Performer: Jan Vacik

The venerable festival recaps and renews 100 years of Czechoslovak music with an outsized flourish from Slovak Philharmonic.

Karita Mattila produces a star turn in the title role, but a pure concert staging does little to bring out the cleverness of the libretto of Janáček’s Makropulos Case.

A pure and intense evening of music, which deserved the warm ovation of the audience at the end of the execution.