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
The Prague-based string quartet fama Q gave a concert in a small Castillian town Quintanar de la Orden at the 23rd Festival de Música La Mancha. Among the works performed were the world premieres of String Quartet No. 2 by Petr Bakla and String Quartet by Jakub Rataj. The other pieces on the programme were written by … Read more
NODO – New Opera Days Ostrava presented a world premiere of Protracted Sinuous Movement of a Longitudinal Object , an opera by a composer and scientist Petr Cígler which was written directly for the festival. The performance took place on June 29 at the Antonín Dvořák Theatre. Petr Odo Macháček’s libretto explores the relations between a woman, a man, and a rattlesnake in a common … 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
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
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
Pivní oratorium (Beer Oratorio) by a composer and conductor Jan Kučera (*1977) received its premiere during the final concert of the 38th year of the Pardubice Music Spring International Festival, which took place on 10 May at the Suk Hall of the House of Music in Pardubice. Commissioned by the festival whose aim is to annually … 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
Alter-Ego, a new piece by a composer and rector of Janáček’s Academy of Music and Performing Arts, received its world premiere during a ‘Hommage to Czech music’ concert by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra which was at the same time the final concert of the orchestra’s 70th jubilee season. The double concerto for bass clarinet and piano was performed by the … Read more
