Electro-Baroque!
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759)
Arias from operas and oratorios accompanied by synthesizers
Viktorie Kaplanová | soprano
Kryštof Kaplan | soundstation
The innovative concert performance by the Kaplan duo, titled TOO HOT TO HÄNDEL with the subtitle Electro-Baroque, presents both vocal and instrumental compositions by Georg Friedrich, a major composer of the High Baroque period, performed electronically. Soprano, ensemble leader, and musicologist Viktorie Kaplanová has devoted her life to Baroque music and its historically informed interpretation (Victoria Ensemble). The electronic accompaniment is created and produced by Kryštof Kaplan, a distinctive figure in the Czech electronic music scene (band Vložte kočku). Synthesizers and samplers open up entirely new interpretive possibilities—such as emphasizing textual dynamics based on core Baroque principles, enhancing the full emotional spectrum, or enabling rapid emotional shifts. The importance of the bass line and its polarity with the upper voices—a cornerstone of the Baroque era—is preserved and remains central to this project. Arias are interwoven with original instrumental pieces, forming a cohesive musical landscape that offers a groundbreaking and globally unique dialogue between Baroque and contemporary music, between the old and the new—echoing the collage work of artist Petra Navrátilová.
Viktorie Kaplanová | soprano
Kryštof Kaplan | soundstation
The concert TOO HOT TO HÄNDEL is part of the accompanying program to the exhibition PPS: Petra Navrátilová and follows the exhibition catalogue launch and guided tour with the artist Petra Navrátilová and curator Veronika Přikrylová, taking place on Thursday, May 29 at 6 PM at Pragovka Gallery.
