Iva Bittová at Stary Klasztor: a Czech voice, violin, avant-garde rock and folk

Iva Bittova will perform on 10 November in the atmospheric, mysterious Gothic Hall at Stary Klasztor, ul. Purkyniego 1, which is increasingly hosting major stars of world music.

The concert will mark the 25th anniversary of the Festival of Independent Czech and Slovak Culture, held in Wrocław in November 1989. In Vaclav Havel's view, it was an overture to the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia.

Iva Bittova is an outstanding Czech singer, violinist and composer, unconventionally combining contemporary rock and avant-garde music with the melodies and aesthetics of Slavic and Romani folk. She studied at the Brno Conservatory. Her unique singing style and violin technique have brought international fame.

Bittová’s music combines rock and Eastern European folk music. Her violin playing uses various techniques, including striking the strings with different objects or treating the violin like a banjo. Her voice moves from traditional singing to screaming, chirping and moaning. She involves her whole body, drawing on her acting abilities to turn every appearance into a different performance. She has collaborated with leading figures in avant-garde rock.

She has made numerous albums with leading contemporary musicians, including Fred Fith, Tom Cora, Bang on a Can, Art Zoid, Marc Ribot and Bobby McFerrin. Bittova's joint recordings with Pavel Fajt around the turn of the 1980s and 1990s brought her fame.

In the years that followed, Bittova released several acclaimed albums, including recordings as a duo with Vladimir Vaclavek — notably the excellent double album BILE INFERNO — and with the band Cikori. Her concerts are intense spectacles full of positive energy: an eruption of emotion combined with musical discipline, virtuosity and hypnotic singing. In 2007, she moved to the United States and settled in New York.

Bittova is also a renowned film actress. She starred in Ondřej Trojan’s Oscar-nominated “Želary” (2003), won Best Actress at Karlovy Vary for Eržika in Vladimir Sis’s “Ballada dla Bandyty” (1978), and gained international attention through the lead in Allice Nellis’s “Sekrety” (2007). In 2008, BITTOVA recorded a solo album for ECM, joining the label’s female icons such as Anja Lechner and Meredith Monk.

Iva Bittova rarely performs in Poland. In Wrocław, she appeared in 2009 as part of the 30th Stage Songs Review, and her concert was one of the festival’s highlights.