Afrodíté

Two violins, viola, cello, two flutes, and piano. Seven players. And on the music stand? Practically anything.

Gershwin. Silent Night. Caravan. The Phantom of the Opera. Bohemian Rhapsody. West Side Story. Music that, under normal circumstances, would probably never meet on a single concert programme. And my job was to work out how a chamber ensemble of seven young women would play all of it.

It was 1994. I was around twenty-five, singing on German opera stages, when Dr. Pavol Schwarz, the director of Istropolis, had an idea: to found a ladies’ salon orchestra. Together with his daughter Michaela, they brought me in from the very start — I was to write the arrangements and lead the rehearsals. For the first years we rehearsed and performed right there at Istropolis. And I wrote. One arrangement after another. In four years there were more than fifty — from jazz and musicals through film music to classical.

That, really, was the hardest part. Seven instruments are not an orchestra. You can’t cram everything in — you have to hear what makes Gershwin Gershwin even when a cello plays him instead of a big band. What’s left of Bohemian Rhapsody when you have no guitars and no Freddie. I learned quickly that arranging isn’t so much about what you add to a piece as about what you can afford to leave out.

And how did it sound? Two examples from the archive, two completely different worlds.

Hello Dolly — a jazzy number for classically trained players. I always loved watching musicians raised on Mozart and Brahms throw themselves into swing.

At the opposite end is Tak nekonečne krásna, from the musical Tajomný prsteň. A slow, lyrical piece — not about effect, but about tone, colour, and feeling.

My time with Afrodíté lasted four years. Those arrangements are still played today — thirty years on.

Michaela Schwarzová has led the ensemble since its founding. Over the years they’ve performed at Slovak embassies, at festivals across Europe, and on cruise ships. A repertoire that can handle anything — exactly as it was meant to from the start.

And there’s one more thing that always makes me smile. After all these years, and as busy as she is, Miška sometimes comes to an IC Band concert.