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National Theater Opera soloist Daniel Matoušek made his professional debut when he was just sixteen on the stage of Prague National Theater in the role of Pepík in The Cunning Little Vixen. These days, the exceptionally talented young tenor regularly appears as a guest in all the Czech opera houses and is planning new collaborations abroad.
How old were you when you started singing?
It started one day when I was in elementary school in Ústí nad Labem, where Mr. and Mrs. Kobrle, who were scouting for their famous Ústí junior choir, happened to be visiting that day. I sang them a folk song and just like that I was in the choir. As part of it, we collaborated with, among others, the composer Miloš Bok, and he chose us, the older children, to sing in Ryba's Czech Christmas Mass, which I found absolutely enthralling. The world of a big orchestra, choir, and organ, with prominent artists, such as the horn player and conductor Radek Baborák, consumed me, and I started learning to play the piano and organ, to conduct and compose music. On top of that, I would sometimes hum melodies to myself, and after a few more instances of serendipity, I found myself on the stage of the Prague National Theater in my first solo role at sixteen years of age. It happened thanks to the tenor Jan Vacík and director Ondřej Havelka, who was the fateful person who chose me for the role of Pepík in The Cunning Little Vixen.
How is it that a young person decides to go with classical opera when there are so many modern genres?
I feel that it's encoded in your DNA, sent from above. You just feel the music, you sense it, live with it. I fell in love with the work of Giacomo Puccini – none other than the famous Nessun dorma performed by The Three Tenors, which I happened to hear on TV one day when I was having lunch at my grandparents' house. When I later heard Luciano Pavarotti singing Rodolfo's Aria from Puccini's La Boheme on YouTube for the first time, I knew it was my dream to one day sing that role. But outside of opera and classical music, I also love jazz, soul, and R'n'B. I thoroughly enjoy working with music producers on various other projects. Currently, I'll be featured in a song on the upcoming album of the producer Mike Trafik from PSH.
Where did you study singing and music?
For the most part, it was private lessons with Jan Vacík and now with Kateřina Kněžíková, and I also have frequent consultations with Adam Plachetka. I am also a student at the Jan Deyl Conservatory, where I enrolled as an active performer and which gave me the most important thing – freedom and all the support that a young active performer should have. I owe a great deal of thanks for that to Madam Director Stanislava Lustyková and pianist and lecturer Ahmad Hedar. Before “The Deyl”, I studied at the Jateční Grammar School in Ústí nad Labem, then I spent a few months at Prague's AMU while also performing in the National Theater and in Pilsen. It was at that time that I learned the crucial importance of private practice and having enough time for it. This is the foundation that I got at “The Deyl” and I am thankful for it because it's not a given, on the contrary – it's an exceptional and unique approach and an amount of support that no other school would give you.
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How would you characterize the tenor voice type?
In musical circles, there's a running joke that it's an illness, a diagnosis, or even a curse. [laughs] Tenor is the highest male voice, very unique and rare, which is why we get paid the most for the highest notes. I might go as far as to say that it's the most sought-after voice and repertoire from the listeners' perspective. Tenors usually have leading roles, with the most beautiful arias and songs, which are the most popular at concerts and recitals.
You currently sing at the National Theater Opera as well as various other stages. Which ones are they and what roles do you play there?
My home stage is the Prague National Theater, where I have eleven roles. I dare say that I'm the youngest tenor in the Theater's history to have attained lead role residency at twenty-five. In the National Theater, I sing in productions such as The Magic Flute adapted by Vladimír Morávek, I Pagliacci directed by Ondřej Havelka, Andreas Homoki's Der Rosenkavalier, and David Radok's new production Don Buoso / Gianni Schicchi. Outside of the National Theater, I was lucky enough to play and perform on all Czech theater and concert stages, which was a major honor and a big lesson for me. I currently have an ongoing cooperation with the Brno National Theater and I also regularly sing at festivals such as Smetana's Litomyšl, Český Krumlov, or Festival Špilberk.
Do you also perform abroad?
I've had luck in that regard as well. I'd started traveling to Italy when I was eighteen to study with a singing coach who was a classmate of Luciano Pavarotti. That gave me the opportunity to sing there as well. Together with my agency, we are currently working on cooperation in France, Great Britain, and South Africa besides my regular guest appearances in Slovakia.
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Do you also have time to live your private life?
Let me say it this way – it is hard to find time in the life of an active tenor singer, but when it does come around, it has to be spent with people who are worth it.
Who do you spend it with, then?
When I do find some free time, I try to spend it with my family and friends. I also thoroughly enjoy cooking and hosting friends and parties. And because I come from two sports families – my grandpa from my father's side was the two-time European champion in downhill skiing, Jaromír Matoušek, and my uncle from my mother's side is the big volleyball star, Milan Bican – even I have had a stint in sports. It could be said that it was successful, and I try to maintain this sports tradition with my friends. Flying is another big passion of mine; I wanted to be a cargo pilot and, even though fate has put music in my path, I am trying to pick up flying again, even if just a little. I have a lot of friends who are pilots and instructors, and I sometimes fly with them in light sport aircrafts.
What are you looking forward to in 2024?
It will be a breakthrough year for me; I'll be recording my debut album, and what else should a young tenor record than Italian songs. That's why we'll be recording the album “O sole mio” together with the Czech Radio Symphonic Orchestra, which will include sixteen Italian and Neapolitan songs in my own symphonic adaptation and arrangement. I am also going to premiere several pivotal roles that are very close to my heart, such as Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata, Mazal in Janáček's The Excursions of Mr. Brouček, or Puccini's Manon Lescaut.
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iSING
Matoušek was chosen for the iSING festival in China from a list of 2,500 singers from all over the world. “I will never forget those two months,” he says. “In the end, there were thirty singers of various nationalities, cultures, and beliefs. I have never experienced such a familial feeling and professional approach anywhere else. Every single one of them is an excellent top-notch singer and many have gone on to perform in theaters such as the Met in New York and La Scala in Milano. Most of them are my friends to this day. I was the youngest one, as usual, and they involved me in every project. There were six concerts in sold-out halls, two opera productions and two TV shootings. We were based on a lake in the city of Suzhou close to Shanghai and we performed in their massive Art Center Suzhou. We also performed in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Nanjing National Park. I'll never forget our singing sessions when we were waiting for a shuttle bus to take us to the hotel after a full day of rehearsals and, despite being tired, my colleagues and I would sit down at the piano and sing Italian and Spanish songs.”
CV BOX
Daniel Matoušek (born May 18, 1997, in Ústí nad Labem) is an opera singer, tenor.
In 2014, he performed in the Prague National Theater for the first time and has been a resident at the Opera there since the 2022/23 season. However, he has appeared as a guest in all Czech opera houses throughout his career.
Besides the Czech opera scene, he has appeared as a guest in Opernhaus Magdeburg as Tamino and also regularly performs in the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava (Maria Stuarda, Persian Nights) and the Košice National Theater (The Magic Flute).
In 2019, he participated in the iSING festival in China, which he was selected for from a list of 2,500 singers from all over the world. In the 2021/22 season, he participated in the filming of the Hollywood movie The Crow, directed by Rupert Sanders (the movie is set to premiere in Cannes in 2024).
Matoušek has performed under numerous world-renowned conductors, worked with prominent orchestras and excellent theater directors, and appeared side by side various famous singers.
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