East River Concerts: Bridge Between Nations

featuring Martin Vydra (CZ) and Ricardo Itaborahy (PT). Concert guest Mark Pacoe on organ.
Voluntary admission.
Event duration 60 minutes.
Czech Nepomuk (birthplace of St. John of Nepomuk) and Brazilian São João Nepomuceno – two cities that connect St. John of Nepomuk across the ocean. Classic music in honor of St. John of Nepomuk from various centuries and continents, and Czech, Brazilian and German national songs. Planned 2,5 years after the original dates.
New York / Manhattan Church of St. John Nepomucene September 14 (7 PM)
Concert guest Mark Pacoe on organ
St. Louis St. John Nepomuk Church September 17 (3 PM)
Concert and Holy Mass in the oldest Czech church in the Americas
Evanston / Chicago Nichols Concert Hall September 19 (7 PM)
Concert guest Klára Moldová on violin
All shows: Voluntary admission
With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. The personal patronage of Tomáš Czernin, chairperson of Standing Senate Commission on Compatriots Living Abroad. Organized by the city of Nepomuk, Czech Republic in cooperation with Consulates General of the Czech Republic in Chicago and New York, Consulado Geral do Brasil em Chicago, East River Catholics, Czech Mission – Brookfield, Archdiocese of St. Louis and Nichols Concert Hall.
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Biography: 

The baritone singer and pianist Martin Vydra
Already at the age of nine years he was in touch with singing due to Jiřina Marková – Kristlíková and the „Childern’s Opera“ at Prague. During his studies at the Conservatory (Academy of Music) at Prague he was taking part in Prague’s Philharmonic choir and realized in our country and even overseas a few projects within the group „Martinů Voices“ under the leadership of Lukáš Vasílek. In the years 2015-2017 he studied singing at the Musical Faculty JAMU in Brno. He participated in the National Theatre at Prague on programs „Opera nás baví“ (We enjoy the Opera) and also participated on programs of the Prague’s Madrigalists and with the German Baroque ensemble „Hoffkapele Schloss Seehaus“, also with the baroque group Victoria. He also participated in the Prague’s Opera studio with Jiřina Marková – Krystlíková. He participated in the masterclass of the Norwegian Musical Academy in Oslo and co-operates with the German tenorist and cembalist Johannes Weiss. In recent years he had several performances in Japan and Brazil. In 2022 he will introduce himself for the first time to the audiences in the USA. He is working his way up. Do a musical career concentrating on areas of romanticism and classicism and also that of the Baroque. He plays piano since childhood and accompanies on concerts his friends and himself. He is one of the great Czech talents and presents an artistic face of the town of Nepomuk for the celebrations of St. John of Nepomuk’s beatification (2021) and his sanctification (2029).
The Musician Ricardo Itaborahy
He is these days one of the prominent artists of the new generation of Brazilian pianists and plays with great names in Brazilian popular music like Milton Nascimento, Wagner Tido, Toninho Horta, João Bosco or he American guitarist Stanley Jordan. He is part of the jazz trio of Dudu Lima from Minas Gerais Region with whom he took in 2018 a trip through Europe. Czech Republic, Italy and Belgium. He also cooperates with the famous Brazilian musician Emmerson Nogueira. As a Christian he has strong relationship with the sacred Catholic music, he is musically active in liturgical celebrations of his archdiocese and participated on the musical production and presentation with great Brazilian Catholic artists responsible for the musical „Show for Life“ produced at the occasion od Pope Francis’s visit to Brazil in 2013. Ricardo is a self-taught artist. He learnt to play piano with his grandfather mister Neném Itaborahy. He pursued his studies of music in Centro Ian Guest de Aprofundamento Musical in Rio de Janeiro and the music school Centro Cultural Pró-Música UFJF in the town Juiz de Fora.