Barbora Kabátková

Barbora Kabátková

Barbora is the artistic director of Tiburtina ensemble and also plays medieval harps and psaltery.
Barbora has been involved in music since childhood, when she began playing the piano and singing. In 1995, she became a member of the Prague Philharmonic Children’s Choir, with which she sang in more than 300 concerts, in many opera performances in the National Theatre and the State Opera in Prague, on CD recordings and in concert tours around the world, including Carnegie Hall, New York and the National Theatre, Kuala Lumpur.
After completing grammar school, Barbora studied choir-conducting and church music in the Faculty of Education and Musicology in the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University in Prague. She is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in musicology in the University’s Faculty of Philosophy, specialising in Gregorian chant under the direction of Mr. David Eben. Since 2009 she has taught Gregorian chant in the University’s Faculty of Education. She is very active in research on the Czech tradition of Gregorian chant, working on sources in the Convent of St. George within Prague Castle. She is member of the Fontes Cantus Bohemiae research team.
She also studied singing privately with J. Jonášová and E. Toperczerová and attended masterclasses in the interpretation of early music with Marius van Altena, Peter Kooij, Julie Hassler, Howard Crook and Joel Frederiksen. Her principal interest is in the interpretation of medieval music - above all Gregorian chant and polyphony - and in the interpretation of early music vocal repertoire.
Barbora regularly sings as a soloist with prominent Czech and European ensembles, including Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum, Musica Florea, Collegium Vocale Gent, Doulce Mémoire, the Berg Orchestra, Ostravská banda. She is also a member of the vocal ensembles, Collegium Vocale 1704 and Cappella Mariana. Barbora performs with singer and harpist Hana Blažíková, cembalist Monika Knoblochová and organist Eva Bublová very often.
Barbora has performed in many prestigious music festivals in the Czech Republic (Prague Spring Festival, Concentus Moraviae, St. Wenceslas Festival Ostrava, Lípa Musica International Music Festival, Summer Festivities of Early Music) and elsewhere in Europe (Resonanzen Wien, Uckermärkische Musikwochen Templin, Festival de Sablé, Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Festival de Sully et Loiret, Festival Baroque de Pontoise, Festival de Musique Ancienne de Ribeauvillé, Festival d'Ambronay, Rencontres Musicales de Vézelay, Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge, Musiekcenter DeBijloke Gent, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht and the Accademia delle Crete Senesi).
In 2007 she took part in a staged production of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Orfeo at the National Theatre in Prague (Ensemble Concerto, Roberto Gini). In 2008 she sang in Vivaldi’s reconstructed opera Argippo (Hofmusici, Ondřej Macek). In 2009 she sang in Julius Zeyer’s melodrama Radúz and Mahulena at the National Theatre in Prague (Collegium 1704, Václav Luks) and in 2011/2012 participated in a stage production of Louis Andriessen’s Dances (National Theatre Prague – Laterna Magica, Berg Orchestra, Peter Vrábel).