PRESERVING CZECH AND SLOVAK CULTURE IN NEW YORK CITY. SINCE 1891.

Dear Friends of BBLA, Even though we just sailed through the shortest month of the year, we still did offer a long list of events. Perhaps our most highly attended one was the Czech Heritage Night . The Ballroom was simply packed and guests huddled together on the fifth floor balcony as well. The evening started with a fashion show presenting the latest collection of a very talented Czech designer based in Australia, Iva Pfeiffer: models strutted the runway showing Iva's creations, accompanied by Tomas Kaco, a piano virtuoso. Read more

CHECK THIS OUT

Czech New York for the Independence of Czechoslovakia By Martin Nekola | Before the First World War, more than 50,000 Czechs lived in New York City. When the moment of the struggle for national self-determination came, these Americans generously supported the anti-Habsburg resistance led by Professor... Read more www.bohemianbenevolent.org

For Dusan Kallay, Everything Relates to Everything Else By Ka terina Kyselica | For over forty years, the sought-after illustrator of children’s books Slovak artist Dusan Kallay has managed to spark the imagination of hundreds of thousands of young readers. His publishing record, which incorporates over 200 titles, includes the world’s best  Alice in Wonderland , as awarded by the Lewis Carroll Society of North America in 2015 at the Grolier Club in New York City. Illustrating books is not just a job for Mr. Kallay; it is more of an internal journey replete with discoveries that directly influence his prints. Read more

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Rebirth of Europe Conference, June 1-2 Deadline: April 1, 2018. The Rebirth of Europe Conference at the Embassy of Slovakia in Washington DC will celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Paris Conference and creation of new states in Central/Eastern/Southern Europe. Read more www.wilsonianclub.org

COMING UP IN MARCH

Friday, March 9, 6:30 -9:30 pm The Perfect Kiss film, afterparty Everyone is looking for happiness.  The screening of the premier will be followed by a reception to celebrate birthday of the lead Lucie Vondrackova. Read more

Wednesday, March 21, 7:00 pm 6-Minute Challenge presentations The eighth edition of the Czech and Slovak academic show & tell. Czech and Slovak artists, professionals, students and scholars at universities and institutions in the USA are challenged to present the subject of their project, their studies or research in a presentation limited to six minutes. Read more

Sunday, March 18, 3:00 - 5:00 pm American Composer Focus: Leonard Bernstein The Aaron Copland School of Music Orchestra, under the batons of James John and Tong Chen, offer an all-Bernstein program to honor the 100th Anniversary of the composer's birth. Read more

INTERESTING reads

At Bohemian Spirit, the Meals of Czech Memory Lukas Pohl, the chef, grew up in Cerveny Kostelec, a small town near the Czech-Polish border. He has worked in high-end kitchens in Prague and at Hospoda, the Czech restaurant that once occupied this space; its delicately orchestrated, diminutive ... Read more www.nytimes.com My father, the RAF hero who defected from Czechoslovakia ... Fearing prison in Communist Czechoslovakia, in March 1950 Oldřich Doležal and other ex-RAF aviators simultaneously kidnapped three planes on internal flights and escaped to West Germany. On board one of those planes was Doležal's son, then just... Read more www.radio.cz The Czech Republic's Bohemian Paradise: as magical as it ... Sitting in contemplative silence atop an enormous sandstone rock, I hear the first whoops in the distance. My initial reaction is to wonder who dares destroy this peace and tranquillity? Is it leftover warlords from Jez Butterworth's new... Read more www.theguardian.com

The Window That Started the Thirty Years' War Deep within the vast Prague Castle complex is an easily overlooked feature that is quite literally a window to a devastating moment in history: the 1618 defenestration (the act of throwing someone out a window as a means of execution) that led to ... Read more www.atlasobscura.com Lisa Miková: I volunteered to go to Auschwitz Since her early childhood in the 1920s, Lisa Miková had dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. When as a student she started submitting her designs to one of the best Prague salons, there was every reason to think that her dream would come true. Read more www.radio.cz This might be Eastern Europe's least known city break ​"Don't go to Ostrava," they said - "they" being many of the students I taught while living in the Czech Republic a few years ago. A bad reputation can be a powerful thing - because, if you asked them, it turned out no one had ever been. Read more www.independent.co.uk Jaromir Jagr Returns to the Czech Republic to Continue... PRAGUE - In a move that could signify the end of his N.H.L. career, Jaromir Jagr has been reassigned by the Calgary Flames to the Kladno Knights, a team he owns in his native Czech Republic. The move on Monday came after Calgary placed Jagr, 45,... Read more www.nytimes.com

BBLA RECOMMENDS

Walt Whitman's Poetry Turns into Music Concert In this project Walt Whitman's poetry gets a fresh twist with a unique blend of preeminent American and Slovak musicians. Read more www.thecelltheatre.org New World, New Music "As the 45-piece orchestra plays, a performer wearing a VR headset will be traveling through and interacting with a virtual environment." Event Information: New World, New Music is a celebration of the 125th anniversary of Dvořák's Symphony No.... Read more www.eventbrite.com Saturday, March 10, 7:00 pm BRATISLAVA BOYS CHOIR concert venu: St. John Nepomucene , Manhattan RSVP: rsvp.cgnewyork@mzv.sk

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We are looking forward to seeing you at our events.

BBLA is a not-for-profit organization established in 1891 in New York City as an umbrella organization for almost eighty Czech and Slovak immigrant organizations. The mission of BBLA is to preserve and support Czech and Slovak culture in New York City. BBLA's member organizations include American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies, Association of Free Czechoslovak Sportsmen, Czech and Slovak Solidarity Council, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences in America, Dvorak American Heritage Association and Sokol New York. BBLA is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.