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This diploma thesis deals with the important composer from Kutná Hora, the author of several pieces for children and especially the creator of children's opera Marie Kučerová-Herbstová (1896-1962). The individual chapters deal with composer's personal life, professional activities, ties to Kutná Hora as well as her work and provide closer look at the children's operas she created.

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Mad scenes, mental illness and their consequences are frequently portrayed in opera. In my opinion, every time mental illness is embodied in any media, there is an associated responsibility to do research and to one’s best ability try to understand what mental illness does to those afflicted. To widen our minds to all the peculiarities of the human condition. To understand that our embodiment affects the receivers –our audiences- and is ultimately a contribution to the collective understanding of mental illness in society. If I was going to use a mad scene as my material for research, I wanted to handle it in the most emphatic and nuanced way possible. I wanted to understand what my role figure Elvira (from the opera “I puritani” by Bellini) was going through and how to give her story credibility and respect. The vehicle I chose was dance and choreography.

Develop a character, delve into the skin, into the psyche, what the character looks like,how they speak, how they react, what their worries and fears are, what their joys, their goals and their greatest desires are; is not easy. It takes time to think, to observe, to read, to search, to wait. For a singer the search is twofold. We must look for the dramatic but also musical character, as expressed in music in style and vocal technique.In our professional life, time passes in different ways, preparation times are often very short, not to mention substitutions, where many times you have to jump into a production that is already in progress, without time to think, just to do. It was a desire I had for a long time to rediscover my own process, to dedicate time to scrutinize details where I had not been able to before. To observe my path as a student again and have the time to savor learning new things.Violetta seemed like the biggest challenge of my career and I definitely wanted to go to another level. Violetta, a door, a key to develop my strengths as an art and stage professional. The most difficult thing I could find, the strongest challenge that a soprano can face... I put it at the centre of my time and my research.

My Magister Degree project and is based on a desire of achieving a deep understanding, and consequently gaining an artistic freedom in my portraying, of an operatic role that seems "made for me", and yet feels unavailable due to the nature of the Russian culture and language. Tatiana, in the opera “Eugene Onegin” by Piotr Tchaikovsky, is a great role for a young soprano voice, that is becoming full lyric. These were barriers that I decided to turn into knowledge and tools, to gain freedom and an ability to decide for myself how I wanted to portray Tatiana.

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