Terpsichoré

The dance company was founded by and works under the direction of the dancer and choreographer Romana Agnel and is the only professional ensemble in Poland focusing on the court-ballet tradition, especially on Baroque dance of Polish origin. Since 2006, the ensemble has been one of the official Cultural Institutions of the City of Cracow. The repertoire of the ensemble draws on period studies and treatises by dance masters and on historical pictorial material.   The ensemble is renowned for its fine choreographies, based on various historical styles and techniques, and also for its elaborate, custom-made costumes whose design pays close attention to detail and authenticity. The Cracovia Danza Ballet participates in many prestigious events, performing on the stages of, among others, the Teatr Wielki (Polish National Opera) in Warsaw; Warszawska Opera Kameralna (the Warsaw Chamber Opera); the Markgräfliches Opernhaus in Bayreuth; as well as with many Polish philharmonic orchestras. The ballet has visited around 30 countries.

Romana Agnel is the founder and executive and artistic director of the Cracovia Danza Ballet and is also an active dancer, choreographer, dance coach and art historian. She is a graduate of the Ballet School in Cracow and studied the history of art at the Sorbonne in Paris. She is also dedicated to Bharatanatyam Indian classical dance, which she studied in Madras (Chennai) under the guidance of the legendary guru Shrimati M. K. Saroja. She has created choreographies for numerous operas and ballets, staged in Poland and abroad, as well as choreographies for over 20 performances of the Cracovia Danza Ballet. Romana Agnel works with renowned personalities from many different fields. She is a lecturer and a published author on the subject of dance history and has received a great number of awards, among them the Legion of Honour, the highest order of merit awarded by the French government, and the Order of Polonia Restituta.

The ensemble, whose name could be translated as “embellished chapel” or “embellished chants”, was founded in 2007 by Richard Šeda, a cornetto player. The ensemble’s main mission is to strive for an authentic interpretation of mostly sacred music of the 16th and 17th centuries and to present lesser-known wind instruments in the Czech Republic, such as the cornetto, sackbut (Renaissance trombone) and dulcian.   The ensemble has made numerous appearances at prestigious domestic and international festivals (Oude Muziek Utrecht, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Uckermärkische Musikwochen, Concentus Moraviae, the St. Wenceslas Music Festival, the Summer Festivities of Early Music, the Lednice-Valtice Music Festival and others). Capella Ornamentata also invites foreign musicians to participate in its projects and presents itself on radio and television (Terra Musica, concert recordings).   It has collaborated on two CDs with the Prague vocal ensemble Cappella Mariana under the direction of Vojtěch Semerád. The ensemble’s own discography includes three recordings: “Da Pacem Domine” (2014), “Ad Matrem Venite” (2019) and the most recent: “Jako paprsek slunečního svitu” (Like a gleaming ray of sunshine, 2021).

Richard Šeda graduated in trumpet from the Conservatory in České Budějovice, where he was in the class of Jiří Pelikán. In 2005, he began private studies of the cornetto at several masterclasses in Prague and France with the French cornetto player Judith Pacquier.   Among the many international early music ensembles he has worked with are Concerto Copenhagen, Marini Consort Innsbruck, L’Arpa Festante, Wiener Hofburgkapelle and Clemencic Consort. In the Czech Republic, he collaborates with ensembles such as the Czech Ensemble Baroque, Cappella Mariana, Collegium Marianum, Ensemble Inégal, Collegium 1704 and others.   In 2007, he founded the Capella Ornamentata ensemble, which focuses on music of the 16th and 17th centuries. Capella Ornamentata has three CDs to its name, numerous performances on domestic and international stages and at festivals of early music, and is also presented on radio and television.