Jan Šťáva

The young bass Jan Šťáva received his first voice lessons from his mother, Zdeňka Rybecká, and since 2007 has been studying at the Janáček Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in his native Brno. He was already winning competitions while he was still a student and by 2006 he had recorded his first CD, featuring songs by Dvořák and spirituals.
In 2007 he attended a masterclass with José Cura in Nancy and received a prize for his outstanding talent, allowing him to work at the Opéra National de Lorraine.
He appeared as the Podestà in La gazza ladra at the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc, and since the 2010–11 season has performed on several occasions at the Moravian-Silesian National Theatre in Ostrava, where his roles have included Kecal in The Bartered Bride and Colline in La bohème.
After spending two seasons with the Brno National Theatre Jan Šťáva joined the Janáček Theatre as a soloist in 2010 and since then has appeared with the company as the King in Aida, as Alidoro in La Cenerentola and as the bass soloist in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung. In May 2011 he made his Prague National Theatre debut as Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail under the baton of Tomáš Netopil, returning for Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) and Leporello (Don Giovanni).
Jan Šťáva has also worked with the ensemble Opera Diversa and is a founding member of the Wopera-sérija Association. As a concert soloist he has appeared with the Czech Virtuosi, the Brno Philharmonic, the Prague Philharmonia and the Slovak Philharmonic.