Petr Wajsar (*1978) is a highly popular author at the Prague Spring festival. This year only, the festival gave world premiere to two of his compositions – besides Harpsycho, the compulsory piece for the 2nd round of the cembalo competition, it was The Rest Is Song, performed on June 1 at The Trade Fair Palace by … Read more
As already a couple of times in the past, this year of the Prague Spring festival, too, decided to hold one of its concerts at the National Technical Museum. In collaboration with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague, it presented a programme consisting of four pieces by contemporary composers, all of … Read more
A new orchestral composition by Miroslav Srnka received its premiere on 2nd April during the 34th year of Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo music festival which is taking place between 17th March and 8th April 2017. Srnka is no newcomer to the festival; his music was played here already in 2011 and 2014. Written on … Read more
One of the ensembles performing at the 45th year of the prestigious international Hong Kong Arts festival (Feb 16 – Mar 18) was the ensemble of the National Theatre Brno. HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall, which can host nearly 1,600 visitors, saw them perform four times altogether – twice it was Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Case, then his Sinfonietta, Eternal … 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
The 8th year of the Prague contemporary music festival Contempuls started on Friday 11th November with an orchestral concert in La Fabrika, Holešovice. Besides Jo Kondo’s To the Headland, Bent Sørensen’s Piano Concerto No. 2 „La Mattina“ (with Jonathan Powell as a soloist in place of indisposed Jan Bartoš) and Symphony: Daar kom die Alibama by Kevin Volans, … Read more
The 27th year of the Days of Contemporary Music festival started on 2nd November in Prague. Organized by the Society of Czech Composers, it will stage nine concerts and present 55 pieces by Czech contemporary composers. The opening concert was held at the Church of Virgin Mary under the Chain in Lesser Town of Prague. … Read more
The last concert of this year’s Exposition of New Music festival was a recital by the Italian pianist Emanuele Torquati. It was held on October 23rd at the Bedední dům in Brno and consisted of six piano pieces by contemporary composers. Czech music was represented by two compositions by Petr Bakla one of which, First Movement and … Read more
One of the events of this year’s Exposition of New Music festival (Octobre 19 – 23, Brno) was a recital by a saxophone and clarinet player Pavel Zlámal. Zlámal, who specializes in contemporary and experimental music, performed four pieces for saxophone solo from 1956 – 2016. Christian Lauba’s Hard, Simon Steen-Andersen’s De profundis and Gianti Scelsi’s Tre pezzi were followed by … Read more
