See what’s coming up on on the BCSA’s Events Calendar.
A talk by Richard Bassett former Times correspondent in Eastern Europe and author of the widely acclaimed Last Days in Old Europe reflects on more than 40 years of association with the Czech lands. First travelling to Prague as an architectural historian, he later spent nearly 10 years covering events in communist Czechoslovakia including the Velvet Revolution. An expert on... Read more »
Edita Gruberová (1946-2021) was born and subsequently trained in Bratislava, Slovakia, then part of the former Czechoslovakia. This illustrated talk by Ross Alley will trace her development as a singer from her Bratislava operatic debut as Rosina in The Barber of Seville and discuss the roles she undertook, ranging from the humorous to the dramatic... Read more »
Our main exhibition displays, records and research facilities are now back in the newly refurbished East Tilbury Library. Here you will find displays of some of our collection illustrating the life and times of the Bata factory and those living on its residential estate between the 1930s and the early 2000s. A two-centre event as... Read more »
A satire about life in a pandemic. ). The Slovak Theatre in London reflects on the biggest event of the past decade which globally influenced the life of every individual. In a colourful collage of scenes and characters, the play shows the contrasting situations brought by the pandemic, often based on real events. By using... Read more »
Having spent most of her career as a lead principal dancer at the English National Ballet, Daria will discuss her journey from ballet beginnings in communist Czechoslovakia to her peak as a dancer, then retirement and a change of career direction. She will share what it takes to get to the top (and remain there),... Read more »
Two members of the Pavel Haas Quartet are joined by a leading pianist for two of Dvořák’s piano trios. When the F minor piece received its first Viennese performance in 1884, critic Eduard Hanslick thought it the pinnacle of the composer’s career. The title ‘Dumky’ refers to a Slavic ballad form alternating sad with cheerful... Read more »
Follow an English husband and Czech wife on their route from Cholmondeley Castle to Stoke-on-Trent, then on to Lidice and Prague. Hear about their encounters on the way and retrace some of the steps by Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík in Operation Anthropoid which resulted in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich but also the tragedy... Read more »
Film screening followed by Q&A with director Ruth Zylberman (filmmaker and author) and Ivan Margolius (see below). In 2018 workers in Prague find film reels that had been hidden in an abandoned warehouse since the fall of the Berlin wall. These are images from the Slánský trial which in 1952 was the peak of Stalinist terror... Read more »
This rare documentary, Odyssée des illusions trahies, examines the singular and enigmatic trajectory of one of the most widely read writers in the world. From his time in communist Czechoslovakia to his Parisian exile and writing in French, from his quest for glory to his withdrawal from public life, this moving homage conceived as an... Read more »
Ninth in a series of walks along the Thames organised by Footprints of London, this walk looks at the Bauhaus inspired Bata shoe factory built in the 1930s with a surrounding village for workers including a school and a cinema. The factory was closed down in 2005 but is now a conservation area. The walk... Read more »
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