Piano Concerto by Miroslav Srnka got selected as one of the pieces presented at Prague Radio Symphony orchestra’s last pre-Christmas concert which was held on December 19 in Rudolfinum. As the internationally best-known Czech contemporary composer currently, Srnka was a perfect choice for the evening which bore the title “Czech Traces In The World” and whose program included … Read more
On 13th December, St. Clement’s Church in Prague witnessed the final concert of the Music in Contexts concert cycle. Named 2016 AD, the evening aimed not only to commemorate the approaching Christmas, but also to enrich the Christmas’ repertory with new pieces by contemporary authors. These were performed by the Prague Modern orchestra conducted by Jan Rybář. … Read more
On December 7 and 8, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra presented a contemporary oratorio I, Job!, by director Dodo Gombár and composer David Rotter. The spoken title role of a severely tested man, as described in the Old Testament’s Book of Job, was played by the popular actor Bolek Polívka. The part of Job’s younger alter ego was sung by … Read more
Composer Michal Rataj was one of the guests of Polish contemporary electroacoustic music festival Nowa Muzyka w Starym Ratuszu. Three of his works were presented at a concert on 8th December at the Old Town Hall in Gdańsk. The first piece on the program was Winter Shadowy. This composition, which made it to the finals of the … Read more
Held on 6th December at the Saint Lawrence Church, Prague, this year’s last concert of the composers’ association Konvergence was focused exclusively on Czech contemporary music. Six pieces on the program involved Michal Rataj’s Running For Breath. This piano solo composition was written already in 2013 but it was not until now that it received its world … Read more
Three concerts took place during the fourth week of the Days of Contemporary Music festival. All of them were held at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with fifteen of the twenty pieces presented enjoying their world premiere. The program on November 21 consisted exclusively of chamber music. Pallets and Shading by Jiří Bezděk … Read more
One of the goals the Contempuls festival has been working towards is to support Czech composers and to give them the opportunity to present themselves in an international context. At this year’s last two concerts, premiere was given to three pieces by Czech authors of the young generation – Jakub Rataj, Jan Ryant Dřízal and Jiří Kadeřábek. … Read more
Three concerts of Czech 20th and 21st century music took place during the second and third week of the Days of Contemporary Music festival. All of them were held in the halls of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. The festival has since long been focusing on premiering new pieces and the concert on … Read more
MoEns ensemble who specializes exclusively in contemporary music played a concert on November 8 at the Gallery of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. This time, they gave world premieres to four compositions by their members or related artists – Marek Kopelent, Hanuš Bartoň, Michal Nejtek and Kamil Doležal. Comprising of Doležal (clarinet), David Danel (violin), … Read more
Held on 15th November at La Fabrika, Prague, the second evening of the Contempuls festival was opened with a recital by British pianist and new music expert Ian Pace. For the first bit, he chose two pieces by Luboš Mrkvička (*1978). Mrkvička typically marks his pieces by letters only and always sees them as arbitrarily combinable … Read more
