OH HUMANITY! / HERE IS AN ISLAND

Two new one-act operas by young creators from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts will premiere in a joint evening at the Janáček Brno 2026 festival. *Oh Humanity!*, directed by Eliška Mervartová, explores the impact of war on an individual who believed in the civility of the modern world. Composer Eunika Pechánková and librettist Bára Viceníková present the story of Petr—a character loosely inspired by Pierre Bezukhov from Leo Tolstoy’s *War and Peace*—as he seeks a way to cope with his disillusionment regarding the evil inherent in human nature. Frustration, apathy, anger, action: What is the right way to behave? Can we actually change anything? What does it mean to be a hero? And what does it mean to be human? These are the kinds of questions we would prefer not to ask at all—but these are dark times. The comic opera *Tu je ostrov* ("Here Is an Island"), composed by Tereza Konzalová with a libretto by Richard L. Kramár and directed by Isabelle Arce, draws inspiration from Karel Čapek’s *Apocrypha*. A storm washes three iconic figures of European culture—Don Juan, Napoleon, and an actor suffering from a "Hamlet" diagnosis—onto a mythical island of limitless possibilities. Under the watchful eyes of unpredictable Sirens, the trio of castaways must confront their own personal myths and attempt to rewrite their canonical stories. The subversive, song-filled world of a mythical island raises the question of whether it is even possible to cast off one’s mask and start anew in a place where, while anything is possible, one is constantly watched by those who believe they already know one’s story by heart.