TREBBIA FOUNDATION

Soprano Alena Miro has graduate from the Conservatory in Pardubice and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Already during her studies, she has become a laureate of the Antonín Dvořák International Voice Competition in Karlovy Vary and a holder of the Jarmila Novotná Prize for young Czech singers. She has completed international interpretation courses led by Yevgeny Nestěrenko, Gabriela Beňačková and studied with the Italian soprano Francesca Patanè. For a long time, she has been cooperating with prof. Eva Blahová. Immediately after her graduation she began to guest perform at the Prague State Opera and a year later, in 2002, she became a soloist of the Prague State Opera and the National Theatre in Prague, where she worked until 2018. She played here, inter alia, the role of 1st Lady (W. A. Mozart: The Magic Flute), Nuri (E. d’Albert: Tiefland), Kuchtík (A. Dvořák: Rusalka), Pamina (W. A. Mozart: The Magic Flute), Micaela (G. Bizet: Carmen), etc. From 2011 to 2017 she was a guest singer in the role of Mařenka (B. Smetana: The Bartered Bride) at the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre in Brno.
Alena Miro has collaborated with many renowned conductors such as Jiří Bělohlávek, Tomáš Brauner, Enrico Dovico, Heiko Matias Förster, Hilary Griffiths, Jakub Hrůša, Martin Leginus, Ondrej Lenárd, Claire Levacher, Charles Olivier Munroe, Leoš Svárovský, Rastislav Štúr, Guillaume Tourniaire and many others. She has performed with leading Czech and Slovak orchestras, such as the Prague Philharmonic, FOK, SOČR, Slovak Philharmonic, State Philharmonic Košice, State Chamber Orchestra Žilina. She has performed at festivals such as Smetana Litomyšl, Prague Spring, Mitte Europa and many others. So far, Alena Miro has performed on theatre and concert stages not only in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also in Austria, Germany, Croatia, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, China and Japan.
Alena Miro is the holder of the Gustav Mahler Prize for Performance awarded by the European Union of Arts.

Cultural entrepreneur, founder of the Trebbia Foundation and the MIRO Gallery.
1951 – born on 12 September in Starina, Snina district, eastern Slovakia: his parents were Vasyľ Smolák (a truck driver) and Marie Havrišaková (a housewife). 1967–1971 studies at the Technical Secondary School of Woodworking in Zvolen. 1972–1977 studies at the Department of Philosophy and History of Philosophy, J. A. Comenius University in Bratislava (including 2.5 years as a guest lecturer at Humboldt University in Berlin). 1982–1987 distance studies in documentary film directing at FAMU in Prague. 1977 – permanently moved to Berlin (GDR). 1977–1987 – Officer for Fine Arts, Literature and Film at the Czechoslovak Cultural and Information Centre in Berlin. 1987 – set up his own business in Berlin and began to work as a freelance cultural manager. Has made 14 documentary films, among others, “Under the Gazdoráň Mountain” and “Russian Stream – or Lessons from Democracy in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic”, which have been presented at several international film festivals. 1991 – founded MIRO in Berlin. 1994 – moved permanently to Prague and founded MIRO, k. s. Since then has mainly been presenting world classical modernism at the MIRO Gallery in Prague: Picasso, Chagall, Braque, Rouault, Rodin, Miró, Dalí, Warhol and top contemporary Czech and international art. Since 1995 – full member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. 1995 – awarded the Franz Kafka European Circle Medal. 1997 – together with Petr Uhl, received the Matěj Hrebenda Award for developing reciprocity between Czechs and Slovaks. 2001–2007 – Vice President for Culture at Club Diplomatique International Prague. 2000 – founded a new running race MIROTON – Running for Art. 2000 – founded the “TREBBIA” International Award for Creative Activity and Support of the Arts, which is now awarded by the Trebbia Foundation. 2001 – the American GALLUP ORGANIZATION named MIRO Gallery the most popular commercial gallery in Prague. 2001 – on 12 September got married for the third time to the opera singer Alena Miro. From his first marriage he has two sons Ivo (*1972) and Marek (*1974). He has three granddaughters, Ella Emilia (*2003), Frida (*2020), Mirka (*2022) and two grandsons, Tam (*2014) and Mika (*2015). 2003–2007 – Chair of the Czech-German Cultural Alliance and Vice President of the European Union of Arts based in Prague. 2004 – in May, together with the American architect Daniel Libeskind (author of the Freedom Tower on the site of the “twin” skyscrapers destroyed by terrorists), presented a new project for the capital city of Prague – the Palace of Arts – among other things a concert hall, a black box theatre, a kunsthalle, private galleries, restaurants, studios and apartments – with a permanent collection of Salvador Dali’s works. 2006 – awarded the “DELFIN CASPIK” prize by the AZER-CZECH Czech-Azerbaijani Association for the development of friendly cultural relations between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic. 2013 – received the Tibor Bartfay Award in Slovakia for the promotion of visual arts in an international context. 2016 – became a co-owner of a Cocker Spaniel named Sofia. Before that, he had been afraid of dogs for his whole life. Speaks German, Russian, Ukrainian, English, Slovak, Polish and Czech. So far, he has not been a member of any political party, although his hobby is following domestic and foreign politics.

Life’s creed: To believe in God, to pay taxes, to not cheat business partners, to not slander the successful, but rather to admire and follow them.