Biography
Stanislav Předota studied solo singing at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts. The endeavour for revival of a lesser-known music first brought him to the České Budějovice-based ensemble Dyškanti, focused on Renaissance vocal polyphony from Czech sources, with whom he prepared and performed hundreds of polyphonic compositions. With the ensemble Musica Antiqua Praha (1990–1996), pioneers in authentic interpretation of old music in the Czech Republic, he made a number of recordings of early Baroque music and took part in numerous tours abroad.
In 1998 Stanislav Předota founded his own ensemble, Fraternitas Litteratorum, specialised in authentic performing of vocal polyphony of the 15th and 16th centuries preserved in Czech archives. Owing to close collaboration with Martin Horyna, a leading Czech specialist in Renaissance polyphony, the ensemble presents at its concerts unique programmes made up of the best Czech Renaissance compositions. In 2007 the ensemble released with Supraphon the CD Caesar vive! with the repertoire of the famous band of Emperor Rudolph II.
Stanislav Předota is one of the founders of Schola Gregoriana Pragensis, specialised in Gregorian chants and medieval polyphony. The ensemble has managed to awaken in our country awareness of and interest in this music genre, the wellspring of all modern European music. Both in the Czech Republic and abroad, they present a surprisingly extensive repertoire from Czech sources, one highly acclaimed by concert audiences and reviewers alike.
As a solo singer, Stanislav Předota has been invited to collaborate with other ensembles too. With Musica Florea, for example, he performed at a concert and recorded the CD Missa sanctissimae trinitatis by J. D. Zelenka (he received the highest appraisal of the French magazine Diapason), with Musica Salutaris he sang lead roles in Scarlatti’s oratorio Giuditta, Lortzing’s opera The Opera Rehearsal (the recording from Litomyšl Castle theatre has been included in the Golden Fund of Czech Television) and J. Peri’s first preserved opera Euridice (recorded for Czech Television and Czech Radio). Furthermore, he has collaborated with the ensembles Doulce mémoire, Teatro lirico (with the artistic director S. Stubbs – among other works, A. Draghi’s opera Il marito ama piu), Ad vocem, etc. Stanislav Předota has also devoted to song literature (compositions by Dvořák and Janáček have also been released on a CD, a selection from Janáček’s Moravian Folk Poetry has been recorded for German television).