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
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
Early Spring (Předjaří), audio-visual composition by Martin Klusák (*1987) received its world premiere at the recent concert of the Berg Orchestra which took place on 31st October at the St. Agnes Convent in Prague. It was with this piece that the author successfully finished his studies of composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in … Read more
It has become a custom for the Orthodox music festival Archaion Kallos to annually present new pieces by young Czech composers. Last year it was music by Jan Dušek and Petr Koronthály, this time by Slavomír Hořínka and Jan Ryant Dřízal. The chamber music concert was held on 18 October at the Gallery of the Academy … Read more
On June 27 the Prague-based Alfred ve Dvoře Theatre premiered an experimental opera performance The Lists of Infinity by a composer Martin Smolka. This performance directed by Jiří Adámek, who is also the author of the libretto, is in fact a new version of a piece composed 2 years ago on a commission for the New Opera days Ostrava (NODO) … Read more
A song cycle Confessions of a Poet by Juraj Filas received its world premiere at a concert of the composers’ association Harmonia held by the Prague Spring festival on 2 June at the St Agnes’ Convent. It was performed by a renowned Czech baritone Ivan Kusnjer and a pianist Daniel Wiesner. The cycle’s four songs March – To She Who … Read more
