On 7 April, the New Scene of the National Theatre in Prague presented the long-awaited premiere of the opera adaptation of Ivan Klíma’s mystery novel The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch. Its author, primarily a scenic music composer and musical autodidact Ivan Acher (*1976) had already written music for the book’s theatre adaptation at Divadlo Komedie eleven years ago; … Read more
“… Impressions and Touches in the Soul…”, this year’s first concert by the Konvergence composers’ association, took place on 5 March in the Church of St Lawrence in Lesser town, Prague. It presented, among others, the premiere of Doteky milosrdenství (The Touches of Mercy), a new piece by a well-known Brno-based composer Pavel Zemek-Novák. The programme also included La Mandragore (Tristan Murail), Ambre … Read more
On 4 January, PKF – Prague Philharmonia gave world premiere to an orchestral version of YIN – Nostalgia and Hope by composer Ondřej Štochl (*1975). Its chamber version for vibraphone and 12 instruments had been premiered 2 years ago in Brno; just like then, the solo part was now played again by the excellent Martin Opršál. The orchestral transcription maintained … Read more
On 31 January in the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House, the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK gave world premiere to Concerto for oboe and orchestra by Jiří Gemrot (*1057). Just like his Trio for oboe, harp and piano, the composer dedicated it to a leading Czech oboist Vilém Veverka. “The first attribute I would think of is ‘lyrical’,” the … Read more
On 18 January in the St Agnes Convent, violoncellist Petr Nouzovský and accordionist Ladislav Horák gave premiere to Introduction and Tango, a new piece by composer and choirmaster Petr Fiala (*1943). The concert was a part of the chamber series held by the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK. The two-part composition was written directly for these two leading Czech instrumentalists, … Read more
On 14 December, the New Stage of the National Theatre in Prague premiered the second opera by composer, and this time also a librettist Miloš Orson Štědroň (*1973). Subtitled “Poetic Images from the Life of Bohumil Hrabal”, Don Hrabal reveals, in nine images, the personality and attitudes of this famous Czech authorr, as well as the background of his relationship … Read more
The composers’ association Konvergence dedicated this year’s last concert to the youngest generation of Czech composers and composition students. It was held on 12 December, as usually in St. Lawrence Church in Lesser Town, Prague. The evening was closed with the world premiere of All Ending, a piece by composer, director, poet and translator Ian Mikyska (*1994), performed … Read more
The BERG Orchestra ended this year’s season on 5 December with a concert in the St Salvator Church, Prague. They presented the Czech premiere of Circle for 4 trios, conductor and audience by the Chinese composer star, Oscar and Grammy winner Tan Dun. The second part belonged to the world premiere of a space composition shadows by day, Light by night by Czech … Read more
As a part of the chamber cycle of the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, Bohemia Saxophone Quartet gave a concert on November 23 at the Convent of St Agnes of Bohemia. It included the world premiere of Sherlock Holmes, a new piece by instrumentalist, multi-genre composer and FOK’s long-standing collaborator Martin Kumžák. The audience also had a chance to hear E. Bozza’s Andante … Read more
Opera povera ensemble introduced a second part of their experimental project Echo – Metamorphoses, subtitled “All that connects sound and space can become an opera.” It was created by Rocc (*1979), Slovenian opera director and opera povera’s art director, and composer and musicologist Vít Zouhar (*1966). “Content-wise, we tried to return to the original inspiration of the very first … Read more
