Soňa Červená

The National Museum – Czech Museum of Music opened an exhibition on September 10, 2025, dedicated to one of the most prominent figures in Czech and world music – Soňa Červená (September 9, 1925 Prague – May 7, 2023 Prague), on the occasion of the centenary of her birth. The exhibition runs until April 9, 2026. Soňa Červená was a Czech opera singer, mezzo-soprano and contralto, daughter of Jiří Červený, founder of the Červená sedma cabaret, and granddaughter of Václav František Červený, a wind instrument manufacturer. Over 75 seasons she performed on stages across five continents, including Bayreuth and Milan's La Scala, and her career encompasses more than 5,500 performances in operas, plays, musicals and films. The role of Carmen brought her to the peak of her fame. The exhibition includes more than 200 artifacts from the collections of the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music and the Soňa Červená Foundation: personal items, theatrical costumes by leading designers, archival photographs, audio and video recordings, and unique documents. Thematically organized rooms guide visitors from family heritage (the Hradec Heritage room), through her acting beginnings alongside Voskovce and Werich, communist persecution and emigration to West Berlin, to world opera successes and later work in experimental theatre and melodrama after 1989. From the museum's foyer, visitors can walk down a red carpet into the life of the singer – symbolically surrounded by her red portraits. Guided tours and educational programmes for schools are available.