film more known by its French name La Planète sauvage or, for our English speaking friends, Fantastic Planet. The French came to the Czechs for their cutout stop-motion science fiction techniques for this film, directed by René...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

February 20, 2017

Czech Composer Who Was Honored with Pulitzer Prize

Karel Husa, one of the most distinguished and admired composers of the second half of the 20th century, was honored in 1969 with the Pulitzer Prize. Karel Husa was born in Prague on August 7, 1921. He learned to play violin and piano at an early age and after the completion of the high school,...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music

February 5, 2017

Vampire in a Highrise – Upír ve věžáku

Today we’re sharing another film with Czech child actor, Tomáš Holý. It’s a family film entitled Upír ve věžáku (Vampire in a Highrise). This Czech comedy was made for television in 1979 is one hour in length and we found it airing on YouTube. It’s a story of a little boy with a very big imagination. Tomáš...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

Encounter-By-Milan-Kundera-Book-Review-Tres-Bohemes

January 29, 2017

Milan Kundera on Art, Literature, and Music

Encounter is a non fiction book by Czech-born author Milan Kundera which defends art in it’s various forms. Milan Kundera was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia (Now the Czech Republic) in 1929. As a young man, he studied musical composition and musicology. He then went on to study literature and aesthetics at the Charles University in...

Books, ENTERTAINMENT

January 23, 2017

L’Opera Barocca – Prague’s Institute of Baroque Culture

L’Opera Barocca is a institute of Baroque culture which supplies Czech people living in Prague and tourists with nightly baroque performances. They host many opera shows throughout the year, but their annual Opera Barocca Festival which features Baroque music, dance, and festivities, is the most popular. Almost all of Opera Barocca’s programs take place at the beautiful Clam-Gallas Palace. The...

ENTERTAINMENT, Music