The Bartered Bride which Smetana took to heart: "I swore there and then that no other than I should beget a native Czech music." Smetana did not act immediately on this aspiration. The announcement that a Provisional Theatre was to be opened in Prague, as a home for Czech opera and drama pending the building of a permanent National Theatre, influenced his decision to return permanently to his homeland in 1861. He was then spurred to creative action by the announcement of a prize competition, sponsored by the Czech patriot Jan von Harrach, to provide suitable operas for the Provisional Theatre. By 1863
Matus Tomko Dvorak International Vocal Competition in opera singing in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. As a principal soloist at the State Theatre in Kosice he has sung many roles of the world repertoire (Brander in Faust, Mícha – in the Bartered Bride, Samuel Ribbing in Un Ballo in Maschera by G. Verdi, Marchese d'Obigny in La Traviata by G. Verdi, Masetto in Don Giovanni by W. A. Mozart, captain Zuniga in Carmen by G. Bizet, etc.). In 2009, he performed the role of Jan (John) in the worldwide premiere of the original Slovak opera - Šavol (Saul) of which the music was