Pavel Zemek Novák’s new piece Seven Last Words received its world premiere during the 25th year of the Brno-based Easter Festival of Sacred Music. It opened the third of the festival’s concerts named ‘Still Hymn’ which took place on 22 March in the functionalist Church of Saint Augustine and during which the Ensemble Opera Diversa conducted by … Read more
Ebony suite by a composer and clarinettist Jiří Hlaváč (*1948) received its world premiere at a concert held by the Czech Chamber Music Society on 16 March at the Suk Hall of Rudolfinum. It was performed by the Five Star Clarinet Quartet, an ensemble comprising Hlaváč as its player and dramaturge as well as three of his … Read more
On 10 March at the Zlín Congress Centre, Bohuslav Martinů Phlharmonic Orchestra premiered a new orchestral piece by Jiří Pavlica, a violinist and composer whose musical language, though oscillating between various genres, is influenced especially by folk music. The Moravian Dances orchestral suite, too, derives from folk dances from different Moravian regions (Haná, Moravian Slovakia, “odzemek” from … Read more
On their concerts on March 9, 10 and 11 the Czech Philharmonic performed – as this season’s second world premiere of a piece by a Czech composer already – Miloš Bok’s Apocalypse in Kamenická Stráň. This monumental 50-minute long vocal-instrumental composition for mixed and children’s choir, four soloists and a large orchestra is in fact only the first half of the … Read more
Ondřej Štochl’s composition YIN – Nostalgia and Hope received its world premiere on 9 March at the Museum of Applied Arts of the Moravian Gallery by Brno Contemporary Orchestra. This piece for vibraphone and 12 instruments was on the programme of an evening called “Assimilation – Concert for people” together with music by Alvin Lucier, Michel … Read more
J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen staged a new production of Jiří Teml’s opera Kocour v botách (Puss in Boots). This children’s opera, composed in 2008/9 to a libretto by Jan Tůma and Eliška Hrubá-Toperczerová, consists of 6 scenes and received its premiere in 2009 at the Smetana’s Litomyšl music festival by the Czech Philharmonic Children’s Choir. This year, on 20 February … Read more
Ondřej Kyas’s (*1979) Chamber Symphony no. 2 for oboe, piano, percussion and strings received its world premiere on this year’s first concert of the Brno-based Ensemble Opera Diversa, which took place on 10th February at the Reduta theatre in Brno. A part of the ceremony was the presentation of the ensemble’s very first CD which consists of Jan Novák’s oboe … Read more
During a concert called “Jazz Inspirations”, which took place on 4th February at Reduta concert hall in Olomouc, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra gave world premiere of Zdenek Merta’s Century Dance. The trumpet concerto, which the author describes as a classic crossover piece, is in fact a symphonic transcription of five distinctive dances of the 20th century. The movements are … Read more
The Prague Chamber Orchestra gave the world premiere of Pražské divertimento (Prague Divertimento) by the composer and visual artist Vladimír Franz. Apart from this four-movement piece, the program of the concert, which took place on 2nd February at the Rudolfinum’s DvořákHall, included music by J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and P. I. Tchaikovsky. “Prague. A city both magical … Read more
Three new pieces by three Czech composers received their world premiere on this year’s first concert of Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra’s “New Horizons” subscription series. During the performance of the works by Martin Kumžák, Petr Wajsar and Jan Kučera, which are all written for a string quartet and orchestra, was the Radio orchestra accompanied by the Prague-based crossover … Read more
