Movimento vivo, piano trio by Zdenek Merta (*1951) received its world premiere on March 28 in the Church of Sts. Simon and Jude in Prague. it was performed by Trio Martinů at a chamber concert organized by the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK. Merta started working on the piece already in early 80s, but, due to his … Read more
Held on 6th February in Reduta, this year’s first orchestral concert by the Brno-based Ensemble Opera Diversa not only celebrated Miloš Štědroň’s 75th birthday but also served as a unique display of music by contemporary Czech and Moravian composers. Led by Gabriela Tardonová, the ensemble performed 6 pieces for strings, none of which was written more than twenty … Read more
The opening evening of the New Opera Days Ostrava (NODO) biennale, which was held between the 27 and 30 June, offered a world premiere of William William, an opera by a composer and the festival’s artistic director Petr Kotík (*1942). The performance took place in the industrial milieu of the Hlubina coal mine. William William is, as the author … Read more
On May 25 at the Saint Anna’s Church in České Budějovice, the South Czech Philharmonic gave world premiere to a Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by a violinist and composer Pavel Fischer (*1965). The piece is dedicated to Helena Jiříkovská who recently replaced Fischer in the position of the Škampa Quartet’s first violinist which he had been holding for … Read more
A new composition by Martin Smolka received its premiere at the international contemporary music festival Acht Brücken. Musik für Köln (Eight Bridges. Music for Cologne) whose sixth year was held between April 30 and May 10. The piece for violin and piano called lay, wail, purr, whirr, smooth, whoop, soothe (and this also is vanity) … Read more
Four orchestral pieces by the composition students of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Jan Ryant Dřízal, Jan Fila, Daniel Chudovský and Soňa Vetchá) were given premiere by the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra on a concert on May 2 at the Academy’s Martinů Hall. The concert was opened by a piece called The Tree of Life by Jan … Read more
